A helping hand: Elders from SWA demand increase in compensation

“The tribespeople have faced difficulties over the last decade,” says tribal leader Abdul Karim Mehsud

PESHAWAR: Elders of South Waziristan Agency have said the amount allocated by the federal government to each family affected by militancy is insufficient. They demanded the amount be increased from Rs0.4 million to Rs0.5 million to compensate for losses incurred by people of the agency.

The demand was put forward during a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday.

“The tribespeople have faced difficulties over the last decade,” Abdul Karim Mehsud, a tribal elder said. “The government had received millions of dollars in financial assistance from various countries. However, it did not utilise the money in an appropriate manner.”

The displaced people were also facing challenges as many of them have dual addresses on their Computerised National Identity Cards, Abdul Karim said.

List of demands

He urged local and international NGOs to give priority to the tribespeople when recruiting people for various projects in Fata. Abdul Karim demanded the services of Red Crescent FATA be extended to the entire agency.



He urged the government to establish an irrigation dam in Barani in the agency.

He said the education quota should also be increased.

“Tribespeople are patriotic citizens of the country, who have rendered sacrifices for the motherland,” Shahzada, chief of the Mehsud  tribe said.

“But the government has failed to resolve their issues on a priority basis.”

He said the government should accept their demands immediately and ameliorate the problems faced by the Mehsud tribe.

Allegations

Flanked by elders Malik Noor Khan, Malik Kabal Khan, Malik Sarwar and Malik Javed Mehsud among others, Abdul Karim accused FATA Disaster Management Authority and FATA Development Authority of misuse of funds.

The tribespeople said the government officials and their supporters had distributed funds among themselves, without any check and audit. They pressed the government to constitute a commission to probe the alleged embezzlement
of funds.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2016.