Governor asked to facilitate returning families in Khyber Agency

BARA: The elders of the Bara tehsil in the Khyber Agency have asked Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan to provide basic facilities to the families which have returned to native areas recently.

Talking to The News, Khial Akbar Afridi of Kamarkhel tribe said that almost one year has passed since the IDPs returned to respective areas in Bara but they still lacked basic facilities. “The tribesmen suffered for around 10 years due to militancy and military operations as thousands of innocent people were killed and many more injured,” he added.

He said that the irrigation system had been destroyed, particularly in areas inhabited by Akakhel, Sipah, Malikdinkhel and Shalobar tribes, for the last three years.“The returning families are facing acute problems, including lack of drinking water, electricity, closure of link roads and rehabilitation,” he said.

Gul Zar Afridi, an Akakhel tribesman, said that crops of wheat, onions and other vegetables had dried up due to the closure of canal system for the last three years. Gul Zar added there was no water for drinking and irrigation purposes in his areas although two water channels from Sipra Dam in Khyber Agency traverse various areas.

“Before the military operations, farmers of the area used to shift vegetables to Bara Bazaar and other markets in Peshawar district,” he said.He added people had been facing about 23-hours loadshedding and they had to even bring drinking water from a river in Bara. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor had visited Khyber Agency several times and announced rehabilitation of people there, but nothing practical was done.

Another tribesman, Safdar Khan, said that businesses of Bara residents were destroyed in operations against militants. “Schools, hospitals, basic health units, roads and local markets remained closed for several years and people were deprived of basic rights in the area,” he said.

He maintained that the government should launch the interest-free loan scheme for youth in Fata to counter militancy and reduce unemployment rate.  “The tribal areas have faced the worst kind of terrorism in the last more than a decade and are in need of such schemes,” he added.