PESHAWAR: A tribal elders from Khyber Agency on Saturday complained about the plight of internally displaced persons and demanded their financial support and early rehabilitation.

The demand was made during a jirga at the Peshawar Press Club, where elders of different Afridi tribes from Khyber Agency were in attendance.

The jirga was convened by Tehreek-i-Haqooq-i-Bara, a movement for the rights of Bara IDPs, and was attended by elders, traders, lawyers, ulema and students from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Demand govt support for displaced persons besides their rehabilitation

Besides tribal elders, leaders of different political parties and social organisations too participated in the event.

Noted among speakers were Haris Afridi, Sohbat Khan, Malik Mohammad Hussain, Ikhtiyar Badshah, Mohammad Rafiq and Shah Jehan Afridi.

The speakers expressing concern about the government’s failure to resolve problems being faced by thousands of displaced families and demanded the announcement of a comprehensive package for their support and early rehabilitation.

They said the government should ensure voluntary return of displaced families to their respective localities in Khyber Agency besides a comprehensive compensation package for the people.

Shah Faisal Afridi, while chairing the meeting, said the government had ignored the problems faced by Bara residents for six years.

He said educational, health and business centres stood shattered by and large.

Afridi said a large number of students had been kept deprived of education facilities, owing to huge mass displacement from tehsil Bara, in wake of security force action in the tribal agency.

“Tribesmen are patriotic citizens of the country who haave rendered numerous sacrifices until now for the protection of borders region so mistreatment against them must be stopped against them,” said Malik Hussain of Malikdinkhel.

He said the use of force not solution of the issue as it had failed to bear fruit so far and that the government should resolve all issues by dialogue.

Tribal elder Maulana Shoaib while talking about agony of the tribesmen said Bara had turned into a rubble due to the excessive military operations.

“We have lost our business as the entire infrastructure including shops, houses, schools, healthcare centres, bazaars and roads have been destroyed during the last six year. Our children have been deprived of education,” he said.

Shah Faisal complained that tribesmen were deliberately kept backward in all fields of life despite their sincerity and honesty with their motherland.

He said both provincial and federal governments had completely failed to mitigate sufferings of IDPs from Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.

“They (IDPs) have not been given adequate facilities at their makeshift camp though their problems have been highlighted on several occasions,” he said.

The elder said it was the need of hour to announce a comprehensive compensation package for Bara IDPs on the pattern of the militancy-affected people of Malakand division.

He asked the government to give Rs62,000 to every displaced family of Bara in Khyber Agency because the same amount of money was given to IDPs of other districts.

Afridi complained substandard ration was distributed among IDPs and suggested that instead of food distribution, the government should provide cash through ATM to prevent corruption.

He said the chilly weather had multiplied misery of IDPs, so a winter package should be announced for them.

Afridi demanded that the authorities offer accommodation to the people displaced by the freshly launched military operation ‘Khyber-I operation’ in Bara.

He said a compensation package should be announced for the rehabilitation of the people and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure in the agency.

The elder asked the government to arrange accommodation for displaced students scheduled to sit annual examinations in March.

He said the government should ensure voluntary return of IDPs to their respective areas in Khyber Agency.

Afridi demanded a comprehensive package for the revival of business activities in Bara.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2015

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