September 22, 2008	Monday	Ramazan 21, 1429

PESHAWAR, Sept 21: The large scale displacement from the militancy-hit areas of the NWFP and adjacent tribal region is likely to affect delimitation process for the coming general census scheduled to be started by the year’s end, sources say.

According to sources the Population Census Organisation, which has planned to hold census across the country by the end of December this year, postponed delimitation in South Waziristan tribal region due to prevailing lawlessness.

It is worth mentioning that general elections in NA-42 had not been held in the Mehsud tribe dominated areas of South Waziristan owing to military operation.

An official said that training had been imparted to the enumerators in the volatile region but field staff had yet to start working in the area because of the law and order situation.

He said that the delimitation process in all 24 districts, six tribal agencies and six Frontier Regions of Fata had been completed except South Waziristan. “The entire process has to be revised in those areas where it had already been done,” he said.

According to him, families from Bajaur, South and North Waziristan, Kurram, Darra Adamkhel and Swat district had moved out to other areas for safety and clashes but the exact location of these families is not known.

Sources said that the organisation would re-launch delimiting of the areas from where mass exoduses had taken place in view of the military operation and acts of terrorism and militancy.

They said that NWFP Relief Commission had provided lists to the organisation according to which some 200,000 people had been displaced from Bajaur tribal region during the last one month. Many displaced people returned to Bajaur from relief camps after government announced ceasefire ahead of Ramazan.

It had no details of the displaced families from other areas like Kurram, Darra and Swat, sources added. Apart from this some 14,000 people had migrated to Afghanistan’s Kunar province. For the first time in the nation history a large number of people had displaced due to militancy.

The sources said that there was data about the people who had fled their houses in Kurram, Bajaur, Swat, Darra Adamkhel, Waziristan and Tank district and moved to Sindh and Punjab provinces or had been residing with their relatives and rented houses in urban areas of the NWFP.

The official said that before embarking on the exercise of preparation of fresh house count from December 1 the enumerators would again conduct delimitation process in the affected areas to ascertain the number of the displaced families and host areas where they had been residing in camps or in rented houses.