Fata reforms

The National Assembly passed on Friday the landmark "Supreme Court and High Court (extension of jurisdiction to Fata) Act, 2017", abolishing the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) devised by the British colonial rulers way back in 1901 to control tribal population. Jirgas have been administering justice in civil and criminal cases according to tribal traditions rather than the laws in the rest of the country. Political agents appointed by the government exercised the ultimate judicial authority, and also the power to impose collective punishment on a family or members of an entire tribe for acts of individuals seen as inimical by the central authority. If that was not oppressive enough, later another clause was added to it permitting arrest without specifying the crime. The FCR has been an outrage against civilized sensibilities that should never have been allowed to stay as long as it did.
Its elimination is an important part of a larger goal, that of bringing the people of Fata into the mainstream. Unfortunately, the government has been dragging its feet on the implementation of Fata reforms package, prepared by its own committee after consultations with relevant people in the tribal areas. Among other things, the committee, headed by Sartaj Aziz, presently Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, had recommended merger of Fata with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has become a stumbling block to the reform effort. Notably, almost all National Assembly members representing the tribal areas as well as major political parties, including the PPP, PTI, ANP, JI, and Qaumi Watan Party want immediate merger, but the government's two allies, JUI-F and Balochistan-based PkMAP are offering resistance to it. The JUI-F is the only party which objected to the new law, and staged a walk out from the house seeing extension of PHC jurisdiction to the tribal areas as a first step towards merger. Earlier, for the same reason the government too had tried to bypass PHC, and sought extension of the SC and Islamabad High Court jurisdiction to the tribal areas. That though was shot down by the NA Standing Committee on Law and Justice on the insistence of Fata MNAs.
The Nawaz League also is suspected to be inclined to delay, if not take out, the merger proposal with an eye on the next general elections. For that would increase the strength of KP assembly as well as the province's representation in Parliament, and offer a better chance of electoral success to other political parties. But the opposition is equally determined to push for merger. The PTI, PPP and JI have been holding protest demonstrations. The last session of the National Assembly was adjourned due to opposition parties protest boycott over government decision not to table the Fata reforms bill. After celebrating the passage of the FCR abolition bill, Leader of the Opposition Syed Khurshid Shah voiced a common sentiment when he expressed the hope the reform bill will also be soon presented before the house. The government needs to rise above transient political considerations, and act in the larger interest of the people. It should get necessary legislation enacted without further delay, and fully implement the Fata reforms package. The inhabitants of the tribal areas must be given their due rights as equal citizens of the state.