PESHAWAR, Sept 27: A grand jirga of the Malakand region endorsed on Saturday the proposed Nizam-i-Adl (Sharia) Regulation, 2008, likely to be enforced in the region, including Swat, from December.

Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti told journalists after presiding over the jirga that he would send the proposed regulation to the NWFP governor for seeking his consent. It will then be forwarded to the president for final approval.

“Hopefully the whole system will be on ground in the entire Malakand region from December,” Mr Hoti said, adding that the law would ensure speedy justice in the region. He appreciated the role of Maulana Sufi Mohammad in this regard.

The law, if approved, will cover the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata), including seven districts of the Malakand region and tribal areas of Mansehra and Kohistan.

“Initially, the government is implementing the Sharia regulation in the Malakand region and it can be extended to other districts if people desire so,” the chief minister said.

He said the proposed law would replace the existing Nizam-i-Adl Regulation introduced in 1999. He said there were many flaws in the existing law which had been removed.

The jirga comprising members of the provincial assembly and nazims from all seven districts of Malakand met Mr Hoti and his cabinet members and discussed the proposed draft.

Under the proposed law, the provincial government will appoint 100 qazis, including six izafi zila qazis and 94 ilaqa qazis. In addition to this, 500 supporting staff will also be appointed.

Mr Hoti said the recruitment plan had been discussed with Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Tariq Pervez and the appointment process was likely to be completed in 40 days. He said the recruitment would cost the government Rs120 million annually.

The chief minister said the government would provide the required infrastructure to judicial staff in Malakand. Initially, offices and courtrooms would be set up in rented buildings and respective district governments had been issued directives in this regard, he added.

Highlighting salient features of the draft, Mr Hoti said the police officer concerned was bound to produce challan (charge-sheet) before the court within 14 days and if he failed to do so the district police officer would take disciplinary action against him.A civil case will be decided in six months and criminal case in four months. However, the appellate court may grant another one month to decide the case, if necessary.

Ilaqa qazi will be assigned 200 cases and zila qazi 150 cases.

Mr Hoti said that a mechanism had been put in place for accountability of qazis to avoid delaying tactics in disposal of the cases. “If a qazi unnecessarily delays a case, his performance will be reflected in the Annul Confidential Report.”

He said that posts of mauvin qazis (assistant to qazi) would be filled on non-political basis.

About the role of mauvin qazi, he said that his advice would not be binding on the qazi but would be part of the judicial record of the case. A bench of the high court will function in Malakand which will also act as an appellate bench and hear appeals originating out of judgments of qazi courts. “To discourage unnecessary adjournment of cases we have proposed a fine of Rs5,000 on each undue adjournment by any of the parties,” he added.

Mr Hoti said the proposed regulation provided a mechanism for out-of-court settlement. A musleh (mediator) will try to resolve a dispute between two parties within 15 days and if he fails to do so more time would be given.