President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday signed two orders that set into motion the far reaching administrative, judicial and political reforms in the tribal areas.The two orders signed by President Asif Ali Zardari were Amendments in the FCR (2011) and Extension of the Political Parties Order 2002 to the Tribal Areas.President Zardari signed the important documents here at Aiwan-e-Sadr in the presence of a number of representatives from FATA, besides Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, Chairman of Senate Farooq H Naek, Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Fehmida Mirza, KPK Governor Massod Kausar and Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, and federal ministers.
The President signed the summary just an hour after it was received from the Prime Minister.
The signing ceremony was held in the jam-packed hall of the Presidency which was witnessed by tribal elders drawn from all the seven tribal agencies,five frontier regions, FATA parliamentarians, provincial cabinet of KPK,diplomats, representative of Shaheed Bhutto Foundation, civil society members,mediapersons and representatives of a number of NGOs.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that representatives of various political parties, who had earlier formed a multi-party Joint Committee on FATA reforms, also witnessed the signing ceremony. The Committee members had called on the President in March this year urging for early implementation of the promised reforms.
The political parties represented at the event included ANP, PML-N, JI, PPP-S, PML-Q, MQM-S, NP, PkMAP and JUI-F.
Tribal elders, parliamentarians from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and representatives of political parties behind the President’s desk signalled the broad-based consensus of all stakeholders as the driving force behind the reforms package.
Speaking on the occasion President Asif Ali Zardari said that his head bowed in gratitude before Allah Almighty for having fulfilled yet another promise made with the people of FATA.
He congratulated the tribesmen for harmonizing reforms with their tribal customs and traditions.
He said the legal and political reforms would rid the tribal people from a century of bondage and usher them into mainstream of national life while respecting local customs and traditions.
The President said some may say that the reforms are not enough and much more needs to be done adding “Let it also not be forgotten that no one even took a single step in the last one hundred years to reform the FCR and give political rights to the people”.
President Zardari said that the door had been unlocked and it was for the people of tribal areas to decide how much more reforms they want in their system of governance.
Any system imposed on them from outside will be counterproductive, he cautioned.
President Zardari responding to the demand for making FATA a province said, making a province is not a simple process.
He said national consensus is required to make a new province and added that the basic decision about the status of FATA rested with the people of FATA and not in the Presidency.
President Zardari, on this occasion, accepted the demand to set up a hospital in FATA and assured that it will be constructed on fast track.
The President appreciated the contribution of the people of FATA for the creation of Pakistan and now for ensuring peace and security.
He said, “Whenever Pakistan needs the people of FATA, they gave sacrifice for the security, progress and prosperity of the country.”
The President said government is making sincere efforts for providing basic needs of life to the people in FATA and other areas.
He also assured the people of FATA that if possible, the government will provide more funds for the development of their area.
Talking to the media explaining the salient features of the reforms package, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that contrary to past practice an accused shall have right to bail and it will be mandatory to produce him before the concerned authority within 24 hours of arrest.
He said women, children below 16 and those aged above 65 shall not be arrested or detained under Collective Responsibility.
He said amendments have been announced in the FCR after 110 years at it was first announced in 1901 and under the reformed FCR, the women and children would be exempted from territorial responsibility.
He said that henceforth the whole tribe will not be arrested under the Collective Responsibility clause. Step-wise action will be taken - first immediate male members of family followed by sub-tribe and then by other sections of the tribe, he said.
Cases will now be disposed of in a fixed timeframe and checks placed on arbitrary power of arrest under the notorious Section 40A of the FCR.
Appeals will lie before Appellate Authority comprising of Commissioner and a dedicated Additional Commissioner (Judicial) to be notified by the Governor.
The reforms envisage setting of a FATA Tribunal headed by Chairman and two other members out of whom one shall be a person who has been civil servant of not less than BPS 20 having experience of Tribal Administration and other member shall be a person qualified to be appointed as Judge of High Court well conversant with Rewaj.
The FATA Tribunal shall exercise power of revision against orders/judgments of Appellate Authority and shall have powers similar to High Court under Article 199 of the Constitution.
A new section has been added providing for action for false prosecution in civil and criminal matters. Under it the defendant will be entitled to adequate compensation in criminal matters and compensatory costs in civil matters.
He said that no person shall be deprived of his property without adequate compensation as per prevailing market value in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 procedure in settled areas.
For the first time the funds at the disposal of the Political Agent shall be audited by Auditor General of Pakistan, the Spokesperson said.
Section 58A has been added to make provision for jail inspections by FATA Tribunal, Appellate Authority and Political Agent. Rules will be framed for regulating the Agency Welfare Fund.
Farhatullah Babar said that the reforms hammered out after consultation with all stakeholders was approved in principle on August 12, 2009 in a meeting in the Presidency that was also attended by the Prime Minister. The meeting had left it to the President to announce it any time he deemed fit.
Although the President announced the reforms two days later on the eve of 63rd Independence Day its implementation was stalled for a variety of reasons, Farhatullah Babar said.
The signing today has made the process of reforms irreversible, he said. Any attempt to undo it will require dismantling of consensus among the stake holders and another Order to be signed by the President, Farhatullah Babar said.
Henceforth the political parties, subject to appropriate regulations to be framed, will be freely allowed to operate in the tribal areas and present their socio-economic programmes on the one hand and the century old Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) will be tamed to make it responsive to the human rights of the people, he said.
The permission to political parties to sell their programmes in tribal areas will counter the pernicious one sided campaign of militants to impose their ideological agenda on the people rejecting the state, the Constitution, democracy and indeed our very way of life, he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari said, “A bigger challenge awaited us and it is the challenge of defeating the militant mindset.”
He said, “in the long run we must defeat the militant mindset to defend our country, our democracy, our institutions and our way of life.”
Lauding the people of tribal areas the President said that they have been governed by a hundred years old obsolete system of administration of justice that did not allow their creative potential to come into full play.
He said that the law had been changed in accordance with the aspirations of the people and democratic principles while respecting local customs and traditions.
He said that the FCR was a draconian law under which there is no provision of appeal, wakeel or daleel (no right to appeal, or engaging lawyer or reliance on reasoning) against the orders of the executive.
The tribesmen were subject the whims of administration officials. People have been arrested and kept in jail for long years without trial under the FCR. Under it, a person could be sent to jail for three years without trial.
The jail term could be extended indefinitely in installments of three years and under the Territorial Responsibility women and children have been arrested and sent to jail in the past.
The amendments have changed the most obnoxious provisions of FCR, Farhatullah Babar said.
He said that a major initiative was in the field of judicial reform.
The changes made envisage setting of a FATA Tribunal which shall have powers similar to that of the high courts. The FATA Tribunal shall have powers of revision against orders and judgments of Appellate Authority. Previously there was no such provision of appeal to a judicial authority.
Giving background of the efforts made in the past to bring about the changes, Farhatullah Babar said that in November 2004 the Senate passed a unanimous PPP Resolution calling for changes in the FCR.
In 2004 former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto formed a special committee of the Party called the FATA Reforms Committee.
Subsequently she also filed a petition in the Supreme Court for political reforms in the tribal areas.
In November 2004 the Senate adopted a PPP resolution for reforms in FATA.
In August 2005 the Senate adopted the report of its Committee of Human Rights that called for changes in the FCR.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani in his first address had announced that the FCR would be changed and brought into conformity with the human rights standards and in accordance with the aspirations of the people. Soon after the formation of government a Committee of the Cabinet was set up in April 2008 under the then law minister Farooq Naek to examine the FCR in consultation with all the stake holders and recommend changes into it.
In August 2008 the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation invited hundreds of tribesmen from all tribal agencies to solicit their views on the FCR and on political reforms in the tribal areas who unanimously recommended a minimum set of reforms.
In January 2009 the President invited FATA tribesmen to the Presidency and heard them say about the FCR and political reforms. The Cabinet Committee on FCR under Farooq Naek considered all of these and other previous reports that had recommended changes in the law in accordance with the wishes of people.
Next month the Cabinet approved the report of the Cabinet Committee on FCR which were also approved by the President, he said.
In March 2011, representatives of major political parties called on the President in the Presidency demanding an early implementation of the reforms package. APP
The signing ceremony was held in the jam-packed hall of the Presidency which was witnessed by tribal elders drawn from all the seven tribal agencies,five frontier regions, FATA parliamentarians, provincial cabinet of KPK,diplomats, representative of Shaheed Bhutto Foundation, civil society members,mediapersons and representatives of a number of NGOs.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said that representatives of various political parties, who had earlier formed a multi-party Joint Committee on FATA reforms, also witnessed the signing ceremony. The Committee members had called on the President in March this year urging for early implementation of the promised reforms.
The political parties represented at the event included ANP, PML-N, JI, PPP-S, PML-Q, MQM-S, NP, PkMAP and JUI-F.
Tribal elders, parliamentarians from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and representatives of political parties behind the President’s desk signalled the broad-based consensus of all stakeholders as the driving force behind the reforms package.
Speaking on the occasion President Asif Ali Zardari said that his head bowed in gratitude before Allah Almighty for having fulfilled yet another promise made with the people of FATA.
He congratulated the tribesmen for harmonizing reforms with their tribal customs and traditions.
He said the legal and political reforms would rid the tribal people from a century of bondage and usher them into mainstream of national life while respecting local customs and traditions.
The President said some may say that the reforms are not enough and much more needs to be done adding “Let it also not be forgotten that no one even took a single step in the last one hundred years to reform the FCR and give political rights to the people”.
President Zardari said that the door had been unlocked and it was for the people of tribal areas to decide how much more reforms they want in their system of governance.
Any system imposed on them from outside will be counterproductive, he cautioned.
President Zardari responding to the demand for making FATA a province said, making a province is not a simple process.
He said national consensus is required to make a new province and added that the basic decision about the status of FATA rested with the people of FATA and not in the Presidency.
President Zardari, on this occasion, accepted the demand to set up a hospital in FATA and assured that it will be constructed on fast track.
The President appreciated the contribution of the people of FATA for the creation of Pakistan and now for ensuring peace and security.
He said, “Whenever Pakistan needs the people of FATA, they gave sacrifice for the security, progress and prosperity of the country.”
The President said government is making sincere efforts for providing basic needs of life to the people in FATA and other areas.
He also assured the people of FATA that if possible, the government will provide more funds for the development of their area.
Talking to the media explaining the salient features of the reforms package, Spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that contrary to past practice an accused shall have right to bail and it will be mandatory to produce him before the concerned authority within 24 hours of arrest.
He said women, children below 16 and those aged above 65 shall not be arrested or detained under Collective Responsibility.
He said amendments have been announced in the FCR after 110 years at it was first announced in 1901 and under the reformed FCR, the women and children would be exempted from territorial responsibility.
He said that henceforth the whole tribe will not be arrested under the Collective Responsibility clause. Step-wise action will be taken - first immediate male members of family followed by sub-tribe and then by other sections of the tribe, he said.
Cases will now be disposed of in a fixed timeframe and checks placed on arbitrary power of arrest under the notorious Section 40A of the FCR.
Appeals will lie before Appellate Authority comprising of Commissioner and a dedicated Additional Commissioner (Judicial) to be notified by the Governor.
The reforms envisage setting of a FATA Tribunal headed by Chairman and two other members out of whom one shall be a person who has been civil servant of not less than BPS 20 having experience of Tribal Administration and other member shall be a person qualified to be appointed as Judge of High Court well conversant with Rewaj.
The FATA Tribunal shall exercise power of revision against orders/judgments of Appellate Authority and shall have powers similar to High Court under Article 199 of the Constitution.
A new section has been added providing for action for false prosecution in civil and criminal matters. Under it the defendant will be entitled to adequate compensation in criminal matters and compensatory costs in civil matters.
He said that no person shall be deprived of his property without adequate compensation as per prevailing market value in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 procedure in settled areas.
For the first time the funds at the disposal of the Political Agent shall be audited by Auditor General of Pakistan, the Spokesperson said.
Section 58A has been added to make provision for jail inspections by FATA Tribunal, Appellate Authority and Political Agent. Rules will be framed for regulating the Agency Welfare Fund.
Farhatullah Babar said that the reforms hammered out after consultation with all stakeholders was approved in principle on August 12, 2009 in a meeting in the Presidency that was also attended by the Prime Minister. The meeting had left it to the President to announce it any time he deemed fit.
Although the President announced the reforms two days later on the eve of 63rd Independence Day its implementation was stalled for a variety of reasons, Farhatullah Babar said.
The signing today has made the process of reforms irreversible, he said. Any attempt to undo it will require dismantling of consensus among the stake holders and another Order to be signed by the President, Farhatullah Babar said.
Henceforth the political parties, subject to appropriate regulations to be framed, will be freely allowed to operate in the tribal areas and present their socio-economic programmes on the one hand and the century old Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) will be tamed to make it responsive to the human rights of the people, he said.
The permission to political parties to sell their programmes in tribal areas will counter the pernicious one sided campaign of militants to impose their ideological agenda on the people rejecting the state, the Constitution, democracy and indeed our very way of life, he said.
President Asif Ali Zardari said, “A bigger challenge awaited us and it is the challenge of defeating the militant mindset.”
He said, “in the long run we must defeat the militant mindset to defend our country, our democracy, our institutions and our way of life.”
Lauding the people of tribal areas the President said that they have been governed by a hundred years old obsolete system of administration of justice that did not allow their creative potential to come into full play.
He said that the law had been changed in accordance with the aspirations of the people and democratic principles while respecting local customs and traditions.
He said that the FCR was a draconian law under which there is no provision of appeal, wakeel or daleel (no right to appeal, or engaging lawyer or reliance on reasoning) against the orders of the executive.
The tribesmen were subject the whims of administration officials. People have been arrested and kept in jail for long years without trial under the FCR. Under it, a person could be sent to jail for three years without trial.
The jail term could be extended indefinitely in installments of three years and under the Territorial Responsibility women and children have been arrested and sent to jail in the past.
The amendments have changed the most obnoxious provisions of FCR, Farhatullah Babar said.
He said that a major initiative was in the field of judicial reform.
The changes made envisage setting of a FATA Tribunal which shall have powers similar to that of the high courts. The FATA Tribunal shall have powers of revision against orders and judgments of Appellate Authority. Previously there was no such provision of appeal to a judicial authority.
Giving background of the efforts made in the past to bring about the changes, Farhatullah Babar said that in November 2004 the Senate passed a unanimous PPP Resolution calling for changes in the FCR.
In 2004 former Prime Minister Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto formed a special committee of the Party called the FATA Reforms Committee.
Subsequently she also filed a petition in the Supreme Court for political reforms in the tribal areas.
In November 2004 the Senate adopted a PPP resolution for reforms in FATA.
In August 2005 the Senate adopted the report of its Committee of Human Rights that called for changes in the FCR.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani in his first address had announced that the FCR would be changed and brought into conformity with the human rights standards and in accordance with the aspirations of the people. Soon after the formation of government a Committee of the Cabinet was set up in April 2008 under the then law minister Farooq Naek to examine the FCR in consultation with all the stake holders and recommend changes into it.
In August 2008 the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation invited hundreds of tribesmen from all tribal agencies to solicit their views on the FCR and on political reforms in the tribal areas who unanimously recommended a minimum set of reforms.
In January 2009 the President invited FATA tribesmen to the Presidency and heard them say about the FCR and political reforms. The Cabinet Committee on FCR under Farooq Naek considered all of these and other previous reports that had recommended changes in the law in accordance with the wishes of people.
Next month the Cabinet approved the report of the Cabinet Committee on FCR which were also approved by the President, he said.
In March 2011, representatives of major political parties called on the President in the Presidency demanding an early implementation of the reforms package. APP
