LANDI KOTAL, May 21: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Khyber Agency chapter, has demanded an immediate halt to military operation in Bara to pave the way for solution of problems through talks.

Speaking at a meeting of party office-bearers here the other day, Fata PTI chief organiser Dr Bashir Dawar also called upon the government to provide compensation to all affected people of Bara operation and announce a special development package for militancy-hit parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Mr Dawar demanded of the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to take steps for an honorable return of all internally displaced persons of tribal areas to their homes. He said that a comprehensive employment package for the youth of Fata was essential to involve them in productive activities.

The meeting rejected the provincial assembly resolution concerning merger of Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said that the future of Fata should be decided in accordance with aspiration of its people.

CURFEW OPPOSED: Khidmat-i-Khalq Committee has demanded lifting of curfew in Bara and opening of road connecting Bara tehsil with Peshawar so that stranded families could shift to safer places.

In a statement, KKC president Ekhtiar Badshah Afridi said that continued curfew in Shalobar, Malakdinkhel and Sipah areas and closure of link roads had been resulting in a famine-like situation in these areas.

He said that hundreds of families were still stranded inside their homes in Shalobar and they had been facing serious shortage of food and other essential commodities.

Mr Afridi alleged that several people injured due to artillery shelling had been lying in their homes in Shalobar and surrounding localities and the security forces were not allowing their shifting to hospitals in Peshawar.

He said that a number of such injured persons had died due to lack of medical care.