200,000 IDP families repatriated so far

FDMA officials say 77,000 IDP families await return to NWA


Sardar Sikander June 01, 2016
FDMA officials say 77,000 IDP families await return to NWA PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD: Over 200,000 internally-displaced persons (IDPs) families have returned to their homes in five tribal agencies of the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in over a year, official figures showed on Tuesday.

Officials of the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) stated that the federal government managed the large-scale repatriation operation on its own, without seeking direct help from the international humanitarian community.

The latest data issued by the FDMA suggested that as of May 30th this year, as many as 221,966 IDP families returned to their homes. Of the total, 132,703 families had been verified by NADRA while 89,263 remained unverified.

FDMA officials told The Express Tribune that 77,000 IDP families were yet to be repatriated in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) where Zarb-e-Azb operation is said to be entering final stages.

“The entire NWA is cleared of militants. There are some areas where combing operations are underway. As soon as this is done, the repatriation drive would gain momentum, after we receive a go-ahead from security agencies to allow IDPs’ repatriation in the central parts of NWA,” a senior FDMA official, requesting anonymity, said.

“We hope that all IDP families would be repatriated by (the end of) this year and everybody would be home not later than December 31st this year,” the source added. Repatriation targets in other tribal agencies had significantly been achieved and the remaining IDP families in these agencies would be repatriated by summer this year, he said.

Currently, the repatriation drive is ongoing in NWA, South Waziristan and Orakzai agencies. According to FDMA figures, as many as 32,482 families returned to their homes in NWA from various parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Peshawar and adjoining areas, since March 31st last year. These include 24,596 families verified by NADRA and 7,886 unverified families. These families were displaced after security forces launched Zarb-e-Azb operation against TTP militants and allied splinter groups in the entire tribal agency in June 2014.

As many as 112,022 families returned to Khyber Agency since March 31st last year. These families were displaced as a result of security forces’ action against TTP and Lashkar-e-Islam in Tirah Valley. Of the returned families, 71,928 families were verified by NADRA and the remaining 40,094 remained unverified. The repatriation drive ended on May 11 this year.

Moreover, 33,485 families returned from SWA since March 31 last year, including 18,837 NADRA verified and 14,648 unverified families.

In Kurram Agency, 17,563 families returned, including 15,247 NADRA verified and 2,316 unverified families. The repatriation operation in Kurram Agency began on October 1 last year and ended on May 10 this year.

Orakzai Agency saw the return of 6,414 families since October 1st last year. Interestingly, a greater number of 3,737 IDP families have not yet been verified by NADRA against 2,095 verified families in Orakzai Agency.

Even though, the United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners are providing secondary assistance in the repatriation drive, they are not directly involved and the operation is managed by the federal government departments, including FDMA, SAFRON and NDMA.

Nazir Khan Wazir, PML-N’s MNA from NWA, said the repatriation operation was marred by logistical and procedural difficulties in the beginning but these issues were resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2016.

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