Squatted on a filthy ground with slump bushy face and shelved hair, Amjad Masih shoved off cigarette in his hand and blurted out in a melancholic tone: Two years ago, my young daughter Jolly Masih had died of hepatitis.

I had not enough space to entertain guests.

Now when my young son, Sajid Masih, is going to get married next week, I still have no place to celebrate his marriage. He said that celebration and mourning were two occasions where people could get the opportunity to share happiness and grief with one another.

According to a survey, around 50,000 Sikhs, Christians and Hindus in tribal areas lack basic facilities

Life becomes meaningless when one is forced to live under the shadow of constant fear and poverty, the beleaguered sexagenarian remarked.

According to a local survey, around 50,000 Sikh, Christian and Hindu minority communities in Fata enjoy no basic facilities including healthcare and education.

About 20,000 each Sikh and Christian population and 10,000 Hindus are living in Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal subdivisions of Khyber Agency and parts of Fata.

A year ago minority groups were given the right of lungi holding tribal Malak (public representative).

Three each Malak from Sikh and Christian communities are now operating in Khyber Agency.

Malak Arshad Masih, executive member of Pakistan Minoritys Alliance (PMA) and chairman of Christian community, said that his grandfather Chiragh Masih had migrated from Punjab in 1914 and had permanently settled in Landi Kotal.

He said that his family had been extended into 1500 persons over the last 100 years.

He said that local population and political administration had been cooperating with them.

We are safe here in all respects.

We want our worship places renovated and scholarships for our children so that they could get quality education.

Healthcare and sports facilities are also inevitable.

We want our women to get vocational training and young men get employment in government services, he said.

Ramish Kumar, a resident of Jamrud, told this scribe that they had never been threatened by militants.

However, he said that people of Sikh community were displaced from Tirah valley and other places during the crisis but they had not received threats from anywhere on the basis of their religion.

We feel quite safe here.

Yes, we have healthcare and education problems.

We appeal to the authorities concerned to also include our community in development schemes,” he said.

Mr Kumar said that job quota was also another issue.

He said that their people should be accommodated on job quota wherever possible.

He said that in the past, people from their community had no interest in education but then they wanted to get access to quality education and better healthcare facilities.

Amjad Masih, like hundreds of other Christian community members, has been living at a small makeshift colony in a two-room home with his eight-member family in Landi Kotal Bazaar since long.

The story of his endless sufferings is no different from other minority people in parts of Fata.

Sajid Maish displays no sign of usual merriment on his face as he will not be able to invite his friends on the most auspicious occasion of his life for lack of space at his home.

During a visit by this scribe, members of most minority communities complained that they there was neither special quota in educational institutions in and outside Fata nor was there a separate school or healthcare facility for them.

Haroon Masih , 55, said that no funds had ever been allocated by Fata authorities for their welfare projects.

He added that they had been enjoying religious freedom but unfortunately had no place where they could practice their rituals and conduct cultural and sports activities “Sikh and Hindu communities don not have a single crematorium in Fata.

They have to either burry their dear and near ones or take them to Attock or Hassanabadal for fi nal rituals, he regretted.

Jawad Masih, 60, said that in 2014 federal government announced Rs 40 million for construction of the Christian colony but till then nothing had been happened.

He said that 10 to 12 persons lived in dingy rooms and with a fast growing population of their community, even the second storey building could not help to solve the congested accommodation issue.

Our homes are snuggled.

We are forced to use every foot of our accommodation.

If the proposed colony is built, life will become very easy for us, he hoped.

The Hindu and Sikh communities from Tirah spend thousands of rupees on taking the corpses of their relatives to Hassanabadal for cremation.

“Most people still take the dead bodies to Attack for the last ritual which is very expensive,” he regretted.

Abrik Singh, 45, a resident of Tirah, said that they usually spent Rs35,000 to Rs45,000 to perform the cremation rituals in Hassanabdal.

He added that poor people were compelled to bury their dead instead of cremation.

Assistant Political Niaz Mohammad Khan told this scribe that land for residential colony for Christian community had been acquired and funds had been released for the project.

He said that construction work on the colony would be started soon.

The offi cial said that funds had also been granted off and on to community heads for their different activities.

The residential colony for our Christian community will be furnished with all kinds of facilities.

Their issues are addressed on priority basis, he claimed.

Mr Khan said that minorities Malaks enjoyed status like other tribal elders in Fata and could frankly take up their issues with the local political administration.

Haji Shahji Gul Afridi, MNA from Khyber Agency, told this scribe that he had given three important things to Fata minority communities.

First, he said, was the award of domicile, second was the Christian colony and third was the appointment of 10 women in different government departments including Nadra and Levies.

The MNA said that Fata minorities were peaceful and the most patriotic people.

Fata minority communities will get more incentives in the future.

Their relationship with local population is worthy of appreciation.

Our religion also teaches us to serve them in the best possible manner,” said Mr Afridi.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2017