FCR Main Points & Concerns (1) Citizens are deprived of appeal, wakeel and daleel (respectively, the right to appeal detention, the right to legal representation, and the right to present reasoned evidence). (2) One of the worst aberrations of the FCR is the collective punishment clause (No. 21), which is imposed on anyone in the tribal areas for a crime committed by him or her relative, spouse, or even any other person from the same tribe and area (Amnesty International 2008). (3) Under the draconian FCR, the political agent or his deputy, the assistant political agent, enjoys unbridled powers – both executive and judicial. There is no regulatory mechanism to check misuse of power by the political agent which often results in serious human rights violations. (4) Under the FCR, suspects are tried by a tribal jirga or council which submits its recommendations regarding conviction or acquittal to the political agent. The political agent makes a decision regarding conviction or acquittal and is not bound by the jirga’s recommendations. The orders of the political agent cannot be challenged before the higher courts. In effect, there is virtually no separation of the judiciary from the executive in the FATA. (5) Among the most damaging provisions in the FCR is the clause permitting the “seizure/confiscation of property and arrest and detention of an individual without due process, and/or barring a person in the tribal areas from entering the settled districts”. This provision also falls under section 21 of the FCR, which is known as the ‘Collective Responsibility Clause’. Under this clause, if an offence is committed by one person, his or her whole family/tribe is made responsible for the act, can be arrested or have their property seized. Moreover, the FCR states that arrested persons will not be permitted to contact the Government of Pakistan and that no one in Pakistan may contact or trade with any arrested person in FATA. (6) Under section 23 of the FCR, all the members of a village are considered responsible for a murder if a dead body is found in their village. Under section 22 and 23, fines are imposed on the entire community for the crimes of a single person. In section 56, if fines are not paid by relatives, then the property of an offender is sold to realize the amount due. While the Constitution has virtually put the entire populace of the FATA region at the mercy of the President of Pakistan for any reform or development in the region, the political agent has been ruling the tribal region with absolute authority with the help of the FCR and other black laws. The political agent is beyond the reach of the law; he is above the law. An example: On 29 June 2007, the Peshawar High Court ordered the Kurram Agency administration to immediately release 11 tribal maliks (elders) who were arrested on the order of Assistant political agent of Lower Kurram, Dost Mohammad on 17 February 2007 under the FCR and threatened the administration to initiate contempt of court proceedings if it failed to release the tribal maliks. Earlier in May 2007, the High Court had directed the Kurram Agency administration but the authorities failed to release the detainees.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 18:32:59 +0000
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