Protest sit-in outside Governor’s House

PESHAWAR: The affectees of military offensive Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan tribal district on Tuesday staged a protest sit-in outside the Governor’s House to demand compensation for the losses they suffered in the operation.

They were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands, including restoration of incentives that they were getting in the past.

Tribal elders Malik Ghulam Khan and Malik Nazirdin Khan led the protesters. The protesters also danced to drumbeats in line with their traditions to record their protest outside the sprawling Governor House.

The speakers on the occasion complained that the district administration had stopped payment of Rs12,000 package that they were getting and blocked their mobile phone SIMs.

They said the government neither carried out damage assessment survey of the properties destroyed in the military operation against militants in North Waziristan nor paid any compensation to majority of people whose houses and other properties had been damaged.

They alleged that misappropriation was done in the compensation funds approved for the affectees and for the temporarily displaced persons (TDPs).

They alleged that an official of the district administration has deducted Rs60,000 from the Rs400,000 compensation amount prior to payment to the owners whose properties had been demolished in the military operation.

They asked Prime Minister Imran Khan and Governor Shah Farman to order an investigation into the misappropriation of funds for TDPs of North Waziristan and arrest those involved in the embezzlement.