FDMA chief says 90 pc displaced people return to Fata

PESHAWAR: Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) Director General Mohammad Khalid Khan said on Monday that about 90 per cent of displaced families from the tribal areas had returned home so far.

Talking to The News, he said the remaining families would reach native areas by April 30 this year. The official said the temporarily displaced persons from Kurram and Orakzai tribal agencies had already returned home through government-sponsored programmes.

Khalid Khan said some 17,000 families from North Waziristan and about 21, 000 from South Waziristan were yet return to native areas. He added that some 2,500 families of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency would be facilitated to return home by April 30.

The official said the federal government had set April 30 the deadline for the return of all displaced families from tribal areas. Mohammad Khalid said the return process was delayed due to harsh and unpleasant weather. He hoped the remaining families would return home in April this year.

The official said some 1,650 families had come back from Khost and other provinces of Afghanistan. He added these families had gone to Afghanistan due to military operation in North Waziristan.

"The return process of refugees from Afghanistan has been delayed due to the closure of border between Pakistan and Afghanistan," he said and added that it would resume with the reopening of the border.

To a question, the FDMA chief said the survey for all damaged buildings including houses, shops and other properties had been completed in the areas, which had been cleared by the security forces and according to government policy, the affected people would be compensated for losses.

"The survey and estimates of completely and partially damaged houses are in progress in some parts of tribal areas," he added. He said schools, hospitals, government buildings and other infrastructure would be rebuilt.