NOWSHERA: The internally displaced persons (IDPs) staged demonstration against the killing of a resident of the Jalozai Camp for the second consecutive day on Friday and blocked the Cherat Road for traffic in protest.
The protestors included leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), shura of the IDPs in the Jalozai Camp and office-bearers of a tribal organization, Khyber Union.
Speaking on the occasion, the JI leader in Khyber Agency, Shah Faisal Afridi, Suhail Afridi of the PML-N, Malik Imran Afridi of the PTI and Khyber Union office-bearer Suhbat Khan along with the IDPs leader Gulbat Khan Afridi held the camp officials responsible for the killing of the young man Aslam Gul and injuring of the two women, Sofia Bibi and Niayagula Bibi in the firing.
The camp security guards, according to the IDPs, resorted to firing while controlling a crowd of the camp dwellers who turned unruly at the distribution point in the Jalozai Camp last Wednesday.
The speakers on the occasion asked Governor Masood Kausar to hand over the management of the Jalozai Camp to the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA). They said instead of providing humanitarian aid in a planned and humanely manner, the camp officials and various organisations were violating the international principles of protection.
They said firing at the IDPs and killing a youth and injuring others on the premises of the relief camp was height of irresponsibility as the facility was primarily established to provide shelter and protection to the uprooted communities of Fata.
They accused the police of registering a weak first information report on their own in the Pabbi Police Station and asked the government to initiate proper inquiry into the incident.The IDPs threatened to boycott receiving humanitarian aid unless the firing incident was properly probed and the perpetrators of the crime were punished.
Meanwhile, various relief organisations amid tight security restarted their activities in the camp as schools and healthcare centres for the IDPs were reopened.The camp officials claimed the UN and its partner organisations, relief workers of the Pakistan Army and the PDMA had resumed relief activities in the camp. However, independent sources said several international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) did not send their field staff to the sprawling camp on Friday for resumption of relief activities due to security concerns.