Plight of IDPs: IDPs stage protest against Azadi march

Imran criticised for not fulfilling his party’s responsibility as K-P’s representative

BANNU: The internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Bannu launched on Friday a protest against the sit-ins of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) in Islamabad. They denounced the twin marches and sit-ins as an attempt to detract attention away from serious issues to a series of non-issues

The rally was taken out from Milad Park and reached the Bannu Press Club where the protesters chanted slogans against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government, PTI chief Imran Khan and PAT Tahirul Qadri. The protest was led by the president of North Waziristan’s Affected People Committee Nisar Ali Khan.

According to the committee president, Imran and Qadri’s indefinite sit-in has obscured the plight of the IDPs. They slammed the PTI chief for not fulfilling his responsibility as a representative of the people of K-P.  If he had cared about the needs of the displaced persons, he would never have launched his Azadi march in Islamabad amid such fanfare and would have instead worked towards protecting the interests of the IDPs.

Several protesters complained that relief items were being sold openly and the IDPs had to make do with substandard food items. Furthermore, large amounts of money were being taken from the displaced population by the authorities in return for receiving domicile and national identity cards (NIC).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2014.