Tirah tribesmen seek compensation for land

TIRAH, Khyber Agency: The dwellers of Maidan area in Tirah valley have asked the government to compensate them for their land being used for constructing roads and other development projects.
They said that despite meagre resources and limited land holdings in Tirah, the government was constructing the road, which was at least 35 feet wide.
“There is no need to construct such a wide road in the remote Tirah valley,” a tribesman wishing anonymity said. He said the road project would eat up landholdings in scenic Tirah.
A cobbler, Mubarak Shah Afridi, told The News that the government was subjecting the tribespeople to step-motherly treatment. He said the people whose land was acquired for uplift projects were not being properly compensated.
“The government used my five kanal of land for the construction of 35 feet wide road in Darbikhel area in Bar Qambarkhel,” he complained.
“Besides the land, at least 30 costly walnut and apricot trees were also uprooted by the government during the construction road,” he maintained.
Mubarak Shah said the residents of Tirah valley usually didn’t sell their land. He said his five kanal of land in Tirah was costlier than a plot of land of similar size in Peshawar.
“I used to make at least Rs300,000 profit from the fields and orchards per year. It was acquired for the construction of road, but I have received no compensation so far,” he said.
He said the government always paid money to the owners in the settled areas for acquiring their land for development projects, but this wasn’t being done in tribal areas.
Another tribesman, Noor Akbar Afridi belonging to Bar Qambarkhel, said, “The government was treating us as if we are not Pakistanis.”
“The government should compensate the tribesmen by honouring its commitments,” he said.
“On the one hand, the militants destroyed my house, but on the other the government acquired my land to build the road,” he complained.
Noor Akbar Afridi alleged the government received billions of dollars from foreign countries to provide relief and compensate the tribespeople, but it did nothing for the militancy-hit people.
He asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan to take notice of the step-motherly treatment being meted out to the tribal people.