TANK: Authorities on Monday sent over 140 internally displaced families to their native towns in South Waziristan from the Khargi transit camp here, completing the 12th phase of the IDPs return.

The 12th phase had begun on August 31. Pak Army, district administration and the Fata Disaster Management Authority oversaw the IDPs return process.

A total of 11,009 IDP families have been sent to Sara Rogha, Sarwekai, and Tiarza tehsils of South Waziristan during this phase of the rehabilitation of the people displaced following launch of the Zarb-i-Azb military operation in the tribal region.

According to an FDMA official, out of total 11,009 returned families, 6,625 families were registered and 4,384 were unregistered. He said 6,527 families were provided ATM cards while 6,215 families were given mobile SIMS, adding 6,362 IDP children were given polio vaccines.

It is worth mentioning here that due to the launch of the military operation Rah-i-Nijat in 2009 over one million tribal people had been displaced who migrated to Tank, Dera Ismail Khan and other parts of the country.

Published in Dawn, October 13th , 2015

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