KHYBER: The payment of compensation to the remaining displaced families of Tirah has begun, while the mechanism for their return will be devised in the second week of next month, government and security officials told a 24-member jirga from the valley on Friday.

The jirga members met Inspector General of Frontier Corps Rao Imran Sartaj, chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah, commissioner Peshawar Riaz Mehsud and other security and administrative officials at Bala Hisar Fort in Peshawar.

They expressed frustration over the delay in compensation payment and an ambiguity about the return of recently displaced families to Tirah, with a military operation against militants in the valley not in sight.

The jirga was a follow-up of a meeting at the same venue on Tuesday with representatives of Bara Siyasi Ittehad also in attendance. The BSI delegation was not invited to the Friday moot.

Elders meet IGFC, chief secretary, Peshawar commissioner

The participants said that while IGFC informed the jirga that they would meet again on June 10 to decide about a final date for the return of IDPs, the chief secretary said 1,400 displaced families were provided with the promised cash grant on Thursday through the Khyber district administration.

Sources said that both IGFC and the chief secretary were told that the Tirah people were visibly not happy with the undue delay in return to their homes, while most of them were denied compensation on flimsy pretexts.

They said that authorities asked jirga members to prepare a list of legitimate displaced families for early compensation payment.

The sources said the chief secretary told the jirga that development schemes were simultaneously executed in Tirah valley alongside an official plan to shift all relevant departments to the valley to fulfil the long-standing demands of the people of Tirah.

The jirga was told that though the construction and shifting of all departmental offices to Tirah would take time, some of the urgently needed offices would be established in makeshift facilities to the relief of residents.

Meanwhile, BSI president Hashim Khan expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of his team from the Friday jirga and alleged that they were deceived by the relevant officials who had promised them a similar meeting after Eidul Azha.

Lashing out at the role of the 24-member jirga of Tirah elders, he alleged that those “so-called” elders couldn’t raise voice for the genuine issues of the people of Tirah and were instead interested in obtaining official benefits for themselves.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2026