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Provincial ministers visit Swat; ‘NWFP govt ready to send IDPs back’
Sunday, July 05, 2009
By Daud Khattak
PESHAWAR: The NWFP government is fully prepared to start rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Malakand Division after clearance from security forces, a minister said on Saturday.
“The civil administration and security forces have their own policies and the government is now awaiting a
clearance from security forces,” Wajid Ali Khan, Minister for Forests and Environment, told a press conference here.
Hailing from Swat, Wajid Ali visited Mingora and other areas of Swat and stayed there for three days.
He said normalcy was returning and the morale of the people in those areas was high. “People are also eager to return to their areas at the earliest,” he added.
Another minister in the NWFP cabinet from Swat Ayub Khan Ashari and MPAs from Malakand Division Jaffar Shah and Shamsher Ali Khan also visited their areas and met people from their constituencies.
Wajid said arrangements were in place for the rehabilitation work in Swat.
He said the situation was quite normal from Landaki till Mingora and people were seen going to their areas voluntarily. He said electricity, telephone and water supply system had been restored and doctors had resumed work in all the hospitals.
The town administration had cleaned the Mingora city and things were quite normal, said the minister, adding that he had visited the markets
and met the people to know their views about the situation in the area.
“The only thing needed in Swat is the food supply and the chief minister has ordered to send 45 trucks of ration to the affected areas,” he said.
The minister said that 25 of the truckloads would reach Mingora today (Sunday), which would be distributed among the stranded families.
Wajid Ali said police had started patrolling in Mingora while Frontier Constabulary (FC) had established posts in several areas to ensure peace in the valley.
He said the losses were running into billions and the Revenue Department was assessing the losses and the cost of rebuilding. Earlier, the NWFP government had estimated the total losses in the valley at Rs32 billion.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
