Vote extension: ‘IDP polling stations unjustified’

KOHAT: Vice Chairman of the Muttahida Qabail and candidate for NA-39, Malik Habib Noor Orkazai, while addressing journalists at the Kohat Press Club on Thursday, claimed establishing polling stations in Tirah for residents of Kasha, Khawri, Toot Mela and Ibrahimo was unjustified as voters from these regions could not access the stations. He said military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas had compelled hundreds of families to be displaced, adding Orakzai Agency was still suffering from such operations with houses and infrastructure completely destroyed. He questioned how the internally displaced persons (IDPs) could return to their areas in such a situation. Noor stressed the need for the renovation of each destroyed house and a deadline for the provision of food and rations to IDPs. He also demanded routes into the agency be reopened and the timely provision of new tents, mosquito nets and drinking water to displaced persons in IDP camps.

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