ISLAMABAD: Experts and parliamentarians on Monday conditionally endorsed the proposed merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which, according to them, would ensure provision of all basic rights to the people of these areas.

They were speaking at a roundtable conference: `Integrating Fata: Issues and Challenges`, which was organised by Shaheed Bhutto Foundation.

They endorsed the Fata Reforms Committee recommendations, including the gradual merger of tribal areas with KP, but stressed that during the transition period, governor should be a tribesman so that he could protect his people`s rights.

Currently the reform committee recommendations are being discussed in the National Assembly and later the upper house of the parliament will take up the committee report.

Speaking on the occasion, senator Farhatullah Babar said tribal areas needed to be decolonized and made a fully empowered administrative unit.

`During peace it is governed from centre and during war, its people face drones,` he said and added that the government should take steps to implement reforms package as soon as possible.

He took exception to some recommendations of the latest report, par-ticularly to the proposal that the proposed Fata Development Authority should be headed by chief executive of ficer of Grade 22 from civil-military bureaucracy.

`Local government should be established under the KP local bodies` laws,` he said and added that peace and progress would elude tribal areas for decades as long as there is no peace in Afghanistan. `There is a need to revisit Afghan policy,` he said.

Senior analyst Ayaz Wazir said Fata had been a neglected region for decades. He said the agencies had no link roads, and even if some existed they were closed to traf fic, which had made the travel between the agencies difficult for the people.

`Construction of roads was the responsibility of the government, but the successive governments never made any serious attempt to develop the area,` he said and added that if merger of Fata with KP was imperative, the governor should be from Fata.

His suggestion was endorsed by other speakers.

Former political agent and chief secretary Khalid Aziz said it was a fact that Fata always remained neglected.

He suggested that instead of wasting time in debate, the Fata should be made part of KP.

He said that when he was the political agent of North Waziristan Agency in 1976, the then prime minister Zulifkar Ali Bhutto visited the area and launched a comprehensivereforms package for Fata, which according to him, needed to be implemented in the light of the latest developments.

Senator from Kurram Agency Sajjid Hussain Turi strongly criticised the existing system governing Fata, and held it responsible for poor law and order situation there. `We are supposed to pay permit fee for transporting flour bag to even match boxes to my areas,` he said and suggested Fata must be made part of KP so that it could get its share from the NF C award.

Former Peshawar High Court justice Ajmal Mohamamd Mian, who headed the Frontier Crimes Regulation Reforms Committee, gave four options: maintaining status-quo, forming a GB-like Council, merging with KP or making an independent province.

Haji Shaji Gul Afridi, MNA from Fata, demanded an equal distribution of resources and representation as and when Fata is merged in KP.

Senator Rubina Khalid seconded the option of local government elections in Fata as it would add more credence to the voice of Fata similar to Political Parties Act 2012, which provided space to political and representative forces in the tribal region.

Former deputy speaker Faisal Karim Kundi criticised the five-year transition period, as proposed in the reforms report. He demanded that the proposed integration with KP should be smooth and realistic.