KHYBER: The registration of internally displaced persons of the Akkakhel tribe in Tirah valley will start from today (Monday), the district administration announced on Sunday .

The announcement was made in light of growing concerns among the Akkakhel about the rapidly deteriorating security in their region, bordering Orakzai district.

The Akkakhel Qaumi Council in their meeting on March 3 had demanded of the security officials and the district administration to either take punitive measures against the militant groups assembled in their area, or arrange for their prompt evacuation as they felt threatened due to the presence of armed groups.

They had also demanded of the concerned authorities to provide them the status of IDPs with all the facilities which were earlier provided to other tribes from Tirah.

Akkakhel Qaumi Council seeks protection from militant groups assembled in their area

The district administration said in a statement issued from Khyber House that a registration centre has been established at the Al-Haaj market near Bara bazaar where the incoming families of Akkakhel would be registered.

The statement advised families from other tribes not to go to the newly established registration centre as only families from Akkakhel tribe would be registered.

The Akkakhel elders had earlier expressed their serious concern over the growing incidents of collateral damage during intelligence-based operations.

They said that a number innocent tribesmen had lost their lives while their houses too were damaged in such operations.

They informed the authorities concerned that a sizeable number of the armed terrorists had taken refuge in the bordering areas with Orakzai after thousands of families left their houses in Malakdin Khel, Shalobar, Zakhakhel and other surrounding localities of Tirah valley in December and January.

With no temporary arrangement for the Tirah IDPs at government level, majority of the displaced families have either settled with host communities in Bara or had rented houses in the suburbs of Peshawar and Jamrud.

The district administration has, meanwhile, started distributing monetary package of Rs. 250,000 among the earlier arrived families while relying on data compiled from Nadra and polio vaccination campaigns.

However, hundreds of the families from different tribes insisted that they were yet to receive the pro­mised grant as their nam­­es could not be mat­c­hed with either Nadra or the polio vaccination record.

They argued that polio vaccination record could not provide the administration with authentic number of the displaced families as no vaccination campaign could be arranged in the valley for the last three years due to security concerns.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026