ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Friday demanded that the proposed Riwaj Act and the regulation to set up local bodies (LB) in the tribal areas under the recently announced reforms package be placed before parliament for discussion before the president signed any regulation in this regard.
Speaking on an issue of public importance in the Senate, Senator Farhatullah Babar said that keeping the Riwaj Act and LB law secret from the public and parliament raised serious questions about the law replacing the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the tribal areas as promised in the reforms package.
“It will be a disastrous step backward if it turns out that the Riwaj Act was even more regressive and anti-human rights than the notorious FCR,” he said. He said that the president must not sign these regulations merely on the advice of bureaucracy alone without it being discussed in parliament.
“Likewise, parliament should be taken on board as to how the local bodies governments would be set up in the tribal areas, the powers and responsibilities of these bodies and the mode of election, and whether these will be held in all agencies simultaneously or in a staggered manner and how.”
He also demanded to know how the government proposes to extend the jurisdiction of the superior courts to FATA as promised in the reforms package and the timeline for it. “The silence of the government on these issues gives rise to doubts that the reforms package is more of a publicity stunt rather than serious effort to mainstream the tribal areas.”
