Taking stock: In South Waziristan, PML-N asks for polling stations in IDP camps

Says displaced tribesmen need to participate in polls to help restore democracy in the region.

PESHAWAR: The South Waziristan chapter of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to make arrangements for those displaced from the agency to participate in the polls.

Roughly 30,000 families from Shawwal, Mir Ali, Data Khel, Miranshah and Razmak are languishing in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in different parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), said PML-N SWA Secretary Ghazi Khan Mehsud at the Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Monday.

The IDPs should be included in elections so they can play their role in restoring peace and democracy in the war-riddled agency, said Mehsud. “It is the constitutional right of IDPs to participate in the elections and cast their vote; the ECP should ensure polling stations in camps around South Waziristan and K-P.”



“The extension of the Political Parties Act to the tribal areas is a good omen in the provision of democracy to the volatile region, but no substantial amendments have been made in the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) and Fata is still under the control of political agents.”

Other party members and workers from the agency were also present at the briefing. They maintained the tribesmen were more enthusiastic about the polls as they have been given such rights after decades.

Ghazi Mehsud noted a majority of the displaced have not been registered as voters. Those who have been, their identity cards have been blocked on the basis of ‘suspicion’. He asked the ECP to direct the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to issue their identification cards before the general elections.

Irshad Khan, a tribesman, confirmed his family’s identity cards had been held by NADRA. “They [the registration authority] told us until our nationality status is verified they cannot issue new identity cards.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2013.