Commiserating with people: Imran says he will spend Eid with IDPs

Says both federal and K-P govts will have to solve the problems of the internally displaced persons.

BANNU:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Sunday said he would spend his Eid with the people driven from their homes due to the ongoing military operation in North Waziristan Agency, adding that he felt sorry for the tribals who had fallen upon hard times.

Talking to journalists during a visit to a complaint cell for internally displaced persons (IDPs), he said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser and PTI leader Amin Gandapur would be present to help out the IDPs.

He said at the beginning of the operation, the K-P government was informed that the influx of IDPs would be in the range of 0.1million.

“But now the number of IDPs has exceeded the figure of 0.7million. Now the federal government will have to play its role in this time of distress,” he said, adding, “both the K-P and federal governments will have to solve the problems of the IDPs”.

He said it was the responsibility of the federal government, not the provincial government of K-P, to take care of the IDPs.

Imran said he had visited the Bannu Women-Children Hospital, where the IDPs were admitted along with patients from Afghanistan and Bannu. He said just two to three days’ stock of medicines was left at the hospital.

“I demand that the federal government approve a grant of Rs5 billion for the IDPs to tend to their health needs and other necessities,” he said.

He said a separate health centre for female IDPs should be established and female staff deputed in there so that women could consult them about their issues.

The PTI chief said the IDPs had expressed their reservations over the standard of relief packages, especially the flour provided to them from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). “A committee should be formed to ensure quality and keep an eye on the relief work carried out by WFO officials,” he said.

He also demanded that the federal government deploy around 500 security men to maintain law and order in Bannu. He said the IDPs, who were government employees, were facing delay in issuance of passports and other documents.

“These issues should be addressed and solved on an emergency basis by establishing counters in Bannu and Political Agent’s house of North Waziristan,” he said.

Imran demanded that the army chief allow the NGOs, especially foreign relief organisations, to work for the IDPs as the donors could provide relief packages to the IDPs through them.

He said the problem of power outages in Bannu should also be sorted out.

Lashing out at the federal government, Imran said it was scared of the PTI’s August 14 rally in Islamabad. “Due to the policies of the federal government, the tribal elders refused to meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” he said.

The PTI chief claimed the PTI long march would not be affected by the influx and issues of the IDPs.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2014.