PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has left the internally displaced persons from North Waziristan Agency in the lurch by stopping the payment of monthly cash assistance.
Khalil Wazir, an office-bearer of the North Waziristan Political Alliance, a syndicate of various parties, said the provincial government paid cash grant to IDPs for three months only and stopped the payment abruptly.
He said the provincial government had announced that the cash assistance would continue until the return of IDPs to their homes.
“The government stopped the payment in October 2014. We don’t know the reason,” he said.
When the security forces launched the Zarb-i-Azb operation against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan Agency in June 2014, over one million local tribesmen fled to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country.
North Waziristan Political Alliance plans to apprise CM of IDPs’ misery
Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had announced Rs3,500 would be paid to every displaced family every month from the provincial kitty apart from giving admission to displaced children in local schools and colleges, and medical facilities.
Like the provincial government, the federal government had also announced monthly cash assistance package for IDPs of North Waziristan Agency.
The centre is regularly paying Rs12,500 to every displaced family in addition to food rations through the World Food Programme.
Khalil Wazir told Dawn on Monday that members of the alliance had taken up the issue with provincial finance minister Muzaffar Said but he did not give satisfactory answer.
“If the chief minister gives approval, his department will release funds to the body concerned immediately,” he said while quoting the finance minister as saying.
He said the alliance would soon meet Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and would ask him to fulfil his government’s commitment.
Special assistance to the chief minister on information Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani when approached confirmed stoppage of cash assistance to IDPs.
He said the cash assistance had not been paid to militancy-affected people since October 2014.
“The government paid cash assistance to the IDPs for three months, but I have no information why it was suspended,” he said.
He said the KP government had released Rs1 billion on account of cash assistance to the IDPs of North Waziristan Agency.
Besides he said Rs20 million was also released to local health centres in Bannu District for free medical facilities to displaced persons.
On the other hand, the government is sending IDPs back to North Waziristan Agency and other areas of Fata, but families returned to their homes had yet to get compensation money to reconstruct their damaged properties.
Roughly 100,000 families have been sent back to their homes.
Over 30,000 families had been resettled in North Waziristan and 73,000 to Khyber Agency apart from other tribal agencies, but they have been waiting for payment of compensation. The government had announced that Rs400,000 would be paid for completely damaged house and Rs200,000 for partially damaged.
Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2015
