ISLAMABAD: The federal government is trying to derail the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and allied parties are delaying the process, KP minister Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the launch of a study titled `Governance Reforms in Fata A people`s perspective`hosted by the Fata Research Centre , Ms Tahirkheli alleged that the Jammiat Ulema-i-Islam (F) and Mehmood Achakzai are against the merger of Fata with KP.

The minister said that the main reason for Fata falling into the hands of militants was the lack of modern state institutions in the area.

`It is high time that Fata be streamlined with the rest of the country and the area can be brought into the mainstream by merging it with KP,` she said.

Speaking at the event, German Ambassador Ina Lapel said her country will help in rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts and with the return of the internally displaced persons as well.

She said the Zarb-i-Azb operation had helped bring peace in Fata and that Germany had also helped in formulating the study, which explores the people`s perspective in this very volatile region. The research had indicated that the people of Fata were ready for governance reforms. It had also said that almost all stakeholders are convinced that Fata should be streamlined with the rest of the country.

The study was based on options forwarded by the government over proposed governance reforms in the region.

These included the merger of Fata with KP, that Fata be given the status of a separate province, that it be given the status of Fata council on the pattern of Gilgit Baltistan and that the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) be retained as a system of governance, but with certain reforms.

During the study, 74pc of respondents said they wanted Fata to be merged with KP,18pc partially disagreed with the merger and 5pc disagreed with it. About 26pc of respondents wanted Fata to be a separate province with 19pc agreeing to the idea.

The idea of making amendments to the FCR-based system was endorsed by 19pc of respondents and that of introducing a Fata council received support from 18pc of the respondents.