Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, Malik Amir Rehman, an elder from South Waziristan, said over 450 health centres in different tribal agencies had been closed down through a notification from the Fata Secretariat on June 8, 2010.
“Tribal people have been deprived of health facilities after this unjustified decision by the authority,” he said. Amir said apart from tribal people’s health suffering, a large number of people were rendered jobless by the closure.
Flanked by tribal elders Malik Syed Wali Khan, Malik Haji Ziary Gul, and Shamul Rehman, he said the decision had created unrest among tribal people, saying it had also multiplied their miseries.
Women and children are the worst affected by the absence of health facilities as people have to travel for miles for First Aid and medical treatment, he explained. He urged the government to withdraw the decision in the best interest of tribal people.
Malik Amir demanded the K-P Governor Masood Kausar to review the decision to end growing unrest among tribesmen and provide better health facilities to them. He criticised the elected representatives of the tribal areas for failure to resolve their problems.
Tribal elders warned that in case the government failed to resolve the issue, they would launch a protest campaign by setting up hunger strike camps in the agencies and march to Islamabad for a sit-in before parliament house.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2011.
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