FCR law: Women of FATA village left stranded as all men of area imprisoned

A Kurram Agency village had all its men imprisoned under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

This forced the women of the village to seek help from men of a neighbouring village for outdoor chores for three years, Geo News reported.

The men of the village were all put behind bars after a tribal leader was shot dead four years ago, a resident of the village told the news channel, adding the locals had to bear the brunt under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR as the accused had escaped the site.

The locking up of all the men of the village stranded the women in their houses, who could not step out for chores owing to the tribal customs which deem it to be disrespectful for women to go out to the bazaars alone.

As a result, the women of the village (Kinkot Kalay) had to seek men in the neighbouring village to get outdoor chores done for them, the local said.

The practice, he added, went on for nearly three years until recently when the men of Kinkot Kalay were released after the arrest of the accused.

The practice of holding tribal people responsible under the FCR is so common that 80 per cent of the inmates in the jails of FATA are imprisoned based on the same law.

There are also those who have been behind bars under the FCR for multiple times in their life time.

One of the residents of Parachinar Dildar Hussain Janjal has been to jail 45 times; he was charged by the FCR.

It is pertinent to mention here that during a Cabinet session chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan on Tuesday, a draft was presented for the new bill of FATA Reforms, promising abolishment of the FCR and extension of the judicial system to FATA to bring tribal people at par with the rest of the country.

The development comes as a ray of hope for the people of FATA who were introduced to FCR during the British Raj.