Seeking rehabilitation: Bara’s displaced tribesmen demand compensation

Say the govt should plan a strategy for their repatriation.

PESHAWAR:

The people of militancy-affected Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency have asked the government to announce a compensation package for them along the lines of packages announced for Malakand division.

Addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, Haris Afridi, the central president of welfare organisation Khyber Union, said the government was yet to announce a compensation package or a comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of Bara’s displaced people, who have been affected by the prolonged military operation in the area.

“The tribesmen of Bara, Khyber Agency are the ones suffering at the hands of excessive military operations. A large number of them had to flee their homes and seek shelter in makeshift camps in the settled areas,” said Afridi.

Flanked by Khyber Union senior vice president, secretary and elders from Bara, Afridi urged the government and relief agencies to take proactive steps for the rehabilitation of tribesmen so as to mitigate their miseries.

“The education and health infrastructure in Bara tehsil has been completely damaged, while traders have incurred huge financial losses because of the destruction of over 700 shops by security forces’ continued shelling,” Afridi claimed.

“Over 173 public and private schools have been destroyed in the agency since the operation began, depriving around 27,000 students of their basic right to education,” Afridi maintained.

Expressing concern over the non-availability of support grants to Bara’s affected traders, Afridi said the Economic Revitalisation of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata Programme executed by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) had not been extended to Bara’s traders affected by militancy.

Afridi further said Smeda and the government should make the process of availing grants simpler as most of the traders from Bara are not able to avail them because of the lengthy documentation process involved.

“Special presidential funds should be immediately released for the reconstruction of damaged educational institutes. It is time the federal and provincial governments devise a comprehensive strategy for the rehabilitation of Bara’s tribesmen,” he maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2013.