Compensation sought for destroyed homes in Bara

BARA: The tribal elders and political leaders on Sunday asked the government to provide compensation to the owners of the destroyed homes in Bara tehsil of Khyber district.

Speaking at a seminar at the Bara Press Club here, Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shafiq Afridi, Director HBK group company Maroof Khan Afridi, PPP leader Wilayat Khan, PML-(N) leader Zahir Shah Afridi, Pakistani Awami Inqilabi League leader Attaullah Afridi, Abdul Hanan and others said the government should compensate the local people. They said that infrastructure, including home, hujras and business centres, were destroyed during the militancy and subsequent military operations. "Several relatives lived in the same home, but the government is giving compensation to one person only," Maroof Afridi said, adding it was an injustice to the affected tribal people. He said the government had made a wrong policy about the compensation of the damaged property in erstwhile Fata. Wilayat Afridi criticised the government for failing to compensate the people for their losses. He said Rs0.4 million for a completely damaged and Rs160,000 for a partially damaged home was not enough.

They warned that the people would launch protest if the government did not compensate them properly. However, MPA Shafiq Afridi said that the government would solve all problems of the tribal people as soon as possible. He added the parliamentarians were trying to provide all facilities to the affected people. Later, the elders and political leaders decided to form a body with two persons from each tribe to take up the issues of the affected people with the authorities concerned.