Tribal lawyers expressed grave concern over the government’s failure to implement the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) reforms for the tribal areas on Monday, saying the chairman and two members of the FCR Tribunal would not be acceptable to them because they did not hail from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The establishment of the FCR Tribunal was part of amended reforms and according to these reforms, two retired bureaucrats and one who was eligible to be a high court judge were also included in the tribunal, FATA Lawyers Forum (FLF) President Ijaz Mohmand told reporters at a press conference.
He said the FCR Tribunal had been established for the people of FATA but the members of the tribunal were appointed from other areas, which he was an injustice to tribesmen. He demanded the government appoint competent lawyers from FATA to the tribunal, not retired bureaucrats. “Those who don’t hail from the tribal areas, how will they issue decisions in accordance with the customs and traditions of the tribal people?” he questioned. Flanked by FLF General Secretary Samiullah Afridi, Abdul Karim Mehsoon, Taj Mehal Afridi and others, Mohmand said the powers delegated to the tribunal were insufficient to provide justice to the oppressed tribesmen. He demanded full powers for the tribunal in accordance with Article 199 of the constitution.
He said political agents (PA) and assistant political agents (APA) also worked as courts and cases were heard in their courts, but they never allowed any accused to have a lawyer to represent them.
The PA and APA, he said, had their own prosecutors and the accused or their prosecutors were not given documents of the cases, which he said was a violation of the constitution and law. “This attitude of the PA and APA has to be corrected,” Mohmand said.
He said the FLF, therefore, demanded the federal government implement the amended reforms in FCR according to the demands of the lawyers and tribesmen within 10 days, failing which they would be compelled to launch protests and besiege Parliament House. He also demanded that tribal families displaced as a result of the ongoing military operation in FATA be declared Internationally Displaced Persons.