Unfulfilled commitments: Kurram Agency students demand compensation for IDPs

Say FDMA and USAID promised aid for rehabilitation, but tribesmen did not receive any.

PESHAWAR: Students from Kurram Agency on Wednesday claimed internally displaced persons (IDPs) were repatriated to their homes in haste without the financial assistance they were promised for rehabilitation.

Speaking to journalists at the Peshawar Press Club, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Students Federation Kurram Agency President Kashif Aziz said the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) and USAID had assured assistance to IDPs in the shape of relief packages.

“The tribesmen left their homes during the military operation with nothing except the clothes on their backs. Most of their homes were burnted down or destroyed,” said Aziz, adding the families whose homes were destroyed were promised financial compensation worth Rs400,000, while other displaced persons were promised Rs25,000.

“However, those tribesmen who have returned home have still not received the promised aid,” claimed Aziz. He demanded the promised amount not be distributed through political agents or elders. “The FDMA and USAID should distribute the money between the tribesmen themselves as political authorities and tribal elders will embezzle the funds.”

Aziz also questioned whether the government would be able to ensure peace in the region now that the locals had returned. The student federation president demanded an investigation into the distribution of money under the Benazir Income Support Programme and claimed the fund was being pocketed by tribal elders which is an injustice to needy tribesmen.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2013.