The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) reports that it has received alarming evidence from local NGOs working in Tribal Areas in Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) that practices used against children in conflict with the law are in direct contravention of the country's Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO).

The Ordinance was launched by authorities in July 2000 to improve the protection of children in conflict with the law. Reforms included the prohibition of labour during imprisonment, corporal punishment in police custody, the use of fetters and handcuffs, and the death penalty for juveniles.

However, according to the OMCT, the measures have still not been implemented throughout Pakistan. The JJSO is virtually never applied to tribal areas, it says. Instead, the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), established by the colonial administration in 1901, applies to the tribal areas. This statute grants wide discretionary powers to administrative and political agents, as well as to elders and leaders to administer justice according to Sharia Islamic law and tribal custom.
 
The OMCT report highlights cases that reveal the dramatic situation of children in armed conflict, including that of Qismat Khan, a fifteen year old who was dealt a prison sentence of forty five years for a dispute over ownership of territory where the Khan family was living.

Arshad Mahmood, Deputy National Coordinator of the Society for the Protection and Rights of the Child (SPARC) says that "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." 

For the full report, visit:
http://www.omct.org/base.cfm?page=article&num=4948&consol=close&kwrd=OMCT&grp=Press&cfid=1088283&cftoken=37867738