ISLAMABAD: Members of the protesting Mehsud tribe gathered at D Chowk on Monday, giving a 14-day ultimatum to the government to meet their demands.

Led by Sherpao Mehsud, the protesting internally-displaced persons (IDPs) finally gathered at D Chowk, although the police tried their best to contain them. They demanded the government to rehabilitate them in their native towns, from which they were displaced during the military operation in 2009.

“We are not here in Islamabad to demand facilities, jobs or any other favour. We are just urging the government to give us our villages back. How long will we live away from our homes? Our children and women have been living away from their homes since 2009,” Sherpao Mehsud, who used to be a shepherd in South Waziristan, said while leading the protest rally.

He mentioned that it was disappointing to see that not a single government official came to them for assistance or to express solidarity.

He added that the Mehsud people were patriots and had been requesting the government since 20 days not to alienate the loyal people by turning a blind eye to their plights.

“How many sacrifices does the government seek from us? We are ready but our children, women and elders should be given back their homes. All Mehsuds are not terrorists,” Kalimullah Mehsud, a lawyer, said on the occasion.

The IDPs warned the government to immediately rehabilitate the IDPs in their towns otherwise the entire 1.5 million Mehsud would march to Islamabad to press the government for their demands.

“From now onwards, our ultimatum of 15 days has started. We want our homes back otherwise we will march towards Islamabad,” Khalid Mehsud, another IDPs’ leader warned, adding that South Waziristan had been in control of security agencies and hence it was a good chance to resettle the displaced people.

The IDPs also demanded the government to remove Khyber Governor KP Shaukatullah Khan arguing that, despite belonging to FATA, the governor had been ignoring the woes of Mehsud IDPs.