Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan has said that around 36,000 families of internally displaced persons of North Waziristan Agency have returned from the Khost province of Afghanistan and have been registered at the Ali Zai area of Kurram Agency.

The governor said that after the successful completion of the targeted operation, the dignified repatriation of all the IDPs was the government’s top priority, marking a new beginning of progress in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The Pakistani army is now regularly targeting suspected militants hideouts in Khyber, since fighters fled there from neighboring North Waziristan tribal region where it has been conducting a months-long operation. The offensive has also driven thousands of local tribesmen to leave their areas and head for safety in the main northwestern city of Peshawar.