PR No. 27 NCSW WELCOMES THE MERGER OF FATA INTO KP Islamabad: March 3, 2017


            National Commission on the status of Women (NCSW) welcomes the decision of Cabinet on the merger of FATA with KP. In this connection, NCSW would like to draw the attention to the deep concern expressed by NCSW’s members of KP, in particular over the lack of representation of tribal women in the reforms process. They worry about their exclusion in the merger process.

            KP members of NCSW desire to have clarity with regard to the fact that if Nizam-E-Adal replaces Frontier Crime Rules (FCR) 1901 and extends jurisdiction of the Superior Courts to the FATA, it will result in an amalgam of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, Code of Criminal Procedure 1998 and Riwaj – the customs, traditions and usages of tribes in FATA. According to the proposed Act, the district and session Judges appointed by the Federal Government would be supported by Jirga – a council of elders, with four or more members appointed by the Qazi. In the entire process, women are not only un-represented but there is also no protection/ inclusion mechanism for them.

            Furthermore, the status of the reserved seats of women in the Provincial/ National Assemblies and the Senate is unclear. Observance of quota in our view is of importance. Another concern is with the registration of women voters and their training after they are allowed to contest elections on the reserved seats.

            It is expected that all these concerns are adequately addressed in the subject process with a special focus on main streaming of tribal women.

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