Fata Lawyers Forum opposes referendum to decide tribal areas’ future

Claims over 90pc people back merger with KP

PESHAWAR: The Fata Lawyers Forum (FLF) has claimed that more than 90 percent tribal people supported the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and also the abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). 

It rejected the proposal of holding referendum to decide the fate of Fata.Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has proposed holding a referendum to decide the future of Fata.

 “We oppose the demand of the JUI-F chief for referendum. It is an unjust demand at a time when everything has been completed and the Parliament is going to pass the bill of the Fata reforms,” FLF President Rahim Shah told The News on Monday.

The FLF president said it was strange that all the political parties, except JUI-F, were in favour of merger of Fata into KP and the proposed reforms for Fata. “We don’t know on whose agenda the JUI-F is demanding referendum at this stage,” he added.

 “Some JUI-F leaders from Fata also support the merger and the reforms proposed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government,” the FLF general secretary, Rasheed Ahmad, claimed. He maintained that the JUI-F leadership in Fata was divided on the demand for referendum being made by the party head Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

He said all the JUI-F leaders from Fata earlier fully supported the merger of Fata with KP and abolition of the FCR, but Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s stance has put them in a dilemma.

The FLF office-bearers said they had launched a campaign in Fata to raise awareness among the people about the merger and proposed reforms. They expressed concern over the delay in passing the proposed reforms bill from the National Assembly.

There were reports that the federal cabinet in its meeting on December 15 discussed the Fata Reforms Committee report in detail, but then deferred it for a few days.

It was stated that the government had decided to engage all the political parties represented in the Parliament, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), on such important and sensitive national issues.

Minister for States and Frontier Regions Lt Gen (R) Abdul Qadir Baloch in a statement said the century-old black law FCR was being repealed by introducing a new law that would be in accordance with tribal traditions, customs and culture.

He said unfortunately Fata had been deprived of rights and facilities since long. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wanted to bring Fata on a par with other provinces and for this purpose he constituted the committee to propose reforms.

The Fata Reforms Committee has proposed extending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Peshawar High Court to Fata under the proposed legal reforms.

This has been mentioned in Chapter-1 of the proposed draft bill. It says the act may be called the “Fata Nizam-e-Adl Act 2016.”

According to the section 6 of the act, the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court shall have jurisdiction in Fata under the constitution. It has also been proposed in the bill that the FCR of 1901 should be replaced with Fata Good Governance Regulation Act 2016 and all sections related to collective/vicarious responsibility should be omitted. Instead, an individual shall be made responsible for his own acts.

Under the legal reforms, the courts in Fata would be presided by Qazis. The government would appoint Qazis in consultation with the Peshawar High Court. Every Qazi would exercise powers as sub-ordinate to the high court.