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WEEKLY
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| Govt urged to help IDPs from tribal areas |
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Friday, September 25, 2009
Bureau report
PESHAWAR: The Humanitarian Network, a conglomerate of several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Thursday asked the government to provide assistance to the thousands of people displaced and affected by the military operations in the tribal areas.
Addressing a news conference at the Press Club here, head of the network Nizamullah Dawar said the shelter, food, clean drinking water and medical facilities should be provided to the people displaced from Waziristan and other tribal areas.
Flanked by other representatives of the network, including Manzoor Afridi, Zar Ali Musazai, Idris Kamal, Asad Afridi and Miraj Afridi, Nizamullah Dawar said 250,000 to 300,000 people had so far been displaced from South Waziristan following the launch of the recent military operation. He said 200 families were registered in Tank and from 700 to 800 in Dera Ismail Khan so far.
He said many of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) were living with their relatives and friends in different areas and they had been left unregistered. He complained that the district administration of Bannu had issued warning to people in the city not to provide shelter to the people displaced from Waziristan.
He said the provincial government was saying that the IDPs from tribal areas were out of their domain while the central government was not issuing no-objection certificate to the foreign agencies to extend support to the displaced people.
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from Bajaur, Mohmand, FR Bannu, FR Kohat, Kurram and Khyber Agency following the army operations. Another mass migration was in the offing from South Waziristan following the launch of the military operation there a few days ago, he said.
Dawar said the provincial and central governments should start registration of the displaced people from South Waziristan. He said the registration had been stopped since August 15 and only 20 per cent people had so far been registered. He said the Mahsud tribesmen were given the deadline of December 25 to leave their areas. The operation was, however, launched there the next day, forcing thousands of people to vacate the area. All routes were closed and people were leaving the area on foot with a lot of trouble, he added.
The Humanitarian Network asked the government to provide transportation and safe passage to the people to arrive at safer places in the settled areas. It said the operation should be target-oriented and losses suffered by the local population should be compensated at the earliest.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
