PESHAWAR, Oct 25: The Provincial Disaster Management Authority stopped registering the displaced families arriving at Jalozai camp from Khyber Agency on Tuesday and suspended the process of allotting shelters to those already there.

Officials of the PDMA said that the mounting load of work on the camp's administration since the displaced persons started arriving in droves on October 19 was the cause.

“We need to organise their data and prepare clan-wise lists to determine their eligibility for the shelters,” Faiz Mohammad, PDMA chief coordinator for internally displaced persons, told Dawn .

PDMA spokesman Adnan Khan said that the process would be resumed in three to four days following which the deserving displaced families would be accommodated in the camp.

Khyber Agency experienced a mass displacement from different villages in its Bara subdivision as the prolonged armed conflict there recorded a sudden escalation last week after the military launched a fresh operation to weed out militants.

Mr Mohammad said that the camp administration had enlisted more than 3,500 families in three days after they turned up at the camp, seeking temporary shelter and other facilities. That number far exceeded the information provided to PDMA by political administration of Khyber Agency, he said.

According to the agency administration the army action to push back militants from the area would have displaced 1,500 families.

In accordance with PDMA's process, the officials said, after enlisting the displaced families, their particulars were verified by the camp's administration to determine their eligibility for the accommodation and other facilities in the camp.

They said that the cases of some 1,000 newly enlisted displaced families had been scrutinised of which only 122 were found eligible for accommodation in the camp.

He said that the camp administration could accommodate only those families that had been rendered displaced owing to the fresh military operation in villages belonging to Malikdinkhel and Sipah tribes.

Tribesmen seeking shelters at Jalozai camp braced long queues and inordinate delays on Monday for getting enlisted by the camp administration.

PDMA officials said that a large number of the enlisted tribesmen were refused accommodation because they belonged to other clans, including Shaluber, Qamberkhel, and Akakhel, who could not be accommodated unless the Khyber Agency administration took a decision in that regard.

“We will send their information to the political authorities and if they decide to accommodate them in the camp, they will be provided shelters and other facilities,” a PDMA field officer, requesting anonymity, said.

He said that the Authority had got sufficient number of tents, blankets, dry food, and other items meant for the displaced families.