Stumbling blocks: Biometric system poses major hurdle for IDPs in getting Eid package

Displaced families say hard labour has worn away their thumbprints.

BANNU:

The National Database and Registration Authority’s (NADRA) biometric system may have been introduced to ensure the fair distribution of ration and relief goods among displaced people, but it is likely to dampen spirits ahead of Eid as it now refuses to recognise their thumbprints.

The Punjab government released Rs7,000 as an Eid package for each displaced family from North Waziristan, but most have been deprived of the amount as the NADRA system failed to verify the thumbprints of thousands. An official privy to the matter said it was difficult to give an exact number at this stage.

Similar figures were given of the heads of more than 30,000 families could not be verified due to the biometric system. He added displaced people were surviving by the skin of their teeth as most of them had exhausted their life savings.

Erasure

IDPs in Bannu said most of them could not be verified through the biometric system and argued hard labour had worn away the ridges of their thumbprint. On the other hand, one official believed in an entirely different theory. He said “thumbprints of tribesmen are affected when they rolled hashish cigarettes.”

The lack of money has added to the woes of displaced families, who not only have to spend Eid away from home, but also cannot afford sacrificial animals or clothes for their children.

Aid blunders

Shaheen Islam, a tribal elder, said people recently evacuated from Eidak in North Waziristan were still confused over the procedure for receiving aid. “First IDPs were getting green chits, how we have white slips; this new confusion does not help.”

Seeking temporary shelter at the army-governed Baran IDP camp in Bakakhel, he added many families were getting cooked food, but faced water, drainage and sanitation troubles.

Islam said there was great uncertainty surrounding the cash distribution system. He wondered how recently evacuated tribesmen would get their dues if those displaced in June were yet to get their financial packages.

According to the report of a non-governmental organisation, of the 96,699 displaced families registered with the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), only 60,586 had been verified by NADRA. It added around 36,000 families were unable to get their initial financial relief packages.

The IDPs have staged numerous demonstrations in Bannu and Peshawar against the distribution systems for cash and relief items. Camp inhabitants repeatedly asked authorities to create an alternative system to the biometric one, saying deserving individuals were being affected negatively.

Tribal elders also met parliamentarians and spoke at length about their problems. The displaced people said the issue was even raised on the floor of the provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, a manager of the cash distribution system said money was given to displaced tribespeople after verification through the biometric system. He denied allegations that Rs300 were being deducted from each IDP at mobile franchises at the time of handing over the cash. This allegation had arisen earlier when IDPs complained money transferred through the SIMs given to them was being deducted by shopkeepers transferring the money.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2014.