KHYBER: A protest meeting was held here on Wednesday against the authorities’ failure to ensure return of 12,000 displaced Kukikhel families to their homes and payment of financial assistance to them.

The public meeting in Jamrud was organised by Jamrud Siyasi Ettehad and attended by lawmakers, representatives of various political parties, tribal elders and local youth.

The participants took the Provincial Disaster Management Authority to task for its failure to arrange for an early return of the displaced families. They alleged that huge grants and assistance packages allocated for the Kukikhel families were embezzled by the PDMA and the Khyber district administration officials.

They said an organised cutting of forests was continuing in their areas and no one was ready to listen to their grievances or stop the illegal cutting of trees.

They also lamented that no PDMA or Khyber district administration official had visited the protest camp of the Kukikhel tribesmen at Bab-i-Khyber which they had established about two and a half months ago.

Senior politician Abdul Latif Afridi, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, MPAs Nasir Mohmand and Bilawal Afridi, Aayesha Gulalai and others spoke on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, October 1st , 2020