Summary:

The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child is concerned over the continued arrests and conviction of children and juveniles under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

SPARC Condemns the arrest of Minor Children under the FCNovember 19, 2004 Peshawar: The Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child is concerned over the continued arrests and conviction of children and juveniles under the collective responsibility clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation. SPARC is greatly disappointed over the "by name convictions" of children as young as two years old for three years rigorous imprisonment and the continued silence and cold response of the government to the appeals made for the release of these said SPARC's Deputy National Coordinator Arshad Mahmood while addressing a Press Conference.

The press conference was organized to commemorate the Universal Children's Day and International Day Against Child Abuse. There are around 70 children in different prisons of the Province arrested under the FCR. "Unfortunately more than fifteen of them, including girls and boys, even have not attained ten years of age. They are behind bars for crimes that allegedly have been committed by their fathers or other extended family members" informed Mr. Mahmood. Tahir Khan, 8, and Iran Khan, 7, sons of Guldas Khan, Khalil Mohammad who is only 3 years old, Miss Zarmina D/O Qadir Khan who is just 2 years old have been convicted for three years with conditional release after three years are languishing in Central Prison Haripur with their siblings, mothers and other extended family members including some as young as 6 months.

Although the JJSO has been introduced by the government but it is not applied to tribal areas. Instead, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), established by the colonial administration in 1901, applies to these areas. FCR give wide discretionary powers to administrative and political agents. "It is now an established fact that the FCR is a black law, which should be abolished, but successive governments have not been touching it due to their vested interests". Under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR, authorities can detain the fellow members of a fugitive's tribe, or blockade the fugitive's village pending his surrender or punishment by his own tribe.

Different agencies responsible for law and order have failed to perform their duties and have now started targeting innocent civilians to bargain with the outlaws. What is the difference between an outlaw kidnapping innocent people for ransom and the governmental agencies kidnapping and detaining innocent women and children for their release said Mr. Arshad Mahmood. SPARC firmly condemns any application of the FCR contradicting internationally recognized human rights safeguards. Further, SPARC strongly opposes the practice of arresting innocent people under the collective responsibility clause of the FCR and urges the government of Pakistan to undertake all the necessary measurers to release all children imprisoned under the FCR and the collective responsibility clause of the FCR including those who have turned above 18 inside the prisons as a matter of urgency.

Organisation Contact Details:

Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child-Pakistan
#151, Street 37, F-10/1, Islamabad
Tel: + 92 51 229 1553
Email: sparc@comsats.net.pk, admn@sparcpk.org
Website: www.sparcpk.org

Last updated 16/03/2005 07:25:08