Hundreds of families of the Eidak tribe have begun evacuating the tent camp set up for them in Pir Kalay, North Waziristan. They are leaving their native area behind and migrating to Bannu, the district playing host to a majority of people displaced from the agency.
The tribe’s elders including Maulvi Sanaullah, Pir Aqal Shah and Ahmad Saeed had earlier requested the security forces to allow them to live in their own houses and not force them to migrate. The elders maintained there were no militants in Eidak. They had also offered to cooperate whenever the security forces needed launch an operation in their area.
The tribe was then allowed to stay put but subsequently moved to Pir Kalay which is six kilometres away from Eidak. A tent village was set up there for the nearly 20,000 families which left the agency.
However, a shortage of food, water and other basic facilities forced the displaced people to complain to the political administration and demand repatriation or relocation to Bannu.
On Friday, the political administration began moving the Eidak tribes people to Bannu in government vehicles. A political administration official said the decision to stay in IDP camps or move to other parts of the country was left to the tribesmen.
Maulvi Muhammad Alam, an Eidak tribesman, told The Express Tribune on Saturday that they were facing troubles in Pir Kalay, North Waziristan due to a shortage of water and the non-availability of ration and medicine. He added they had demanded that they be moved from the tent camp.
A search operation is currently under way in Eidak after the families were moved.
Meanwhile, residents of Shera Talla area of Speenwam tehsil, Mir Ali subdivision have also begun evacuating their area after the deadline given to them by the security forces expired on Saturday.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2014.
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