Rs1 billion fund for TDPs stuck in red tape

NA panel to take up non-disbursement of approved money

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel will soon take up the issue of non-disbursement of funds to families from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) which had been displaced due to Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

“The approved Rs1 billion is shuttling around in different files and in our next meeting we will scrutinise the federal government’s glaring injustice,” said Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) Jamaluddin, who is chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions (Safron).



He claimed that nearly 20 months after an operation against militants in the tribal areas began, codenamed Zarb-e-Azb, the government had released only Rs10 billion. Out of this a paltry sum of Rs1 billion had been marked for disbursement among TDPs for rehabilitation while the remaining was for the security establishment. But this sum was still stuck in the bureaucracy and red tape.

The government had earmarked Rs100 billion for Fata of which Rs55 billion was reserved for rehabilitation of 336,762 Fata families affected by Operation Zarb-e-Azb, while the remaining Rs45 billion was for military purposes.

According to Economic Affairs Division’s secretary, the Fata Secretariat is providing each returning family a one-time transportation cover of Rs10,000 in addition to a one-time Rs25,000 rehabilitation sum.

Jamaluddin, whose JUI-F is an ally of the government, criticised incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for unfairly attaching the military establishment with Fata.

“There is need to understand the concept that Fata needs special treatment,” he stressed.



“The federal government is not sincere about rehabilitation and development in the tribal areas.”

He lamented that the government had failed to provide tents to returning TDPs.

“We will give our recommendations (during the committee) for the disbursement of the pledged amount among real stakeholders, the people of the tribal region,” he said, adding, “There is no compensation for war displaced people of the region.”

Recently, officials of the finance ministry had briefed the lawmakers on the status of Rs100 billion package announced by the government during the 2015-16 budget. The Jamaluddin-led parliamentary panel had expressed concern over the slow pace of work on rehabilitation of TDPs.

Decrying the attitude of the minister for Safron, who is an ex-officio member of the committee yet he does not attend its meetings, Jamaluddin said the committee will probably take up the matter next week.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2016.