Dual addresses: Displaced families of minorities from Waziristan scramble for rations in Bannu

Representative says most living in the area before Partition have two addresses on ID cards.

PESHAWAR:

Around 180 displaced families of minorities from North Waziristan residing in Bannu are without rations due to dual addresses on their identity cards.

Representative of the Hindu community in Bannu, Amber Azeem told The Express Tribune there were more than 200 Hindu and Christian families in Bannu of which hardly 20 have been provided rations for the second time.

“These people received rations when they reached Bannu after the start of the operation in Waziristan. After that, there was no ration for a long time and the process was eventually resumed but those people who have dual residential addresses on their ID cards are now being given a chit on which the words ‘dual address’ are written.

This is more than unfortunate as most of the Christian and Hindu families living in the area before Partition have two addresses on their ID cards,” said Azeem, adding there were other problems such as rations being distributed on the basis of the family number on ID cards.

“I have four sons and two of them are married with their own families, but since the number of my family and my children’s families is [taken as] one, I will only be provided rations for one family,” he illustrated by way of example. He added the army provided them Rs5,000 per family as Eidi during Eidul Fitr along with fans and stitching machines as well as utensils and mats.

Azeem said that Muslim and non-Muslim IDPs were facing the same problem of dual addresses which was adding to the miseries of the homeless people.

Among the 200 displaced minority families, 25 are Hindu while the rest are Christian.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2014.