KHYBER: MPA Abdul Ghani Afridi on Monday threatened to take the displaced families back to Tirah Valley if the authorities failed to announce a return plan for them in two weeks.

Addressing a news conference at the Bara Press Club, he said that thousands of Tirah families were forcibly evicted from their homes amid snowfall for launching a military operation in the valley. However, he said the federal government later backtracked, leaving the displaced families ‘high and dry’.

He said that Tirah people, who were accustomed to the cool environs of their region, were now living in small rented houses in Bara and Peshawar.

“I will move a resolution about this injustice in the provincial assembly and will later boycott its proceedings if the early return of IDPs is not ensured,” he warned.

Mr Afridi said that the abrupt displacement deprived Tirah dwellers of their homes, farmlands, agricultural products and businesses, forcing them to take loans for meeting daily expenses.

He insisted that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had always opposed military operations in any part of the province. He said certain quarters were trying to defame the provincial government by forcing people to leave their houses on the pretext of security issues.

He alleged that an organised mafia was grabbing the lands and properties of Tirah people in their absence, while timber smugglers were ruthlessly cutting forests in the valley.

The MPA also demanded an immediate halt to the repeated closure of roads leading to the Akkakhel area, and free movement of residents in their areas.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd , 2026