PESHAWAR, June 5: After the fresh exodus of the people from Kurram Agency’s conflict area Parachamkani, the number of families displaced from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) has exceeded 200,000, according to the relevant officials.

Officials in Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) said around 17,140 families had been displaced from Tirah valley in Khyber Agency and around 15,000 families had fled Parachamkani, a remote part of Kurram Agency’s central subdivision.

Spokesman for FDMA Irfanullah said 8,811 families dislocated from Parachamkani had been registered by Tuesday last and more displaced families were on their way to registration centre set up at New Durrani camp.

He said currently, families displaced from Fata totaled 208,000.

“Aid agencies are expecting to register some 6,000 more families in Kurram,” he said, adding that 7,780 of the total displaced families from Parachamkani were living off camp while the remaining had been settled in New Durrani Camp near Sadda Town.The officials said displaced families from tribal areas would pass the 214,000 figure with the registration of fresh displaced families from Kurram Agency. Security forces have launched operation in Parachamkani last month where 29 villageshave been declared as conflict zone. Security officials claimed to have killed about 200 militants during the last three weeks.

The UN aid agencies and its partners are distributing tents, food ration and non-food items to the new IDPs.

However, official sources in Parachinar, Kurram Agency’s administrative headquarters, said conflict-hit people from Parachamkani were in miserable condition.

“They have left behind their belongings and evacuated women and children, desperately looking for shelter,” a local official told Dawn by the telephone.

He said displaced families were selling moveable properties at throwaway prices for cash.

The official said many families had shifted to settled areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to unavailability of shelter in Kurram.

According to him, return of IDPs to those villages in central subdivision of Kurram Agency, which has been de-notified as conflict zone, has yet to begin.

Also, the repatriation of IDPs from other areas of Fata, including South Waziristan Agency, is in doldrums.

The officials said National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) had yet to begin verification of IDPs from Tirah valley.

They said verification of IDPs was mandatory after three months otherwise UN agencies would suspend relief operation, including distribution of food items.

These 17,140 families were displaced from Maidan area of Tirah valley in last week of February.

“Verification (of IDPs) by Nadra is essential for continuation of relief operations,” said an official.