Homecoming: Next phase of Mehsud tribesmen’s repatriation to begin in February

Assistant political agent says families will return to 15 villages in two tehsils.

DI KHAN: The 11th phase of repatriation to South Waziristan of Mehsud IDPs is to begin in February, the agency’s Assistant Political Agent Nawab Sufi told journalists on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media at the agency’s political compound located in the adjacent district of Tank, Sufi said the displaced Mehsud families would be repatriated to 15 villages of Sararogha and Sarwakai tehsils of South Waziristan. These include 10 villages of Sarwakai and five in Sararogha. Around seven to eight thousand displaced families are to be repatriated in this phase.

Many Mehsud tribesmen settled in Tank and DI Khan districts around six years ago following military operation Rah-e-Nijat in 2009 against the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“I do not know IDPs are going back to South Waziristan, but if it is true, the initiative is a good one for us,” Hamidullah, an IDP from South Waziristan who drives a rickshaw in DI Khan, told The Express Tribune.

“If the government announces that all IDPs should go back at once, we will do so at our own expense. The phase-wise return of IDPs is not going to end. It has been six years since I have been living this difficult life with my family. We want to go back to our homes,” he added.

In charge of the FATA Disaster Management Authority in South Waziristan, Saeed Umar told journalists the disaster management authority, political administration and army were making efforts to repatriate displaced Mehsud tribesmen as soon as possible. He added they wanted to provide all facilities to the IDPs after their return, saying they have so far completed 10 phases of repatriation under which 11,000 families returned to their homes. “They were not only repatriated, but also provided all basic provisions.”

Umar reiterated the government wants to start the 11th phase of repatriation soon, but the cold weather in South Waziristan warranted a wait. Thus, the process would begin in end-February or early-March. Registration for the 11th phase of repatriation was carried out in June last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.