FATA needs more funds for reconstruction, resettlement of IDPs

Political agent apprises media of current situation in tribal areas

MIRANSHAH: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) development authority should allocate appropriate budget in view of the magnitude of devastation in Fata due to military operations and added that without resources from the authorities concerned the development and reconstruction phase could not be met in the operation ravaged areas of North Waziristan Agency and Fata.

The Political Agent of North Waziristan Capt (retd) Kamran Afridi stated this while interacting with Peshawar based journalists in Miranshah.



The military phase in Fata is now over and it’s time for reconstruction and repatriation of who were internally displaced in the country, he said.



He added that out of total IDPs only six per cent are still in camps while 94 per cent of the IDPS have returned to their respective areas of the Fata.

Those who were displaced to Bannu and other parts of the country were already repatriated to their respective areas, except the IDPs of the border villages with Afghanistan and South Waziristan have to return during the holy month of Ramazan or may be after the Eid, PA North Waziristan said.

He said that the political administration has carried out four surveys to assess the losses and damages of the residents in the operations in the three sub-divisions of the North Waziristan and a comprehensive reports were compiled in the office and shared it with the military, but due to lack of internet facilities in the agency we could not submit the reports timely to the office concerned and that the reasons still North Waziristan residents are still deprived of the compensation.



“We knew that those who were returned to their respective area, don’t have basic facilities in termed of a complete house or other living facilities, but civil and military are looking forward that with the help of local we will overcome the hardship in the end of this year,” Afridi said.

“We have reconstructed schools and water channels with the help of army, Fata and UN agencies but due to limited resources provided by Fata development authority we were not able to achieve the benchmark we had set,” Afridi said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2017.