The first group of at least 9,650 persons or 1,121 families began their journey home on November 29, 2010. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is facilitating those returning home alongside the Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) from Mishti, Sheikhan and Issa Khel, down to Lower Orakzai Agency.
Prior to the start of the actual return, UNHCR, with the help of partner organisations, conducted a return intention survey to determine how many people were willing to return. Over 2,000 families in the districts of Kohat and Hangu were surveyed.
The results of the survey indicated that 66 per cent of the total surveyed Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) intended to return. Forty-one per cent of survey respondents from Lower Orakzai expressed their willingness to return home immediately, while 32 per cent stated that they would return within six months.
UNHCR is providing transport and other essential household items like mats, blankets, quilts and jerry cans to the returning families. Two distribution points have been established in Chinjani and Mirbak, in Lower Orakzai Agency for this purpose.
Being the shelter cluster leader, UNHCR will also help families whose houses were damaged during the conflict. In order to ensure the sustainability of the return, the agency will monitor provisions of assistance and identify needs as they arise in the areas.
Ahmad Warsame, Head of the UNHCR Office in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa (K-P), said, “It is encouraging to see IDPs making an informed decision about their return, equally supported by the Government of Pakistan which ensures that the process takes place in safety and dignity.”
Improved security, possibilities of cultivating lands and sending their children back to school are some of the motivating factors for their return. Those not yet intending to return cited security, lack of livelihood opportunities and absence of education facilities as their reasons.
The survey revealed that 60 percent of IDPs had been able to visit their homes in Orakzai to check the status of their farmlands and houses, and to assess the security situation.
Since August 2008, some 700,000 IDPs fled various waves of violence in Fata. The majority of these people remain displaced, with Orakzai’s displacements being the most recent ones.
A majority of the displaced have been living with host communities in the districts of Kohat, Hangu, and Peshawar, or in rented accommodations.
Arrpoximately, 97,000 people are being hosted at Jalozai camp in Nowshera district, the majority of who are from Bajaur Agency.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2010.
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