KHYBER: The Khyber district administration on Tuesday announced that a selected number of displaced persons from Tirah would be allowed to return in phases, with a 24-member committee of tribal elders tasked with preparing a list of those residents.
A notification issued by the Khyber House said that the administration, in consultation with the committee, would devise a plan for the organised and systematic return of around 600 displaced persons in phases.
It added that a list of selected persons would be issued by the district administration, with one person from each displaced family selected for return on a daily basis to prevent overcrowding and mismanagement during the process.
The notification said all selected persons would have to arrange their own transport for the journey to the valley. Only those whose names are approved by the administration will be allowed to leave for Tirah from the Naviya Kamar locality in Bara on the specified date.
“People whose names are not included in the initial lists shall wait for their turn and shall not come to Naviya Kamar in order to avoid any inconvenience,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Tehreek Mutasreen-i-Tirah (TMT) expressed reservations about the partial and limited return of internally displaced persons (IDPs), saying the new “mechanism” will add to their misery instead of alleviating their grievances.
Spokesman for the TMT Suhbat Khan Afridi told Dawn that it was unjust to the militancy-affected people of Tirah to allow only one person from each displaced family to return to the valley where there was a complete lack of basic necessities of life and the weather, too, was fast turning hostile.
He said one person from a family, without any government assistance, could neither repair the house nor rehabilitate the damaged structure in the valley.
Mr Afridi complained that the government was neither providing any financial assistance to these people nor giving them any food packages or non-food items, which were prerequisites for the return of an individual or a family.
He said mobility in the valley was also a problem because of excessive security checks and fears of militant attacks as the area had yet to be de-notified by the security forces.
“The government shall take our utter helplessness into consideration while devising a plan to send the displaced families back as most Tirah residents currently living in Bara and its suburbs are passing through a very difficult phase of their lives. Most of them have exhausted their financial resources and are unable to bear the cost of such a hasty return,” he said.
The spokesman urged authorities to arrange for the return of all displaced families from Tirah with honour and dignity while providing them with sufficient financial assistance to rebuild their homes and restart a decent life upon their return.
In September this year, the district administration had announced that all Tirah IDPs would return from Oct 10. However, the plan was later withdrawn without any reasons being cited, to the disappointment of thousands of Tirah residents.
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2026
