FCR in Fata likely to be annulled next week

ISLAMABAD: Minister for States and Frontier Region Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch has said that the government is committed to abolishing Fata's (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) black law of Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), which denied the residents the right to appeal in any court, right to legal representation and the right to present reasoned evidence, on priority.

Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman Sartaj Aziz said the government is presenting a bill in the National Assembly on December 11, which is likely to be approved by the NA and then it would be finally approved by the Senate later next week.

He said in order to mainstream the Fata economically, a committee was formed which had almost completed its work and would present its report before the National Economic Council (NEC) by the end of the current month. He said three percent of the federal divisible pool would be set aside for Fata, which amounts to around Rs100 billion a year.

He said this allocation would be spent on various development projects in health, education, water, energy and others for socio-economic development of the people of the area. Sartaj Aziz said the government has also planned to expand the Levies force, which according to the plan, would be given the status of police at a later stage.

He said the process of recruiting additional 20,000 personnel in the Levies force would be finalised within 2-3 months and the recruitment process is currently being carried out by the Frontier Corps.

Abdul Qadir Baloch informed that the Rahdari system in Fata is also being abolished from January 1, 2018. He said under this system, heavy taxes were imposed on any commodity being transported from other parts of the country to Fata.

He said a Council of Advisory has been formed comprising members of Fata in the National Assembly and the Senate and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor is bound to implement the advice of this committee.

Furthermore, he added that from today Fata's Additional Chief Secretary had been assigned the role of Fata’s Chief Operating Officer to control the issues of the area. He said in health and education sectors of Fata, there were 2,293 vacant posts out of which 1,440 posts had been sanctioned while the remaining would be sanctioned within 15 days. The minister said the government is not delaying any project as it had sufficient funds of Rs80 billion for the current fiscal year.