PESHAWAR: Displaced students of North Waziristan Agency have demanded that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan ensure early disbursement of the stipend announced by the Higher Education Commission for them.

Waziristan Students Society president Rahim Dawar told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday that that HEC had announced monthly stipend of Rs5,000 each for North Waziristan Agency displaced students studying in Peshawar University but the university’s administration refused to pay the money to the deserving students.

He said the university had enrolled 37 displaced students, whose families had suffered first due to militancy in North Waziristan and later due to the Zarb-i-Azb military operation.

“Hostel fee and admission fee are also charged from the students despite the HEC orders,” he said, adding that they had contacted the vice chancellor, but to no avail.

Accompanied by general secretary of the society Laeq Shah Wazir and press secretary Abdul Mehmood, the student leader asked the government to take practical steps for the rehabilitation of displaced persons and restoration of damaged infrastructure in North Waziristan.

He said most educational institutions in the tribal region were destroyed or damaged and therefore, the government should allocate special funds for their reconstruction and repair besides addressing shortage of staff, especially teachers there.

Dawar said displaced families had suffered both physically and mentally and therefore, they needed proper medical and psychological treatment so that they could pick up the threads of life.

He said all Fata people had suffered financial losses, while many of them had lost family members but the government had yet to mitigate their sufferings. The student leader said peace had returned to the region as a result of the military operation but it was the government’s duty to provide basic facilities to the people.

“The women’s education needs special attention as girl students cannot go to schools located in far-off areas,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2015