Former KP governor opposes Rewaj Act
By Our Correspondent
2017-07-07
KHAR: Former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan said on Thursday that the government`s plan to replace the Frontier Crimes Regulation with Rewaj Act in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas would create more problems for the people.
Speaking to media persons after attending an Eid Milan Party here, he said that Fata reforms were imperative for peace and development of the tribal areas. However, he said that he was against introduction of the proposed Rewaj Act in the tribal areas instead of the country`s regular laws.`It (Rewaj Act) is another form of colonial system,` he said. He expressed his surprise over the federal government and members of the Fata reforms committee suggesting the Rewaj Act to replace FCR.
The former governor said that the proposed law was tougher than FCR and it would not help the tribesmen in solving their problems. He asked the government to withdraw the plan to replace the current governance system with regulations which could further deprive the tribesmen of their basic rights.
He said that it would be unfortunate for both the PML-N and the tribesmen if meaningful and result-oriented reforms were not introduced in the tribal areas during the present government.
`This is a great chance for the PML-N government to win the hearts of tribesmen by implementing a comprehensive reforms package in Fata,` he said.
He feared that the Fata reforms would become a thing of the past if these were not implemented during the present government.
He said that there was no problem in way of implementation of reforms. Answering a question, he said that reforms would be incomplete without merger of Fata with KP.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party leaders expressed anger over the delay in implementation of the proposed Fata reforms and announced to expedite efforts to force the government for their early implementation.
They were addressing a public meeting on Thursday at Memola in Barang tehsil, which was also attended by former federal minster Najamuddin Khan, party`s provincial vice-president Akhunzada Chattan and local leaders.
The speakers criticised the federal government for delay in implementation of the proposed reforms, saying that the PML-N government was not interested in bringing changes in the lives of tribal people. On this occasion, a tribal elder, Malik Juma, announced to join PPP.