The resolution demanded provision of compensation to the families, rights to the tribesmen equal to those enjoyed by other Pakistanis PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Lawyers demanded an end to the long-standing curfew in Bara, Khyber Agency and the immediate withdrawal of security forces from the tribal areas. After the killing of 18 people in Bara on Tuesday, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Lawyers’ Forum (FLF) called a general body meeting of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association (PHCBA).
At Friday’s meeting, President PHCBA Abdul Latif Afridi tabled a resolution which condemned the killing of the tribesmen and demanded concerned authorities immediately arrest and try all those involved. The resolution demanded provision of compensation to the families, rights to the tribesmen equal to those enjoyed by other Pakistanis and extend the high court and the apex court’s jurisdiction to tribal areas. President FLF Ijaz Mohmand criticised President Asif Ali Zardari for introducing reforms in the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), which could not be implemented in practice. Mohmand also condemned the judiciary for its failure to take notice of killings in tribal areas. Advocate Ghulam Nabi said both the protesters in Quetta, and Dr Tahirul Qadri’s supporters in the federal capital remained unharmed. Yet, he said, peaceful tribesmen at a sit-in with bodies of their loved ones had to face tear-gas, aerial firing, baton charge and water cannons.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2013.
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