KHYBER: Elders of Akkakhel tribe in the restive Tirah valley on Monday demanded of the law enforcement agencies to give them a proper time frame about their displacement in case of a military operation in their areas.

Sources in the region told Dawn that the Akkakhel elders also desired to know exactly about the localities where the security forces intended to carry out military operations.

They also expressed their apprehension about the standing crops in their fields along with ascertaining their status during the period of displacement.

The Akkakhel jirga was convened after reports about the launching of a possible military operation against terrorists’ hideouts in Maroofkhel, Moonday Darra, Kola Margatkhel, Sherkhel and Darra localities.

Sources said that security officials in the valley had conveyed to residents in parts of Akkakhel, Malakdinkhel and Shalobar to vacate their houses during the military operation in order to avoid any collateral damage, to which the valley residents had long been objecting.

The Monday’s jirga held at Dars Jumaat also called upon the security forces not to force the residents into displacement and instead the issue be resolved through mutual consultations.

Akkakhel elders Haji Khiyal Zaman, Haji Ajab Khan, Haji Abdul Jalal, Haji Suhail Afridi and former MPA from Bara Shafeeq Afridi contended during the jirga that residents of the valley had only recently rebuilt there damaged houses while also reviving normal life after their return from decade-long displacement in 2015-16.

They said that residents of Tirah were not in favour of again vacating their houses, as it was totally impossible for them to shift all their belongings to a new place while a harsh summer was also staring them in the face.

“It is with extreme difficulties and huge financial resources that we have reestablished our broken links with our beloved soil while working day and night to revive agriculture and restore businesses,” the elders said during the course of jirga.

They insisted that Tirah elders had only recently made an informal agreement with the security officials for a temporary internal displacement in anticipation of a limited intelligence based operation which was to be notified to them prior to their short term displacement.

Sources had earlier said that the experiment of short term internal displacement was applied in parts of Zakhakhel, Shalobar and Malakdinkhel localities with families in these areas sent to safer places nearby to their houses during an IBO and later coming back in a day or two.

The new orders for an indefinite time of displacement created a panic among the residents of Akkakhel, Shalobar and Malakdinkhel areas of the valley and thus the Monday’s jirga was convened to chalk out a joint strategy and obtain form assurances from the law enforcement agencies about their status and safety of personal properties and farmlands.

Dawn has also learnt from sources in Tirah valley that in order to keep a strict vigil on the movement of suspected terrorists, security forces have established additional checkposts in a number of localities while occupying private houses of the local residents.

Sources in Salam Din and Pirdindarkhel localities of Malakdinkhel said that security forces had during the last few days occupied some strategically located houses in their villages in order to check the movement of suspected terrorists.

They said that security forces however assured the owners of these houses that they would be paid rent for the period, while the vacated families were also provided with food items and other necessary non food items in order to lessen their financial burden.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2025