A dismal start of justice system in Merged Districts

By Shabbir Khan



In April 2018, the upper house of the parliament passed a bill which extended the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and Peshawar High Court (PHC) to the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). After the passage of this bill a great hurdle in the process of mainstreaming tribal was eliminated which ultimately paved the way for the complete merger of the region with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. This was a landmark decision in the history of tribal areas which finally abolished the justice system which was based on the very suppressive and exploitative law called the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR). The extension was meant to safeguard the fundamental rights of the tribal citizens guaranteed by the constitution and providing a proper justice and court system like the rest of the country. Since 1901, under the FCR all the executive, judicial and financial powers were vested in the political agent office, whose words were final and decree of law. Ex-FATA was the only region in the world where one officer of the government could exercise such unbridled powers.

Amid the merger episode there were different opinions over the future status of FATA. There are no doubt that majority of the residents of erstwhile FATA willing to be merged with Khyber Pakhtunkwa and live under the constitution of Pakistan. However, there was a section of population which was against the merger. Their argument was based on the notion that the routine justice and court system of Pakistan is lengthy, complicated, expensive and corrupt. They argued that the people of FATA are simple and illiterate who will not be able to understand the complications of regular courts and Kachehri. Thus, getting justice and resolving their civil and criminal disputes in Pakistani courts will be next to impossible. To some extent, their fear was genuine as in some cases it takes decades to settle civil litigations in the regular courts. For hundreds of years the people of erstwhile FATA lived under the justice system which was based on the local Jirga either independent or appointed by the political agent. That system has its own flaws and drawbacks, but that system of jirga was speedy and having no expenses. The residents of that region were acquainted with the system no matter how suppressive and discriminatory it was. They feared the new justice system. Anyway, FATA was merged and the new justice system has been in place for almost two years. How is it function now? How responsive it is to the needs of the citizens of tribal districts? And how government could make it more responsive, accessible, transparent and understandable for the common people of tribal areas?

The answer is not simple and the work is not to be done in a year or two. The first and major problem is lack of awareness among the people of merged districts about the new judicial system and its jurisdiction. Most of the people are unaware of the procedure of filing a complaint, litigation and FIR. The judicial complexes and courts premises are under construction and people do not know where to go in case of grievances. In some cases, complaints are recorded in merged areas, challans are given in other areas and bail applications are to be processed in the district courts situated in the settled area in the adjacent city. This is not only confusion, it’s becoming expensive and time consuming. Government should expedite to the process of establishing the judicial complex, run an awareness campaign among the masses about the significance and use of the judicial system.

The second problem is the traditional time consuming process of the courts systems in Pakistan. People of merged districts lived with the relatively short and low cost justice system in the form of local Jirgas. The new system justice is taking longer periods of time concluding cases. This is greatly damaging the credibility of the court system among the masses. Government should ensure speedy trails and conclusion to ensure trust for judiciary in the region.

The third issue with the new system is its inability to solve the land related disputes among the tribes. Most of the disputes in tribal areas are concerning land, mountains shamilat and minerals ownership. Since the land of merged districts is not computerized and documented. In the absence of such documentation and data, this newly introduced court system is not equipped to conclude such disputes. In this scenario, people prefer the old Jirga system for disputes related to land and property. Government must initiate the process of recording and documenting the land and properties in the merged districts so that the judicial system remains relevant to the people.

Last but not the least is the prevailing culture of corruption and influence in traditional justice system. People of merged districts also complain about the corruption and discrimination on the part of officers responsible for dispensing justice. If the government remains unsuccessful to stop corrupt practices and discrimination, it will shake and weaken peoples’ belief in the system. Solution to all the aforementioned challenges depends on the delivery of the new justice system and government’s ability to ensure a justice system which is not only free of corruption but accessible, low cost and speedy as well.

The author is a project management and policy development professional. He can be reached at : shab.afridi@gmail.com