Shakil Afridi case: FCR commissioner ordered to clear the air

FATA Tribunal disposes of petition filed by the doctor’s lawyers.

PESHAWAR:

The Fata Tribunal on Wednesday disposed of a review petition filed by Dr Shakil Afridi and sent the case back to the Frontier Crimes Regulations commissioner after terming the latter’s previous order ‘ambiguous’ and ‘self-contradictory’.

The former Khyber Agency surgeon’s 33-year sentence for aiding banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam was overturned on August 29 this year by late FCR Commissioner Sahibzada Muhammad Anis and the case was sent back to the agency’s political agent.

In his petition,filed on October 22, the surgeon sought a fresh trial under new jirga members and the right of bail.

“This case should go back to the FCR commissioner with the direction to write a detailed and well-reasoned order as required by Section 53 of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and we order accordingly. In these terms, the revision petition stands disposed of,” reads the tribunal’s order issued by a three-member bench comprising its chairman Shah Wali Khan and members Akbar Khan and Pir Fida Muhammad.

Pointing out irregularities in the commissioner’s order, the tribunal states that close scrutiny of the order reveals that it is ambiguous and self-contradictory as the commissioner directs Khyber Agency’s political agent (PA) or sessions judge to try the case as per law and rewaj (custom). The PA can try the case as an agent under the rewaj in FCR or as a sessions judge under the Criminal Procedure Code 1898.

“During the hearing of arguments, we asked counsel of both sides to assist us in determining whether a case falling under the second schedule of the FCR has ever been tried by the PA as a sessions judge in Fata. Not a single precedent or case on this count could be quoted,” reads the judgment.

On one hand, the impugned order of the FCR commissioner directed the PA to decide the case after weighing afresh the arguments of both sides while on the other it called on the PA to try the case himself.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2013.