After months of delay the Upper House (Senate) has finally passed the bill seeking extension of Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court to FATA (Federally administered Tribal Areas). The bill has been pending with the Upper House since it was adopted by the National Assembly in January 2018. The bill is part of reforms package aimed at bringing the region into national mainstream besides addressing the grievances of the local population. In senate, the bill was tabled by Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch which was passed by the House on Friday. “In order to bring the people of FATA into the mainstream in accordance with their wishes and aspirations, it is necessary that the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court should be extended to such areas for safeguarding their rights and providing them proper administration of justice in accordance with the constitution,” said the bill. It is hoped that the bill will pave a way for speedy justice to people of the tribal areas, which are directly governed by Pakistan’s federal government through a special set of laws called Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The system of governance, introduced by the British for the furtherance of imperialistic designs in South Asia, unfortunately continued without any major change. However, in 2002 some changes were introduced in the notorious act (FCR) through Political Parties Order. But since then the reforms package remained in limbo due to some unknown reasons. However, the PML-N government recently constituted a committee a high-powered Fata Reforms Committee, headed by Sartaj Aziz and including General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch, minister for states and frontier regions. The committee after consulting all stakeholders proposed a way forward for the political mainstreaming of FATA. It is in this context that the bill was presented in the national assembly and the upper house gave its assent to a bill seeking the extension of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court (PHC) to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).The passage of landmark bill is by and large seen as a step forward to revamp the judicial and administrative system enforced in the areas. The passage of this bill will hopefully open the new vistas of opportunities and prosperity besides giving a sense of ownership and belonging to the people of FATA who over the past several decades have suffered a lot due to this unjust system. Although a lot more is needed to done to end the sense of deprivation amongst the people of FATA but this is just a good beginning and hopefully the historic initiative will go a long way in providing FATA residents a proper administration of justice in accordance with the constitution of Pakistan. To put the Tribal Areas on the path to progress and development there is dire need to implement the reforms package in letter and spirit. To bring the FATA at par with other developed provinces there is no way other than bringing the region into mainstream and vice versa the durable peace hinges on mainstreaming of the tribal areas.
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