323 families return to S Waziristan

WANA: Another convoy comprising 323 families of the internally displaced persons (IDPs), escorted by the security forces, returned South Waziristan Agency on Tuesday.
Around 2,024 families have returned to native areas in SWA during the repatriation process started on March 16. The tribespeople had been displaced from SWA in the operation Rah-e-Nijat which was launched in 2009 against the militants.
The government initiated a phase-wise return process of the IDPs in 2010 and the ongoing process is the 11th phase.
PESHAWAR: Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Khyber Agency on Tuesday staged a protest against Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) for not providing facilities in the area before their return.
Led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader in Khyber Agency and chief of the Tehreek Mutasireen Bara, Iqbal Afridi, the protesters, holding banners and placards inscribed with messages against officials of FDMA, gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club. They chanted slogans in favour of their demands.
Talking to reporters, Iqbal Afridi said though the government had announced to send back the IDPs, no facilities were provided to them in the tribal region. He said homes, markets, hospitals, educational institutions and roads were damaged during the military operation.
“How can we return to our houses as there is nothing for us to live,” he said, adding the government should rebuild the damaged infrastructure before return of the IDPs. Our correspondent in Bannu adds: Leaders of all political parties in North Waziristan Agency Tuesday rejected the phase-wise return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to native areas.
Speaking at a press conference, All Political Parties Chairman Hafiz Farhad Ali, vice-chairman Abdul Khalil and other office-bearers said the return process should not be in phases and all the tribespeople should be sent home in the cleared areas.“The government claimed that 90 percent areas have been cleared. All the displaced people belonging to the cleared areas should be sent back,” Hafiz Farhad Ali said.
They said that phase-wise return would add to the miseries of the IDPs, adding that students’ precious time was being wasted, and national identity cards were denied to the IDPs. The tribal elders asked all political parties to convene a conference on the problems of the IDPs and devise a strategy for their rehabilitation and assistance.