PESHAWAR: About 100 families from North Waziristan Agency have been stranded at the border as the Afghan officials have stopped them from proceeding to their home towns via the Ghulam Khan checkpost on account of not having relevant documents.

Political Agent Karman Afridi told mediapersons in Miramshah that around 100 families had been stranded in Afghanistan since last Tuesday. He said that the families were coming back to their homes but Afghan officials stopped them from crossing the border on the pretext of not possessing relevant documents.

The local administration had planned to bring these families back to their homes in North Waziristan. Over 10,000 families had taken refuge in Afghanistan when the army launched operation Zarb-i-Azb against militants in June 2014.

Around 5,000 families have already been brought from Afghanistan. The operation had forced over one million families to flee their homes. Officials said only 13,000 families were left to be repatriated to their homes.

The political agent said they were in contact with the authorities in Afghanistan to facilitate return of the stranded families as soon as possible. He said arrangements had been made to bring these families to Ghulam Khan from where they would be taken to Bakakhel camp in Frontier Region Bannu.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2018