K-P govt ordered to extend policy to FATA

PHC CJ says it is a clear violation of human rights and couples should not be divided.

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government to extend the wedlock policy to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), while hearing a writ petition on Tuesday.

The policy enables both the husband and wife to perform their duties within the same union council or an adjacent one. The petitioner, Rasheeda from Charsadda, who has been posted to North Waziristan Agency as a PTC teacher, demanded her transfer to Charsadda, where her husband, Muhammad Tariq Khan, is presently employed.

During the previous hearing of the case on June 17, 2010, Assistant Director Schools and Literacy Wasiullah had assured the PHC that Rasheeda would be transferred to the union council where her husband was posted.

Advocate Gul Naz, counsel for Rasheeda, who appeared before the court said that the department had assured the PHC that Rasheeda would soon be transferred to Charsadda however,she is still performing her duties in North Waziristan. The advocate requested the court to issue a contempt of court notice to the department.

The state counsel stated that although there was a law in place, the PHC decision could not be implemented because the policy had not been extended to Fata. PHC chief justice, heading a divisional bench, said that it was a clear violation of human rights and couples should not be divided.

This relaxation was given to people living in settled areas, but Fata residents were deprived of it, the CJ remarked. “The situation in Fata is already tense and limiting this policy to settled areas is unfair.”

A uniform wedlock policy should be implemented throughout the province and Fata for all autonomous bodies as well, the CJ ordered.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2012.