45 families return to native villages

BANNU:

Repatriation of the displaced population from Bannu to various parts of Mirali subdivision of North Waziristan Agency resumed on Thursday after a hiatus of seven days.

According to insiders, nearly 200 people from 45 families arrived in their native villages in Shameeri area of Mirali.

According to a political administration official, the families comprised 33 men, 49 women and 114 children.

“Earlier 71 families had returned to their homes,” he said. “Now, after the repatriation process has been resumed, 116 families have returned to their native villages.”

The repatriation process of the IDPs began on March 31 but screeched to a halt after tribespeople were asked to sign an eight-page ‘social agreement’. However, the members of various tribes, including the Dawar and Uthmanzai Wazir tribes, refused to sign the agreement, saying it imposes conditions which both questions their loyalty and enforces the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR).

While the agreement says there will be no restriction over social, religious, political and economic activity, it adds that natives of the region will have to remain loyal to the country in accordance with the FCR and Constitution of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2015.