LANDI KOTA L: Newborn children in tribal areas having birth certificate would be exempted from any type of punishment under Collective Territorial Responsibility clause of Frontier Crimes Regulation, said of ficial.

Faisal Sayed, the birth registration coordinator for Bara, told a gathering of elders and parents at Levies centre in Shah Kat on Wednesday that timely registration of all the newborn children in tribal areas would ensure their safety and protection against misuse of FCR.

He called upon the local elders and parents to ensure acquisition of birth certificates of the new off-springs along with taking the massage to far-off areas to apprise maximum number of tribesmen about the utility and importance of birth certificate.

Mr Sayed said that at present only one percent of children in Fata had birth certificates while the rest were without that vital document due to ignorance of their parents.

He said that children in Fata were deprived of a number of facilities as they didn`t possess birth certificates. He said that children with their birth certificates would have f acility in getting admissions in educational institutions, acquiring income support cards, prime minister`s health cards and getting benefits from other profitable schemes at national level.

The ofñcial said that so far his ofñce received 50,000 applications from the entire Khyber Agency and staff was working on timely provision of certificates to all the applicants.

`The procedure is now simple and it takes little time to get a certificate. Maximum number of tribesmen shall avail this opportunity,` he said. He urged local elder and activists of political parties to play an active role in highlighting the importance of birth registration in tribal areas so that all newborn babies were entitled to the facilities attached to that important document.

Mr Sayed also distributed a large number of forms among the parents on the occasion.