ISLAMABAD: The internally displaced people of South Waziristan here on Friday demanded that the government should rehabilitate them in their native towns.

They said the military operation launched in 2009 (Rah-i-Nijat) remained a futile exercise as the writ of the government was yet to be established in the area.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club (NPC), about 40 people belonging to the Mehsud tribe regretted that thousands of militancy-hit people had taken refuge in other parts of the country and were not being permitted to return to their hometown.

Sherpao Mehsud, the president of the Movement of Mehsud Tribe, said it was the fundamental right of the IDPs to return to their areas.

He regretted that the IDPs of Swat had been rehabilitated but discriminatory treatment was being meted out to the Mehsuds.

The IDPs also staged a protest demonstration outside the NPC chanting slogans and urging Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani to take notice of the plight of the children, elders and women who had to leave their ancestral places.

Later, MNA Shah Ji Gul Afridi from Khyber Agency, MNA Ghalib Wazir from South Waziristan, Senator Saleh Shah and Haji Jamaluddin also joined the protesters.

Senator Shah said people of South Waziristan would not render sacrifices for the state if the IDPs were not given safe passage to their native villages.

“I am surprised that Rah-i-Nijat military operation of 2009 did not give relief to the people. Is there any end to the war? Why the peaceful Mehsud people have been deprived of their homes, businesses and their relatives?”

MNA Afridi warned that all Fata lawmakers would form a bloc to press the government for giving relief to the IDPs.

He also regretted that despite their sacrifices, the Mehsud tribe had been deprived of their rights.

The IDPs demanded that the government should immediately compensate the affected people.