KHAR: Tribal elders rejected proposed reforms to the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) on Tuesday and demanded the enforcement of Islamic law in Bajaur Agency. They also warned a âcivil warâ would engulf the region if the Political Parties Act was extended to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). âWe will not accept any alternative to FCR other than Sharia,â former Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Bismillah Khan told reporters after a meeting of tribal elders. âWe believe that if political activities are allowed in the tribal areas, it will lead to civil war and anarchy.â The meeting unanimously rejected reforms to the FCR, saying it would only support Islamic law to replace the old system. On Monday, the major political parties of the country, including Pakistan Muslim League (Q and N), Awami National Party, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman), had welcomed reforms proposed by the FATA Reforms Committee, and asked committee head Justice (r) Mian Ajmal to speed up the process. The Tuesday meeting of key tribal elders was seen as a strong reaction to the committeeâs meeting, where political activists had outnumbered FATA reform opponents.
Khan accused the JI of âtrying to create disturbancesâ in Bajaur Agency, as its MNA Haroon Rashid was only developing areas where Jamaat activists lived. âThe Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MNAs - Haroon Rashid and Maulana Sadiq - have given us nothing but disappointment for the last three years,â Khan told tribal elders.