PESHAWAR/KHYBER: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday said the provincial government would not abandon the people of Tirah and extend all possible assistance to them.

He was addressing a jirga from Khyber tribal district at the Chief Minister’s House, which was convened to discuss law and order situation in the district and the problems faced by families displaced from Tirah Valley, according to an official statement.

Mr Afridi said that the tribal people had rendered immense sacrifices for the country, leaving behind their homes and belongings, and their sacrifices could not be ignored under any circumstances.

He said that there existed an organised mindset that did not want Pashtuns, particularly the tribal people, to become part of the mainstream system.

Meets elders from Khyber district; orders establishment of additional IDP registration points during Bara visit

The chief minister said that the same mindset, which had been hostile for the past 75 years, did not recognise the Pakhtuns’ very existence. He added that negative propaganda was launched that as soon as he was elected chief minister, a campaign of misleading against him, which was a regrettable attitude towards an elected CM.

Mr Afridi, however, said with public support he had defeated every negative narrative against him.

He said that he had promised to give his people pens instead of guns, and that he would stand in the front ranks for the defense of the country and would not hesitate to make any sacrifice.

The CM said that whenever his people faced difficult times, he had stood firmly by them and would continue to do so.

He said that PTI founder Imran Khan had created a level of political awareness among the public that enabled them to clearly distinguish between truth and hypocrisy. He added that the entire nation was united in extending support to those displaced from Tirah.

Mr Afridi said that all political parties and schools of thought in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were in agreement that military operations were not a solution to any problem.

He said after 22 major and 14,000 small security operations in the province, the question arises as to what guarantee remains that peace could be established.

“Decisions, made behind closed doors and imposed on Tirah, would not yield positive results,” he said.Meanwhile, the chief minister on Monday ordered the upgradation of the registration process for the newly-displaced families from Tirah along with the establishment of additional registration points.

He visited Bara after receiving complaints about the process of registration and issuance of transport fare tokens to hundreds of undeserving people.

The CM went to the newly-established registration centre in Alamgudar and ordered a continuous and strict surveillance of the displaced families and constant monitoring of their registration process.

For the third time in less than two weeks, the centre set up for issuing registration tokens has been relocated after authorities detected serious anomalies in the process.

The district administration had earlier established two centres at Bagh Maidan and Dwa Thoye in Tirah which were later shifted to Sandana in Upper Bara and then to Mandai Kas in Bara.

The centre has now been shifted to the house of a former MNA in Alangudar where the CM met both affected IDPs and staff members of the registration centre about complaints from Tirah IDPs.

He assured the affected displaced families that every possible assistance would be provided to them and his government would not leave them alone in the current testing times.

The chief minister said the resolution of all their problems was his government’s top priority and he would not tolerate any negligence in that regard.

Reiterating his government’s opposition to the military operations in the province, Mr Afridi said that his government would not allow the merged districts to be used as a “laboratory” for military offensives.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2026