Data collection: After Badhaber, demographic survey teams head to Pishtakhara

Nearly 1,500 houses covered on first day amid complaints of residents.

PESHAWAR:

Following  the demographic survey of villages in Badhaber, on Wednesday the police began a house-to-house survey of villages which fall within the limits of Pishtakhara police station.

During the survey’s first day, around 1,500 houses were covered by the teams and details of males above the age of 14 residing in each house were collected. Photographs of the heads of families were also taken along with fingerprints of all male members.

A police official told The Express Tribune that nearly 1,000 policemen along with patwaris had been deployed to collect the data, however, the process was proving to be difficult due to Ramazan and the scorching heat.

“We have been tasked with surveying houses in the villages of Naway Kallay, Garhi Akhun Ahmad and Pishtakhara, situated near Bacha Khan International Airport,” said the policeman. He added the teams will also collect data of all two and three storey buildings in the area. The information obtained will be verified from National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) records.

“It is a cumbersome process as there are 637 houses in Kagawala village of Badhaber alone, while there are thousands in the other three localities,” the police official said.

He added the teams cannot work all day long because the surveyors are fasting. It was decided that in Pishtakhara the survey will be conducted from 8am to 12pm every day.

Incidentally, residents of villages already surveyed in Badhaber questioned the effectiveness of the exercise in enabling police to arrest militants. They claimed the militants live in Akka Khel, Khyber Agency and cross into the settled areas at night, roaming freely without any confrontation from the police.

“There is no system in place to check the movement of militants from Khyber Agency, and police does not challenge them when they roam the area in groups of 30 to 40 men. I don’t think surveying the villagers will be beneficial  for the police,” said a resident of Masho Khel on Tuesday.

The police, however, maintained a complete database of the people living in villages near the Khyber Agency border could help prevent future incidents of militancy, such as the recent attack on a Pakistan International Airlines aircraft as it was attempting to land at the airport last month.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2014.