ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday called for placing the proposed Riwaj Act and the regulation to set up local bodies’ governments in the tribal areas in the recently-announced reforms package before parliament for discussion, prior to its approval by the president.
Speaking on an issue of public importance in the Senate, PPP’s Farhatullah Babar said that keeping the Riwaj Act and LB law secret from the public and parliament raised serious questions about the law replacing the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) in the country’s tribal belt as promised in the reforms package.
Babar said it would be a disastrous step if the Riwaj Act turned out to be more regressive and anti-human than the FCR, and added that the president should not sign these regulations merely on the advice of bureaucracy without it being debated in parliament.
The PPP stalwart was of the view that the parliament must be taken on board on how the local bodies’ governments would be set up in the tribal areas and the powers and responsibilities they would get.
Babar also asked the government to reveal how the jurisdiction of superior courts would be extended to FATA as promised in the reforms package and the timeline for it.
He further said the silence of the government on these issues was deafening and gave rise to doubts that the reforms package was more of a publicity stunt rather than a serious effort to mainstream the tribal belt.
