IDPs demand exact repatriation schedule

BARA: The internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Khyber Agency have asked the government to announce forthwith the exact date for their repatriation to native areas.
They said the families displaced as a result of ongoing Operation Khyber-1 have suffered due to the poor living conditions in the camps and in rented houses in various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Talking to The News on Monday, a displaced tribesman Amin Gul Afridi said that the military operation, underway for the last six years, had destroyed the infrastructure in Khyber Agency.
“About 5,000 tribal people including members of the peace committee and locals have been killed in sectarian violence and military operations during the past 10 years in Tirah valley and Khajuri areas of Bara,” he stated.
He said the displaced persons who had fled the military operations in Khyber Agency were facing a host of problems. He added the government had announced in February to send back the IDPs, but it didn’t materialise.
He said it was difficult for children to continue receiving education in makeshift schools while the camps also lacked medical and other facilities.Muhammad Azeem, from the Sepah tribe, said the government should announce return of the displaced people of Khyber Agency in the current month.
He alleged that the political parties and bureaucrats were not sincere about the return of the IDPs because they get money from the donor countries in the name of aid for the displaced people.
“Our businesses, shops and infrastructure have been destroyed due to the ongoing operations, particularly in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency,” he saidHe reminded that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor had announced the return of the IDPs several times but they were yet to be repatriated.
“We are facing tough times in the camps in harsh winter and hot summers,” stated Sardar Khan, who belongs to the Akakhel tribe.He said most of the areas including Shalobar, Malikdinkhel, Sepah, Kamarkhel and Qambarkhel in Khajuri area had been cleared of militants during the ongoing operation.
Meanwhile, a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Iqbal Afridi, asked the authorities to resolve the issues of the IDPs as announced by the government at the time of their displacement.
He said the federal governments should solve the problems of the IDPs and provide them the same compensation package like the one announced for the displaced people of Malakand and North Waziristan.