Post-Eid: IDPs repatriation to kick into high gear

Over 70% of IDPs have returned, says FDMA official.

ISLAMABAD: Over 70% of people displaced from the tribal areas owing to terrorism, military operation and natural disasters, have returned to their homes.

The FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) told The Express Tribune that of the 0.45 million IDP families (amounting to 3.13 million people as per a family size of seven people), 0.32 million families (2.25 million people) or 72% have been repatriated to their native areas. Additionally, over 0.12 million unregistered IDP families have also made the journey back to their homes.

A third of all repatriated families belong to Bajaur and Mohmand Agencies where repatriation drives have officially been called off after all IDP families from these areas returned to their homes. According to FDMA, 72,895 families returned to Bajaur while 36,759 families returned to Mohmand.

FDMA officials claimed that all families who were repatriated to these areas were verified by the National Database Regulatory Authority (NADRA) and provided Rs25,000 in cash assistance.

The disaster management agency, however, has had mixed results elsewhere.



In North Waziristan, one of the areas where the military made a major push against militants, only 48% of all displaced families have been able to return so far. Officials say 49,920 families of 0.1 million families from the agency have managed to return. Meanwhile, some 9,000 families are reported to have returned to the agency on their own.

A senior FDMA official told The Express Tribune that the delay in return of families to North Waziristan is due to combing operations in the area.

“Unofficially, North Waziristan is completely cleared of terrorists. But there are some necessary security procedures that need to be followed to ensure zero presence of any hostile elements,” the official said, adding that once these procedures are complete, the repatriation operation will go into high gear.

In other places, 95% of the repatriation target for Khyber Agency has been met with 87,104 families of the 91,689 families from the agency returning home. Some 55,000 unregistered IDP families are also reported to have returned to the agency.

In Kurram Agency, the repatriation operation is 87 per cent complete with 28,731 registered families of the total 33,024 families back home. The remaining 4,293 families await repatriation while over 14,000 unverified families are said to have reached homes on their own.

In Kurram Agency, some 28,731 registered IDP families, 87% of 33,024 IDPs families, have returned home. Over 14,000 unverified families are also reported to have returned.

Over 84% of the IDP families in Frontier Region (FR) Tank, around 1,871 families, have been repatriated.

In Orakzai Agency, some 21,852 IDP families or 60% of 35,823 IDP families from the area have returned. Over 18,000 unverified families are also reported to have gotten back home.

South Waziristan accounted for the lowest rate of returns with only 23,471 families or 33% of the total 71,124 families from the agencies returning so far. There are unverified reports of over 22,000 families returning on their own.

“The repatriation drive will be further scaled up in FATA in general and North Waziristan in particular once we get a go-ahead from the security establishment. Hopefully, this will be possible after Eid,” the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2016.