Advocate General NWFP Ziaur Rehman said Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court still had jurisdiction in Swat and only the nomenclature of the courts had been changed. These courts would still be there and the appointment of judges too be made by the Peshawar High Court in consultation with the NWFP government.
He said Qazi Courts would work under Peshawar High court and police would function under District magistrate. Talking to the media at his office in Peshawar he said Darul Qaza would act like a bench of High Court and Dar Darul Qaza was actually the bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan, which was in accordance with constitution.
He said Qazis would be appointed by Peshawar High Court in consultation with the NWFP government and the Qazis would in fact be the judicial officers. He said appointment of Qazis was not something new. Qazis had been appointed earlier when Nifaz-i-Nizam-i-Shariah was implemented in 1994.
He said the timeframe for civil and criminal cases was the most important part of Adal Regulation that would make the law more acceptable to people of Malakand Division. Advocate General said Section 5 of the regulation provided that executive magistrate would be there and the district magistrate would function as usual to exercise power as a magistrate.
He said he still would have the powers like imposition of section 144 etc. He said CrPc and 94 other laws had been extended to the Malakand Division, and these laws would be exercised in accordance with the Adal Regulation. He said the NWFP government team was still there in Swat and was negotiating the matter with the Tehrik Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) and the ANP NWFP president Afrasiyab Khattak and the NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain had a meeting with TNSM Chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad.
He said the misunderstanding, if any would be removed. The Advocate General said the views of Maulana Sufi Muhammad regarding status of conventional courts might not be the same as reported in the press and the things would be normal when the issue would be brought to negotiating table.
He said that no one should be worried about the new regulations as the same were not something new for the people of Swat. He said the Swat had the same kinds of separate laws in the past and such regulations were implemented after the state of Swat was merged. He clarified that it was Supreme Court who allowed the Nifaz-i-Nizam-i-Shariah to be implemented in Swat in 1994 and similar regulations were the continuation of the process when implemented in 1999.