Tribal elders of the agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and leaders of Pakistan's political and religious parties, social right activists and youths and students of the area, welcomed the passage of the Fata reforms bill by the National Assembly on Saturday, which extends the jurisdictions of the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court to the six agencies, hailing the development as the start of a new era for inhabitants of the area. The development means the days of the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation, a holdover from British colonial days, are numbered.
Tribal elder Anwar Zeb Khan Nawabzada, a prominent politician of the Bajaur Agency in Fata who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, said the passage of the bill will also ensure protection of the tribal people's fundamental rights. He said the bill will lead to the complete extension of Pakistan's regular laws to the tribal areas.
Extension of the superior courts' jurisdictions to Fata had been a longstanding demand of the tribal people, who had always been deprived of fundamental rights, he said. Habibul Hassan Yad, a human rights activist who is a member of the National Society for Protection of Human Rights, said the change will promote rule of law in the tribal areas. Historically deprived of their basic political rights, he said, they can now approach Pakistan's superior courts to complain against any injustice by political administration.
Muhammad Ayub Khan, an activist of the youth wing of the Tehrik-e-Insaaf, who is a member of the Provincial Youth Assembly, said the extension of the jurisdictions of the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court to the tribal areas would improve the socio-economic conditions of the tribal areas by ensuring speedy justice to their population of six million. At the same time, Ayub Khan said, the move will deprive the political agents of the "unlimited powers" they now have in the tribal areas, thanks to the FCR.
The day is not far off when the tribesmen of the six agencies will be rid of the colonial governance system. Qari Abdul Majeed, a Jamaat-e-Islami politician in Fata, described the development as a means to provide basic rights to the people of Fata, as well as the judicial ones.