Understanding Jirga system

So before hasting into conclusion of is Jirga system is right or wrong? Let us first get some fundamental knowledge of what it really is? How does it structure work? So Jirga is like an institution of pukhtoon tribes .It has been around since a long time and very honored by the people of specific tribal areas. It is like a counsel with composition of the knowledgeable, accustomed, seasoned and loyal members of the tribe.   They decide disputes and address the problems of the community as well as individuals with taking help from precedents in the past or deciding it on the consent of the whole counsel.

This Jirga system has been regulated by the law of “Frontier crime regulations 1901“which is the basic component of administrative justice system in Tribal areas. FATA’s judicial system is mixture of traditional tribal customs and its norms with executive power lying with PA (political agent) of specific agency or area. The PA is the civil appointment and represents the Federal government in the FATA.   The Jirga work, inquire and establish the innocence or guilt after giving the both the parties fair chance of explaining their stance on the problem. The PA though has the ultimate power .

The Fata residents support the Jirga as quick and “efficient” source of justice. But it still needs to be streamlined with modern council setup. One of the criticism that Jirga draws is the under representation of females on Jirga. There are hardly members of the Jirga whom are females. The tribal norms do not have adequate place for females actively participating in community jobs like these. But the needs of justice sometime do require the participation of both the genders in order to understand the complexities of the issues or problems. Furthermore FCR do need some amendments because it provides a lot of power to PA which can be misused or abused at times. At the same time it can also be mandated in the law to have equal representation of genders in the council (Jirga).