DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Feb 8: Despite reports of a temporary truce between militants and security forces, exodus continued from South Wazirisatn to adjoining districts of Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Bannu.

To cope with the situation, local administrations of Dera Ismail Khan and other districts are considering establishing relief camps for the displaced families.

Sources told Dawn that setting up of two refugee camps in Dera Ismail Khan was on the cards, where they would also be provided with food, medical facilities and other essentials of daily life.

The migrated tribesmen said the military operation and influence of militant groups in the troubled region had virtually paralysed life in the Mehsud tribe areas, including Spinkai Raghznai and Kotkai, and surrounding areas of the Frontier Region of Jandola.

They said the affected areas were presenting a deserted look after evacuation of local people.

Taj Ali Khan, a tribesman from South Waziristan, said he along with his three brothers and 43 other relatives had reached here after 40 hours travel on foot, and had rented a two-room house near the city. “A 20kg flour bag provided in the relief camp was not enough for the 47 family members.

A 60-year-old man, Bakhtuddin, said his children were ill but there were no medicines or place for them to take rest. He appealed to the authorities to provide treatment facility to his children.

Sangi Marjanm, in-charge of the relief camp and belonging to the Mehsud tribe, said Mehsuds had set up camps on self-help basis, and other affected people were wandering around for shelters.

He said a committee and three sub-committees had been formed to supervise relief activities. Youngsters, mostly students, were running the relief camps, he added.

Over 1,000 displaced families (about 10 thousand people) have come to Dera Ismail Khan alone.

Waseem Khan Mehsud, a political activist, said food, quilts, blankets and other utensils had been distributed among 2,000 registered tribal people at the temporary Mehsuds’ relief camp.DCO Khudadad Khan said the Crisis Management Cell had started supply of relief goods and about six trucks loaded with 10,000 tents and 20,000 plastic sheets had arrived in the district. Another consignment of food items for 30,000 people would arrive soon, he said.

The cell would also set up relief camps in Tank and Bannu to provide relief to thousands of affected people from South Waziristan, he said, adding that the federal government would provide more relief goods to the people.

A meeting of local officials was held here to decide a site for establishing a relief camp. Speaking at a press conference in Dera Ismail Khan, a 15-member committee of tribal elders said war was not a solution and the matter could only be resolved through dialogue (tribal jirga). The elders included Mir Zaman Mehsud, Wasim Khan Mehsud, Junabat Khan Mehsud, Khan Wali Khan Mehsud and Salauddin Mehsud.

The tribal leaders demanded immediate end to the military operation and called for political solution to the dispute. They said the fighting between security forces and militants had turned the whole region into a battlefield where the life of an ordinary man was unsafe.

They said thousands of tribesmen had vacated their homes and were forced to live like nomads.

They said the affected people had no links with militants, rather they were the sufferers of a war imposed on their soil by some people for their vested interests.