Compatibility of Rewaj with the Constitutional and Legal Framework of Pakistan with Special Reference to Islamic Law

Abstract

The government of Pakistan has finally merged “Federally Administered Areas” (FATA) with the Province of “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” (KPK) after the enactment of “Twenty-fifth” (25^th) Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan. The erstwhile FATA has a centuries old dispute settlement toll called RewÉj which is practiced through Jirga system and the tribesmen resort to the said system whenever a dispute arises between/among them. Since, FATA has been merged with KPK and the jurisdiction of the statutory laws of the state has also been extended to the said territory, therefore, this study explores that whether RewÉj and the constitutional and legal framework of Pakistan are compatible or not? For this purpose, this study is designed that conducted interviews with the tribesmen of Erstwhile FATA who are well versed in RewÉj and other stakeholders. After the RewÉj is being documented as a result of the proposed interviews, the researchers then critically evaluated the RewÉj within the framework of the Constitution and other formal laws of Pakistan. Moreover, the research article also suggested some fruitful recommendations about RewÉj, which are against the core concepts of Islamic law, human values, logic, and the formal laws of Pakistan, for the policymakers for making informed decisions with regard to the future legal reforms in the merged districts.

  Keywords: RewÉj, Jirga, Fata, Law, Pakistan, Islamic Law