Mohmand tribesmen want same facilities offered to Diamer-Bhasha Dam affectees

Reiterate demands for provision of free power, irrigation channels, industrial zone

PESHAWAR: As the government tries to overcome hurdles in the construction of the Mohmand Dam, residents of the tribal district who stand to be affected by the construction of the water reservoir on Monday said that they want the same terms offered to residents of Kohistan where the Diamer-Bhasha Dam is being built.

This was stated on Monday by tribal elders from the Burhankhel, the Essakhel and the Uthmankhel tribes of Mohmand at a grand tribal jirga in Ekka Ghund, a sub-division of lower Mohmand.

Apart from tribal elders and district administration officials, lawmakers from Mohmand were also present in the jirga.

Tribal elders Malak Ismail Sher, Malak Deen Arab, Malak Aslam, Gul Hakeem Jehangir and others who addressed the jirga, welcomed the construction of the dam.

However, they demanded that before work on the dam starts, expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan next year, the government should fix the rate for acquiring land for the dam.

They added that the rate should be equivalent to that government paid to residents of Kohistan who gave their ancestral lands for the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam there.

The tribesmen also demanded that once the dam has been built, the government provide them with 100 megawatts of power for free apart from setting up an industrial estate in the tribal district, up-stream irrigation channels, a drinking water scheme and hiring locals as non-technical employees and awarding locals small contracts relating to the dam project.

Later MNA Malak Anwar Taj told the media that he will convey concerns of the local community regarding the dam project to the water and power minister to settle the dispute.

Chitan calls jirga

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Vice President and member of CEC Akhunzada Chitan has summoned a jirga later this week for all political parties, intellectuals and journalists from the tribal areas on safeguarding the rights of tribal districts.

He announced the jirga in a news conference in the Khar area of the Bajaur Tribal District on Monday.

Chitan has said that during the process of merging the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), he had expressed his concerns about the rights of tribespeople.

He added that they had demanded the extension of the judiciary to Fata, providing Rs100 billion in annual funds and holding local government and provincial assembly elections in the tribal districts.

However, over six months after the merger, no initiative has been taken which awards those rights.

He criticised visits of the KP mines and mineral minister to mines in the tribal districts, accusing him of controlling mines in the tribal districts for PTI leader Jehangir Tareen through KP Senior Minister Atif Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2018.