Dar clears release of 85,000 tonnes of wheat for TDPs

Orders authorities concerned to complete the task by June 8

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has approved the immediate release of 85,000 metric tonnes of wheat for the temporary displaced person (TDPs) of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) for the next four months, Radio Pakistan reported.


The wheat would be handed over to the United Nations World Food Programme for distribution among the TDPs.

Dar tasked the authorities concerned to complete the release by June 8.

Read: Repatriation of TDPs to take 20 months, cost Rs175b

As a phase-wise return of families affected by the continuing military offensive is underway in the tribal areas, the government has said that it will take nearly 20 months to repatriate all the TDPs to their homes, with the exercise set to cost the exchequer Rs175 billion.

As many as 336,762 families from FATA were displaced due to the fighting in the tribal areas and a counter-operation launched by the government last June. This would be carried out in five phases from March 2015 to December 2016.