PESHAWAR, March 4: Federally Administered Tribal Areas would gradually be converted into the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas in line with the under-implementation administrative and judicial reforms, envisaging Fata’s integration into the NWFP, according to official sources.

The reforms package, duly approved by President Gen Pervez Musharraf, envisages extension of the provincial Police Act as well as the devolution of power plan to the whole of Fata. It also provides for restructuring of the tribal areas’ law enforcement agencies.

Besides, it also stipulates extension of some of the laws of the settled areas.

To bring the tribal areas into the mainstream, the plan also provides for extension of those laws that pertain to the settlement of disputes, territorial limits and boundaries of the tribal and settled areas.

An official report, made available to Dawn, notes that with the proposed reforms in the administrative and judicial setup and the development of the area, the present pathetic state of accessibility will improve.

Delegation of financial authority at the agency, tehsil and sub-tehsil levels (in Fata) has also been envisaged in the reforms blueprint.

Without making extraordinary changes in the Frontier Crimes Regulation — governing the Fata — to keep intact the level of its acceptance among the tribesmen, the judicial reforms provide for separation of judiciary from the executive.

In this context, at the trial court level, the judicial powers vested in the office of the Political Agent and Assistant Political Agent would now be exercised by the presiding officer who would head the trial court.

The primitive tribal institution of Jirga and Riwaj would continue to form integral parts of the tribal judicial system at least for some more time, to pursue swift integration of Fata into the NWFP, according to the sources.

“The status of Fata would get converted into Pata, keeping intact the spirit of the Article 247 of the Constitution that grants special area status to these areas,” said a senior official of the provincial government.