Compensating losses: JI leader demands special package for Bara’s displaced

Says assistance should be provided along the lines of that provided to people of Malakand

PESHAWAR: The chief of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Khyber Agency chapter, Shah Faisal Afridi, on Friday urged the government to provide relief to the displaced persons of Bara and Tirah along the lines of assistance provided to the people of Malakand and North Waziristan agency (NWA).

Protesters holding placards and banners convened at Peshawar Press Club and chanted slogans against the federal government and FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA). Afridi, who is also Tehreek-e-Haqooq-e-Bara’s chairman, said commercial activities and businesses have come to a halt for the past six years due to the prolonged military operation in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency.



Afridi said the traders’ community has sustained huge losses under the prevailing circumstances. He demanded the government immediately reopen Bara Bazaar so tribesmen can continue to earn a living with dignity.

He complained a large number of children have been deprived of the right to education because of the closure of schools.

Shabab-e-Milli Fata President Shah Jehan Afridi, JI amir for Bara tehsil Sultan Akbar Afridi, Khan Wali Afridi, Mohammad Farooq Afridi and Mohammad Irshad Afridi said Khyber-1 was launched without prior notice. They said families could not shift to safer places from Bara, due to which many people were killed or injured in firing of mortar shells. They added hundreds of mud-houses were also destroyed, while the remaining houses were looted.

No place to call home

Shah Faisal Afridi said internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Bara are facing enormous difficulties in renting houses due to inadequate arrangements in the settled areas.



He added the displaced population cannot afford to pay large sums for housing. Afridi said the authorities had also failed to provide tents to internally displaced families at Jalozai despite making a commitment to do so.

The JI leader went on to say that the government and relevant authorities have not taken any steps to mitigate the sufferings of the displaced population despite a lapse of months since Khyber-1 was initiated. He added IDPs from Bara have been deprived of monthly cash allowance, winter packages and food rations. He maintained the tribesmen of Bara have rendered numerous sacrifices for their motherland and that these should be acknowledged.

JI leaders demanded the government make immediate arrangements for the voluntary return of displaced families and ensure their rehabilitation to their respective areas. They also urged authorities to announce a comprehensive compensation package for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads destroyed in the fighting along with a special package to revive the businesses of the traders of Bara.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2014.