PESHAWAR, Jan 24: Tribal elders of Khyber Agency have hailed the government’s decision for giving representation to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in the NWFP Assembly and increasing seats for them in the National Assembly.

Addressing a joint press conference here at Peshawar Press Club on Thursday, Malik Haji Gul Shah Kokikhel and Malik Nawabzada Inayat Khan stated the National Reconstruction Bureau should have taken tribal elders into confidence before amending the Frontier Crime Regulations (FCR).

They said tribesmen did not oppose legal and administrative reforms, but it would be better to educate people before introducing the new local bodies system. Because 80 per cent people of the area were illiterate, they added.

They demanded also of the government to provide basic facilities to the people of Fata.

The government should not interfere in the local judicial system, because it could cause certain legal complications, they said. Instead of bringing amendments in the FCR the government should have introduced reforms in it, they suggested.