ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR/DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Almost all mainstream opposition parties have praised the federal cabinet`s approval of proposed merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but with a demand that the merger take place before the end of the incumbent government`s term in 2018, instead of five years.

However, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), a key allyof the government, opposed the cabinet decision.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawwad Chaudhry said his party welcomed the decision but the merger (process) should be completed before 2018 general elections. `We want reforms in Fata but we were not expecting that the government will stretch the merger plan to five years,` he said.

`It seems that the government has deferred the merger of Fata with KP to the next government because this government does not want to take any decision,` he added.

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said his party rejected the cabinet decision because it did not protect larger interests of the tribal people.

Talking to reporters at his residence in Dera Ismail Khan, he said the reforms committee had deceived the people of Fata, and added that his party would oppose every decision imposed on the tribal people.

Maulana Rehman said he had discussed the issue with Prime Minister Sharif and Sartaj Aziz and they had agreed that the people of Fata would be brought into the mainstream but no decision would be taken without consulting them.

`The government has violated that commitment today,` he said, `I will protest with and remind [the prime minister] of his commitment that there will be no merger of Fata with KP.

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq welcomed the decision of merger and demanded that it take place in one year.

Though the Pakistan People`s Party (PPP) did not oppose the cabinet`s decision, it refrained from commenting on it. `We have discussed the issue and made it an agenda item of a multi-party conference called by our party on revival of military courts on Saturday. We will give our considered opinion on the Fata reforms after the conference,` PPP secretary general Farhatullah Babar said.

In Peshawar, the Qaumi Watan Party (QWM) and the PTI expressed displeasure over the federal cabinet`s decision to delay the merger of Fata with KP.

Speaking on a point of order in the KP Assembly, Sikandar Khan Sherpao, parliamentary leader of the QWP, criticised the federal cabinet for putting of f the merger of Fata with KP for five years. `The (federal cabinet`s) decision is an injustice to the people of Fata and an insult to the unanimous resolutions (passed by) the KP Assembly,` he said.

Mr Sherpao, whose party is a coalition partner of the PTI in the province, said the federal government had wasted a `golden opportunity` by postponing the merger for five years.

PTI`s Shah Farman, minister for public health engineering, also criticised the delay in the proposed merger. He said the federal government was lingering on decisions about the future of Fata instead of taking bold decisions to end confusion surrounding the tribal belt.

Opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who belongs to the JUI-F, neither opposed nor supported the federal cabinet`s decision. He reiterated his party`s demand for a referendum on the future of Fata. `There should be a referendum on this issue to ask the people of Fata whether they want a merger with KP or a separate province,` he said.

Lawmakers of the Awami National Party were absent from the session and members of the PPP and the JI did not comment on the cabinet`s decision regarding Fata.