Amendments to FCR awaiting approval for 2 years

ISLAMABAD – The amendments proposed to a century-old Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) by the cabinet committee under the then law minister Farooq H Naek in 2009 are still awaiting President Asif Ali Zardari’s approval.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani constituted a cabinet committee in 2008 under the chairmanship of the then law minister Farooq H Naek to propose amendments to the FCR. The committee submitted its report to the PM Secretariat and the Presidency in August 2009 a few weeks while Naek left its chairmanship on being elected the Senate chairman in 2009.
Since then the report on the proposed amendments to the FCR which President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani also endorsed in August 2009 has failed to get approval from the president who, according to Article 247 of the Constitution, has the authority to approve them, and, resultantly, an obsolete system is in force in FATA till today.
Talking to Pakistan today, Senator SM Zafar said a committee under Justice (retd) Ajmal Mian, in collaboration with Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights, had also proposed amendments to the FCR in the previous regime and a number of these amendments had been endorsed by Naek’s committee. On delay in signing the FCR amendments by the president, Zafar said: “It reflects the government’s bad governance.”
The cabinet committee, in its report, has recommended the right of appeal against the actions of political agents or district coordination officers (DCOs) in some tribal regions. It is learnt that the proposed amendments require political agents or DCOs, as the case may be, to appoint a council of elders in civil matters with the consent of the parties. All disputes in different agencies will be referred to a joint council of elders to be appointed by the governor, the committee report proposes.
The report has also proposed to produce an arrested accused before the authorities concerned within 24 hours. Referring to the provision of collective responsibility, the committee had recommended that no woman or child under 16 years of age or a person above 65 years would be arrested. It is pertinent to mention here that under the existing FCR, family members are jailed for the crimes committed by the head of the family, his brother or any other blood relative.
Under the existing law, innocent men, women and even children are convicted under the FCR. The proposed amendments suggest that only the immediate male relative of a tribal member involved in subversive activities against the state or any person will be arrested.
The right of appeal against the decision of a political agent or a DCO has been provided and the appellate authority will be the district judge instead of the commissioner. The committee’s recommended amendments say that a three-member Fata tribunal will be constituted headed by a person who has been a judge of a high court, a civil servant of not less than Grade-20, having an experience of tribal administration and a person who is qualified to be a judge.
“The tribunal will have powers of a high court as envisaged under Article 199 of the constitution. A time limit will be provided to decide the matter. To introduce financial discipline, accounts of the tribunal will be audited by the auditor general,” recommended committee in its report. When contacted, FATA Additional Chief Secretary Habibullah Khan said a major revision of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) has been completed and the report is lying in the Presidency while a final announcement in this regard has yet to be made by the president.
Farhatullah Babar, the presidential spokesman said the package has been finalized, but the announcement regarding its implementation by the president has not been made yet due to security situation in FATA.