President Zardari approves changes in FCR

A high level meeting presided over jointly by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani at the Presidency on Wednesday endorsed changes in the Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) as well as political reforms in the tribal areas. The meeting urged the President to make the announcement any time he deemed fit. The meeting had been convened specially to consider the report of the Cabinet Committee on the Frontier Crime Regulation proposing amendments in the 100 years old law applicable exclusively in the tribal areas. The meeting in the Presidency today expressed the view that FCR in its present form was an anachronistic law that needed to be amended in the light of the wishes of the people of tribal areas to protect their basic rights while at the same time not to disturb local customs and traditions.