Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and Writ of the State: A Study on Local People’s Perception in Khyber Agency

Intikhab Alam, Niaz Muhammad & Musawir Shah

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-Squarewas 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