PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had has urged the federal government to take pragmatic steps for rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and announce a relief package for them without any delay.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Pres Club on Wednesday, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa general secretary Khalid Masood said that his party had always raised voice for the rights of displaced families and asked the government to fulfil its responsibilities and serve the tribal people like other citizens of the country.

On this occasion, the Fata Olympic Association secretary general and Fata Football Association’s president Shahid Khan Shinwari and Fata Swimming Association general secretary Nawaz Orakzai announced to join PTI.

Asks centre to take steps for giving rights to Fata people

PTI MNA Engineer Hamidul Haq, Fata organiser Haji Iqbal Afridi and other tribal leaders were also present at the press conference. 

Mr Masood said that the provincial government had focused on legislation to overcome the core issues and claimed that people from Fata and other parts of the country were joining PTI because of its policies. He said that PTI had become a strong political force in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) because the tribesmen had realised that party chairman Imran Khan was the only leader who had the capacity to steer the country out of the present crisis and help them get their rights.

He said his party would continue efforts to raise voice for the right of tribal people at all forums. He claimed PTI would clean sweep the future elections both in Fata and the provinces. He asked the federal government to make amendments to Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR) in consultation with the people of Fata so that they could get justice on their doorstep.

Shahid Shinwari and Nawaz Orakzai said that Imran Khan was a national leader, who had raised voice for the Fata people and that was why they had joined his party.

Meanwhile, a member of PTI organising committee for Fata, Aminzada Afridi, told another press conference in Peshawar on Wednesday that a large number of people from different tribal regions, including students and internally displaced persons, will participate in the Nov 30 rally of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Islamabad.

“We will resist strongly in case the federal government tried to put any hurdle in our way towards Islamabad,” he said, adding that Imran Khan had invited everyone to attend the rally for getting their rights. He claimed that a caravan of thousands of tribesmen from Khyber Agency, along with people of other agencies of Fata, would participate in the rally. “Tribesmen are ready to give any sacrifice, but they would fully participate in the protest rally on Nov 30,” he vowed.

Accompanied by other members of the committee and elders, including Jamal Afridi, Shehzad Afridi, Mohammad Zahid, Khan Sher Afridi and Abdul Khaliq, Mr Aminzada regretted that successive governments had failed to mitigate the sufferings of tribal people. He said that the government was not taking serious steps to resolve the problems of IDPs.

Jamal Afridi regretted that the tribesmen were not given rights according to the Constitution, mainly due to imposition of the FCR in Fata. He said that Fata had been deliberately kept backward, especially in education sector.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2014