PESHAWAR, June 4: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Tuesday observed that in the present security situation and after the passage of 18th Amendment, law and order was provincial subject and the Act dealing with the Frontier Constabulary was apparently now a dead law.

Heading a two-member bench the PHC chief justice observed that now it was up to the attorney general for Pakistan to come and assist the court on what grounds FC could be deployed in rest of the country apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The bench, whose other member was Justice Roohul Amin, directed a deputy attorney general, Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand, to inquire from the AG as to which date was suitable to him for appearance before the court so that the case should be fixed on that date. The court was hearing a writ petition filed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government last year requesting the court to order re-deployment of platoons of FC that were posted in other parts of the country.

During previous hearing the bench had issued notice to the attorney general for Pakistan asking him to assist the court on the interpretation of FC Act 1915 on the point whether this force could be deployed outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

When the bench took up for hearing the case, the DAG informed that the AG was busy before Supreme Court of Pakistan in several important cases including that of the detention of former president Pervez Musharraf, Memo Gate case, etc, due to which he could not turn up.

The bench observed that times had changed now as there were important cases related to the federation before the superior courts and now there should be an attorney general for each of the provinces. The chief justice recalled that despite issuance of notices in several cases the AG did not turn up as there were important cases before the apex court.

Mr Mohmand said that for that purpose the Constitution had to be amended. The PHC chief justice observed that there were several anomalies in the Constitution but as the governments had been making amendments in it without involving top legal brains, therefore, the same could not be removed.

The PHC chief justice observed that even the oath taken by the newly elected MNAs was questionable as the then speaker Fahmida Mirza while administering the oath to them was herself taking oath. He questioned how the same oath could be termed as oath by the speaker as well as other members.

The PHC chief justice observed that under the Constitution Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were parts of Pakistan but the people there were not treated at par with other citizens as there was no mechanism available for enforcement of fundamental rights there. He added that in Afghanistan there was no Fata, but here those areas still existed with the people having the right of franchise but no fundamental rights.

The bench observed when the British government had set up FC it declared its headquarters in Peshawar which clearly manifested their intention that the force was meant for the areas between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.

The PHC chief justice observed that in present security situation and after 18th Amendment maintenance of law and order was exclusive domain of provincial government, therefore the FC Act appeared to be a dead law.

The DAG stated that the federal government believed that under Section 3 and 3A of the FC Act the Frontier Constabulary was a federal force and could be deployed anywhere in the country.

During previous hearing in May the federal government had expressed its inability to deploy more platoons of FC in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as 69 of the platoons serving in Karachi, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan were specifically raised for those areas.

In Nov 6, 2012, the high court had disposed of this writ petition filed by the provincial government through the home secretary and in the light of an undertaking given by an official of the interior division the court had ordered to redeploy the platoons within two months.

However, the said order was not complied with following which the court resumed hearing in this case.