T HE Women`s Action Forum (Karachi) considers the Fata reform process to be a turning-point in our post-colonial history.
We must not repeat historical mistakes where British imperialist policies were continued by equally racist and colonial attitudes of the Pakistan federation towards tribal areas.
While fairly consultative and inclusive, the reform process has excluded the voices and demands of women and minorities. This is why WAF demands that the recommendations of the Taqrha Qabaili Khwenday (tribal sisterhood) be central to the reforms, especially on the issue of maintaining Riwayati justice system versusthe Code of Criminal Procedure. WAF demands that Fata must have constitutional equality for all rather than private justice systems (jirgas). Male-dominated parallel legal systems thriving under the FCR violate women`s constitutional rights.
Women fought at the fronts of the Lawyers` Movement and for restoration of constitutional judicial norms. So why are women in Fata being sacrificed to the customs and traditions of the old, unjust patriarchal order? Why is the Pakistani state not giving women equal access as full citizens to justice as the rest of the country? Women`s rights must not be bartered at the altar of political expediency for either side.
