LANDI KOTAL: Hundreds of Kukikhel tribesmen from Tirah held a demonstration in Jamrud on Monday to seek status of internally displaced persons and immediate return to their homes.

Holding black flags and placards inscribed with slogans against Fata Disaster Management Authority, the protesters also chanted slogans against the relevant government departments.

Addressing the protesters, Kukikhel elder Malak Naseer accused the FDMA of intentionally denying the displaced families from Rajgal area of Tirah the status of IDPs by refusing their registration.

He said that circumstances forced nearly 12,000 Kukikhel families of Rajgal and adjoining areas, bordering Afghanistan, to leave their homes in 2012 and take shelter in Jamrud and Peshawar while a small number of those families also went to different cities in Punjab.

Blame FDMA for denying them relief goods

Malak Zaina Gul, another tribal elder, said that FDMA registered only a few hundreds of the affected Kukikhel families after repeated requests by them in 2012 and 2013.

He also accused FDMA of withholding provision of food items, non-food items and cash assistance, which the authority had earlier provided to all the registered IDPs of other tribal regions.

He demanded of FDMA to formally recognise all the 12,000 kukikhel families as IDPs and provide assistance to them at the pattern of Malakand and Swat IDPs.

Amal Jan Torkhel said on the occasion that they made sacrifices for restoration of peace in their region but FDMA failed to provide any assistance to them.

Demanding an inquiry into utilisation of funds allocated for assistance of Kukikhel displaced families, he alleged that most of the funds were misappropriated and not provided to the needy and genuine displaced families.

The protesters called upon the federal government, chief of army staff, Peshawar corps commander, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor and additional chief secretary Fata Secretariat to probe irregularities in funds allocated for them along with announcing a plan for their immediate return to their homes.

ARRESTED: The administration arrested at least 12 shopkeepers and butchers for selling unhygienic food and keeping poor sanitation.

Political Tehsildar Shamsul Islam conducted raids on different shops in Landi Kotal and found a number of food outlets selling substandard and unhygienic food items along with not keeping their eateries clean and neat.

A mobile phone seller was arrested for uploading indecent and immoral videos in mobile phones. Several drug shops were also sealed for selling narcotics items along with confiscating a number of pocket guides used by school and college students for cheating in examinations.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018