Govt urged to abolish FCR

PESHAWAR: The Fata Political Alliance on Tuesday urged the government to do away with the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and include their recommendation in the proposed reforms or else they would launch a protest campaign.

Speaking at a press conference here, president of the alliance Nisar Mohmand alleged that a handful of beneficiaries of FCR, who were getting perks and privileges under the law, have become active to fail the reforms. “Some vested interests are active to create doubts about the proposed reforms so they could continue to receive perks and privileges under the FCR,” he alleged.

Flanked by Iqbal Afridi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Zar Noor Afridi of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Latif Afridi advocate, he said FCR was a draconian law, which was introduced by the British Raj to suppress the tribesmen.  He said Fata Political Alliance had formed a committee to study the report of the Fata Reforms Committee and they would soon decide their future course of action.

Presenting a charter of demands, he asked for abolishing Article 247 of the constitution, extending the constitution and jurisdiction of the higher judiciary to Fata. He also called for merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.