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Abstract
The present study was conducted in Khyber Agency, one of the seven agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, with the sole objective to ascertain the local people's attitude towards the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). FCR is a law implemented in FATA being different from the state law but approved within the constitutional framework of Pakistan. The study units include intellectuals, business community, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and students hailing from the target agency, and personnel from the political administration. A sample size of 380 respondents from the categories mentioned in the foregoing line was chosen for interview. Uni- variate and bi-variate analyses were drawn through percentage based presentations cross tabulation respectively. Chi-Square was used to determine the level of association between FCR and writ of the State. The study findings reveal major flaws of FCR as: FCR is a law but with no proper protection to the legal rights of the people; FCR is an inhuman and injudicious legal system; it promotes the exercise of unchecked and deliberate power by the political administration; and the unchanged status of FCR after implementation created numerous problems for which the local Maliks were held responsible to block the way of changes for the sake of their selfish designs . The study recommends overtime amendments in FCR, so as it could meet the challenges of the day and promote the zeal to strengthen the writ of the state.
Keywords
FATA, FCR, Writ of the State, Local People's Perception
Introduction
Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) was first introduced as law in series at different times in 1871 and 1876 in tribal areas and then extended to some other parts of Pakistan in 1901, conferring judicial power on the administrative officers. These areas included Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Larkana (Sind) Sargodha (Punjab)...After independence of Pakistan in 1947, the FCR was restricted to the FATA which is still in vogue there. The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan, is empowered to legislate/amend this legal document on behalf of the president of Pakistan; and has the authority of surveillance over the affairs of these areas (Guantana and Nelson,2008; Ziad, 2009). It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan has a state law but the tribal belt (FATA) is...