No direction home: IDPs demand repatriation or alternate residences

Say it is unfair to be evicted from govt schools with no other arrangements.

BANNU: Displaced families demanded the government repatriate them by September 1, saying they would otherwise not evacuate the government schools where they are residing now until they are given an alternate residence.

IDPs and students from North Waziristan Agency (NWA) held a rally on Sunday, which passed through various routes of Bannu.

Tribal elders and the student leadership of the agency said while addressing the participants that they did not need any rations from the government, as long as they could be sent back home by September 1. Otherwise, they threatened to not evacuate government school buildings. The speakers said it was unfair for the administration to evict them from the schools without providing any alternative.

Student leaders said schools across the province will open from September, but students from NWA would not be able to attend any classes.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2014.