PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued notices to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor and attorney general of Pakistan in a writ petition filed against the non-functioning of the Fata Tribunal for the last three months. A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Mrs Irshad Qaiser was hearing the petition.The Fata Tribunal is the highest court in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) established under the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Muhammad Ismail, a tribesman whose appeal is pending in the Fata Tribunal against the decision of the Commissioner FCR, filed the petition through his lawyer Sahibzada Riazatul Haq. The petitioner requested the court to issue direction to KP governor for appointing the chairman and members of the tribunal. The petitioner’s lawyer submitted before the bench that his case and those of hundreds of tribespeople, including those languishing in prisons, were pending in the Fata Tribunal without hearing for the past three months as it had become non-functional after expiry of the term of its chairman and members. He submitted that the governor was bound to immediately appoint the chairman and two members of the tribunal after end of the term of the chairman and members. The petitioner’s lawyer pointed out that the high court earlier had also passed the direction to the KP governor regarding appointment of the chairman and members. The petitioner stated that the assistant political agent (APA) Mohmand Agency had decided a case in his favour about the ownership of 26 acres of land. He said his opponent challenged the decision in the court of Commissioner FCR, which remanded the case again to the APA for retrial. The petitioner noted that he challenged the Commissioner FCR decision in the Fata Tribunal, but no hearing was held in the case as the Fata Tribunal had become non-functional.It may be added that hundreds of appeals challenging conviction and other important issues against the decisions of Commissioner FCR, including the one concerning Dr Shakil Afridi, are pending in the Fata Tribunal. Dr Afridi was convicted on charges of maintaining links with the militants in Khyber Agency, though it is widely known that he was arrested for his links with the CIA following reports that he ran a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to track down al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden. The contract of the Fata Tribunal chairman and two members expired on January 26, but new members haven’t been appointed yet.The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led federal government didn’t extend the services of the Fata Tribunal chairman Shah Wali Khan and its members Akbar Khan and Pir Fida. Fresh appointments to the tribunal are to be made by the Khyber Pakhtunkwha Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan. The chairman and the members of the tribunal work for three years. Under Section 55 (a) of the FCR, a lawyer from Fata will be appointed as member of the tribunal and should be well conversant with the tribal Riwaj (customs) and traditions.Under the appointment rules for the tribunal, the KP governor would recommend a retired grade-21 officer as chairman, a grade-20 retired officer as member and a lawyer from Fata as member.
