Khyber-I: Over 36,000 families displaced from Bara
Registration of internally displaced persons (IDP) from Khyber Agency started on October 13 when the operation targeting banned militant outfits began and tribesmen were told to evacuate the area to minimise collateral damage and loss of lives.
The FDMA established four registration points for IDPs at Pishtakhara in Peshawar, Kata Panra in lower Orakzai Agency, Sam Ghakhay in Bara and Ali Masjid area in Jamrud.
According to the report, which is available with The Express Tribune, only seven families evacuated on the first day and arrived at the registration point in lower Orakzai Agency. But the pace picked up on the second day and third day; on October 14, some 98 families made it to the various registration points, while 476 families arrived on October 15.
The figure continued to soar over the next few weeks, stopping at 36,020 displaced families on November 6. The families comprise 55,669 men, 57,513 women and 143,990 children.
A large number of displaced families who could afford houses on rent have settled in Peshawar, Kohat, Hangu and Nowshera districts as well as Landikotal and Jamrud tehsils, while the rest are staying at IDP camps at Jalozai in Nowshera and Togh Sarai, Hangu. Their numbers, however, are difficult to tabulate.
“For Bara IDPs, the on-ground situation is perplexing because a census has not been conducted since 1998,” said an FDMA official.
He added the agency’s population dynamics are different from the rest of the country because of various social upheavals and migrations. It is unclear how many people have returned after being displaced previously or how many have settled elsewhere.
To date, residents of Bara tehsil have been evacuated from their area three times due to military operations against banned outfits.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 16th, 2014.
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It is said that instead of helping the IDP's federal government is using them as a leverage against provincial government and as both sides play politics they are on the suffering side