Living like refugees: IDPs in DI Khan protest non-registration

Assistant commissioner pacifies demonstrators with promises of action

DI KHAN: Internally displaced persons (IDP) from North Waziristan on Friday blocked the Karachi-Peshawar Road in Shurkot to protest against their non-registration. The protest clogged up the main road where traffic remained blocked for about half an hour.

A large number of protesters took to the streets and shouted slogans against the district government for failing to register them and provide them with rations at Shurkot Ration Distribution Centre established for the IDPs.



According to Anwar Khan, a displaced person who attended the protest, the district government is constantly making excuses to not register them.

“Several IDPs have not been registered despite coming to the ration point time and again,” Khan said. “We have been refused for a variety of reasons such as the problem of dual address.”

At this critical stage, Khan insisted the IDPs had no other option but to resort to protests.

DI Khan Assistant Commissioner (AC) Salman Lohdi later arrived at the scene and tried to pacify the protesters. He negotiated with the IDPs and pledged to resolve their grievances.

Lodhi said ration tokens will be given to 1,600 IDPs whose registration has been completed by the district government. Moreover, displaced persons who have yet to be registered are on the government’s priority list. Work is under way to ensure they are registered immediately, he added.

Once these assurances were made, the protesters ended their demonstration and dispersed peacefully.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.