PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami has threatened to stage a sit-in in Islamabad if government fails to address the issues of internally displaced persons of North Waziristan Agency within one month.

Addressing a jirga of tribal elders at Al Markaz-i-Islami here on Thursday, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq asked the federal government to resolve the problems of dislocated families of the tribal area, especially the residents of North Waziristan Agency within 30 days otherwise his party would stage a sit-in in the federal capital.

“A grand jirga will be organised at Convention Centre, Islamabad before holding the sit-in,” he said, adding that 1,000 elders from seven tribal agencies and six frontier regions would be invited to the gathering. About 200 elders attended the jirga at JI secretariat.

“JI will bring hundreds of thousands of IDPs to Islamabad and rulers will forget the other sit-ins,” Mr Haq said while criticising the step-motherly attitude of the government with the IDPs.

Gives govt one month to resolve problems of displaced tribal people

The JI chief asked the government to announce return programme for IDPs of North Waziristan Agency forthwith. He said that government claimed that 80 per cent area of North Waziristan Agency had been cleared of militants. Even then IDPs were not allowed to go back to their homes, he added.

Mr Haq also criticised national media for ignoring the IDPs and their plights since the sit-ins in Islamabad stole the limelight. The media is focusing on Islamabad and not highlighting the problems the IDPs. When schools and colleges in Islamabad were closed for few days owing to the sit-ins then all the people including media raised a lot of noise but no one was paying attention to the displaced children and lack of education facilities for them, he added.

The JI chief asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Mahtab Ahmed Khan to arrange for free education to the children of IDPs in all the educational institutions. He expressed concern over the condition of camps for IDPs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Haq also expressed concern over the bad situation in camps set up for the IDPs. He said that people of tribal areas were patriotic. They never mentioned separation of tribal areas from Pakistan so the establishment and bureaucracy should not treat them like they treated the people of East Pakistan, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Malik Khan Faraz from North Waziristan alleged that personnel of secret agencies and police were raiding homes of IDPs in Bannu and other areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for unknown reasons.

He alleged that innocent people were arrested. He demanded immediate return of IDPs to their homes.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2014