Curfew in N Waziristan: Hundreds stranded in Bannu for four days

MIRANSHAH:

Hundreds of tribesmen including women and children are stranded for the last four days in Miranshah Bus Stand in Bannu and different parts of North Waziristan Agency due to ongoing curfew.

The agency’s political administration had imposed the curfew after an IED blast, which was followed by a suicide attack in which unknown militants had rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into check-post at Khajori and killed five security officials.

Sobat Wazir, a tribesman from Miranshah, the agency headquarters, said he along with his family were stuck for the past four days in a hotel at a bus stand due to curfew and now he did not  have any more money to pay for the hotel rent. “The room rent of hotels has also gone up due to the crowded lines of people” he said.



Shahab Gul – who had a vehicle loaded with vegetables – said he was also stuck at a bus stand and could not move forward to the agency due to curfew. Gul said he had sustained a loss of Rs30,000 as the vegetables he had bought in Bannu had turned stale.

Meanwhile the political administration on Friday relaxed the curfew from 11:00am till 1:00pm to allow the tribesmen to shift to their hometowns the injured and bodies of the people who had died in clashes between militants and security forces in Mirali and its outskirts.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2013.