Govt urged to appoint political agent in South Waziristan

WANA: While Mahsud tribespeople are protesting for the rights in different parts of the country, their native South Waziristan tribal region has been without a political agent for the last several months, affecting routine administrative work in the tribal region.

An official requesting anonymity told The News that official work had come to a halt and court cases were being affected due to non-appointment of the political agent as an additional political agent has been managing all affairs for the last several months.

A tribal elder Malik Saeed Anwar Mahsud said that the payment to Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDPs) had been stopped and many of them do not have resources to reconstruct houses destroyed in the militancy and military operation in the past.

"Corruption is the major issue in the area. We need a political agent who can eliminate corruption, otherwise our problems will not be solved," he added. Malik Salim Khan, another tribal elder, said the political agent should be appointed forthwith to resolve the problems of people.

"There are scores of court cases that need to be resolved. How is it possible for the political administration to manage court cases, pay compensation money to TDPs and monitor all other offices in absence of a political agent who is head of the entire agency set-up?" the tribal elder said.