Senators seek FCR’s execution

ISLAMABAD – The senators demanded on Tuesday that government should implement reforms in the Frothier Crimes Regulation (FCR) immediately as the existing laws were being deemed as cruel, inhuman and barbaric.
They were speaking on a resolution moved by Senator Hafiz Rashid Ahmad regarding changes in the FCR. “It is strange that members of the Parliament from FATA take part in the legislation but that legislation is not meant for the territory they represent,” senator from FATA Hafiz Rashid said. He also added that no law in the world permitted that a man could be punished for the crime committed by another one but the FCR allowed it.
JI’s senator Professor Ibrahim said that president had mentioned that reforms in the FCR would be implemented soon. He said that the government must clarify what it did mean by the word ‘very soon’. He said that the government should have implemented the reforms immediately after the president’s announcement of the reforms on August 14, 2009.
He also added that the reforms implementation had already been delayed and now the government should implement them immediately. Senator Professor Khushid Ahmed said it was true that some forces did not want the FCR reforms and they were opposing their implementation. He further added that Political Parties Act had also not been implemented so far.
He said that investing a single authority with both administrative and judicial powers breeds oppression. He said that political agents had so much power of which even the monarch would feel envious. ANP Senator Haji Adeel said that his party wanted immediate implementation of reforms in the FCR to put the cruel and barbaric law to an end.
JUI-F Senator Azam Swati said that the FCR was a travesty of humanity and it should be scrapped immediately. Chairman Senate Farook H Naek in the end said that the debate on the issue would be concluded tomorrow. He also told the Leader of the House to ensure the presence of the Minister for States and Frontier Region (SAFRON) to apprise the members of the progress made in the reforms.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, six bills were deferred, one was withdrawn and one was introduced in the Upper House as it was a private members’ day. The bill withdrawn was moved by MQM Senator Babar Khan Ghauri to de-weaponise the country. The bill had sought that import of explosive material of all kind should be banned in the country.