Returning displaced families seek facilities

BARA: The displaced people belonging to different tribes on Sunday asked Chief Minister Mahmood Khan to provide facilities to the temporally displaced persons (TDPs) who recently returned to native areas in the lower parts of Tirah valley in the Khyber district.

They said the people were facing a host of problems after returning to their native areas after one decade.

Talking to The News, a social worker and elder of the Sipah tribe, Shaikh Gul Afridi, said the TPDs were sent to their areas empty-handed while their homes and businesses were destroyed.

He maintained the TDPs were facing a shortage of clean drinking water, besides lacking education, health and other facilities.

“Apart from the relief activities by the security forces and social and welfare figures, the government departments are nowhere to be seen,” he complained.

Another displaced person, Shah Mir Afridi, said the government had provided only one tent to each displaced family and a nominal food package before sending them to their respective areas.

“The government is providing 8kg flour bag, 2kg ghee, 2kg rice, 2kg pulses and one tent to each family but it is not sufficient,” he complained.

He said the government should conduct a survey to assess the losses caused to homes and compensate the people accordingly. “After returning to native areas, we are facing serious problems for lack of drinking water, food items. The roads are damaged,” said a social activist, Turab Ali Afridi.

He said that Basic Health Units (BHU) lacked facilities while the buildings of the government schools did not have staff.

Turab Ali asked the government to provide facilities to the returning families.

“The agricultural lands in the area have gone barren as the irrigation channels could not be rebuilt to irrigate the lands,” he complained.

“Dozens of families from the Sipah tribe migrated to Afghanistan when security forces launched a military operation in the upper parts of Bara,” another local Abdul Ahmad said.

He added though the displaced persons later returned to the country, the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) did not register them. He urged the government to register the families that had returned from Afghanistan.