Locals had demanded time to arrest culprits but did not nab anyone.
Besham Additional Assistant Commissioner Javed Iqbal said locals and councillors of the local government held a jirga asking the police for a three-day period during which they would arrest people who received compensation cheques but were not the affectees. The deadline has ended, added Iqbal, but locals have not arrested a single culprit. “We have now started an operation against such fake victims and will arrest those who have taken cheques and food items illegally.”
Hand picked
Iqbal said they had started arresting people posing as victims before the jirga and had arrested 25 culprits. “We blocked their cheques, registered FIRs against them and put them behind bars for a period of at least two years.”
Those pretending to be victims belong to different areas: Chakesar, Khadang and surrounding areas.
He told The Express Tribune a committee has also been formed to investigate the matter. The committee consists of six people who belong to different government departments, police force and the local government. Javed said the committee members visited affected areas and personally checked who deserved the cheques and who did not.
“The district administration had to change the method of distributing aid due to these problems; now they are taking pictures of destroyed houses for their records.”
Relief work in Chakesar continues and according to Shangla DC Saadat Hassan, they are solving the problems of the victims. However, locals worry as biting cold weather approaches. “How will we stay in tents during the snowfall, our children are at risk of dying,” a survivor in Chakesar, Talun Iqbal Khan, told The Express Tribune.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2015.
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