PESHAWAR, Nov 1: Pastee Gul, a Qamberkhel tribesman, saw it as an opportunity, when the government announced to provide shelters to families rendered displaced because of the fresh military operation in Khyber Agency.

“No one listens to poor people here,” Gul, a middle-aged tribesman, said, complaining that the Provincial District Management Authority officials were turning a deaf ear to his requests for help.

According to him, he along with his family of six left their home two years back because of security concerns after the military launched operation in their area.

He started living in a Rs1,500 per month rented house at Serbund, on the outskirts of Peshawar. The decision to live outside the IDPs camp was based on economic considerations as he started earning a livelihood by operating his donkey cart in the local vegetable market.

“I brought my family here four days back with a hope to get a tent because we have been in a state of distress for the past four months after I lost my only source of income,” Mr. Gul said.

A large number of affected families belonging to Shaluber, Qamberkhel, Qamarkhel, Sturikhel, and Akakhel tribes of Khyber Agency applied to PDMA for assistance after it started registering the newly displaced families after the military launched operation on Oct 19 last.

The PDMA's refusal to entertain affected families other than the ones belonging to Malik Din Khel and Sipah tribes in line with the Khyber Agency administration's instructions has left the aid agencies overburdened and families living outside the camps in a state of shock.

As a result, official and international aid agencies, too, have been at the receiving end because of the federal government's attitude towards families living outside the camps, officials said.

They said that the government agencies, including PDMA, Fata Disaster Management Authority and international aid agencies were looking towards the Khyber Agency administration to come up with clear instructions about the affected families living outside the camps.

“We are experiencing a catch 22 situation,” said a PDMA official, adding that “the aid agencies have sufficient resources to help the affected families living outside the camps, but they cannot entertain their requests because of the government attitude”.

Sources said that a recent letter by the Fata Disaster Management Authority to the Khyber Agency administration asking it to come up with a policy about those displaced families who were living outside the camps remained unanswered.

“The political authorities of Khyber Agency have not responded to the FDMA as they have not responded to the request vis-à-vis providing list of the villages affected by the current military operation,” an official said.

A senior official of Khyber Agency, when contacted, said that those who chose to live in the rented houses in Peshawar or elsewhere could not be registered.

“We can't be of much help here, even though many of them are poor and have been suffering since long,” the official said, requesting not to be named.

Like Pastee Gul, Shakeel Jan, a Qamerkhel tribesman, and Gul Din, from Akakhel tribe, too, moved to their relatives at Jalozai camp in an attempt to get registered as IDPs by the PDMA.

They have not been successful in their efforts. Instead, they said, their problems had multiplied as they were sharing small tents with the host families.

Faiz Mohammad, chief coordinator (IDPs), PDMA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when contacted, said that many of the affected families who were not being extended help did not want to live in tents. “Most of them only want food and non-food items from the UN aid agencies,” Mr Mohammad said.