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The government will quash a 107-year colonial law blasted by local and experts as draconian. (Reuters) |
WANA, South Waziristan — Badshah Khan was among thousands of Pakistanis in the northern tribal belt who received with relief the new coalition government's decision to revoke the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) that governed their region for more than a century.
"I am happy that we are going to get liberation from the 107-year slavery of British rule and will be considered first class Pakistani citizen," Khan told IslamOnline.net.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has told the national assembly last week he plans to abolish the FCR, a set of laws enforced by the British colonizers in the tribal belt in 1901 to counter Pushtuns' fierce opposition to their rule.
A committee of legal experts has been set up to for that purpose, he added.
Although Pakistan declared independence in 1947, the semi-autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) continue to be ruled under the FCR to present day.
Under the FCR, the area's political administrator, appointed by the government, enjoys absolute powers.
He can seize the properties of tribesmen, raze their houses and deport them without citing any reason.
Victims can not challenge the decisions of the agent in any court of law, as courts are barred from exercising their jurisdiction in tribal areas under the constitution.
"The reality is that if the political agent doesn’t like my face, he can seize my property and dispossess me without giving any reason," Yunus Khan, who runs a small pharmacy in Wana, said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And I cannot challenge his act in any court of Pakistan."
Enslaved
Khan, 42, hopes that the abolition of the FCR would allow him to retrieve his shops in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, which were seized by the political agent a year ago.
"I am happy that I'm going to get back my property which was seized by the political agent without any reason."
The shops were seized following a remote control bomb blast.
"I would be the most stupid person in the world if I plant the bomb in front of my own shop, especially when I know that I would be the first person to be
arrested for that crime," said a cynical Khan.
Under the FCR, if a blast or any other incident occurs, people in the nearest house are held responsible.
All men of the house remain in the custody until the culprit is arrested.
Worse still, all government incentives, including supply of essential commodities, are suspended to the entire tribe if the culprit is proved belonging to that particular tribe.
"This is a discriminatory law, which forces us to live like slaves," fumed Khan.
"We have no say even in matters related to our own land. We are being controlled through remote control."
Legal experts say the FCR law constituted pro-active discrimination against the tribal people.
"Under the FCR, all inhabitants of an area could be held accountable for offences committed by others," Justice Fakhrunnisa Khokhar told IOL.
"Numerous innocent men, women and children have fallen victim to the draconian FCR."
New Page
Many believe the scrapping of the FCR law will open a new chapter in the relation between the people in the restive tribal belt and the Islamabad government.
"This is a historic step," Malik Abdul Qadira, a local councilor, told IOL.
"The new government has won the hearts of millions of tribesmen."
Justice Nasira Javed Iqbal, the first woman judge of the high court, hopes that revoking the law would end the century-old sufferings of tribal people.
"The annulment of this law will open new ways of progress in neglected tribal areas."
The tribal belt has witnessed in recent years pitched battles between army troops and pro-Taliban tribesmen, commonly known as Local Taliban.
According to intelligence officials, almost half the suicide bombings in Pakistan in the past two years were by Pushtun tribesmen.
But tribal people say extremism and militancy were the natural outcome of the sense of despair and injustice caused by the FCR.
"When they hold guns, they feel they are freed, and are able to retaliate against those who have usurped their freedom," said Khan, the businessman from Wana.
Yunus Khan, the pharmacy owner, agrees.
"When you see your father and grandfather being humiliated by a young and outsider political administrator, your houses being bulldozed, and your properties being seized and you have no hope for justice what else is needed to push you towards extremism and crimes?"
He believes that if equal rights are given to the tribesmen, the growing wave of extremism will automatically died down.
"If you see no future, no opportunities, then you have very limited choices.
"But if our youths see a bright future, and a glimmer of hope, they will tend to hold pen instead of weapons."
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