PESHAWAR: The Fata Political Alliance has demanded the government to abolish the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).
Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the Khyber Agency chapter president of the alliance, Shah Faisal Afridi, called for amendments to the Article 247 of the Constitution, which, according to him, has deprived the tribespeople of their fundamental rights.
Flanked by Pakistan People’s Party, Bara tehsil chapter President Hazrat Wali Afridi, representative of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Muhammad Tahir, Awami National Party’s Nisbat Ali, and others, he said the FCR had deprived the tribal people of their fundamental rights. He said repeal of the FCR was inevitable to give tribal people their constitutional, political and other fundamental rights.
Shah Faisal Afridi said the reforms process was initiated by government through formation of a committee. He termed it as a futile exercise, because real stakeholders were not taken on board during consultation process.
He asked the government to share the report of Fata Reforms Committee with the alliance and tribal people before its formal implementation in tribal region. Shah Faisal supported merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying its people wanted abolishment of FCR.
He alleged that large-scale misappropriations of foreign aid and development funds were made in Fata due to lack of any checking and monitoring system. The alliance leader said the basic infrastructure had been badly damaged during the military operations in tribal region. He criticised the government after accusing it of making poor arrangements for Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) from Fata at their makeshift camps.
