Daily Times

Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs) of North Waziristan tribal district, who had migrated to Afghanistan in the wake of anti-militant offensive Zarb-e-Azb, have been barred from entering Pakistan, tribesmen said on Saturday.

When contacted, spokesman for FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) Ihsan Dawar said his organisation could not interfere in the issue since the TDPs were on the other side of the border.

“The FDMA can intervene once the TDPs families are allowed to come in,” Dawar added. Reports from the tribal region stated that Ghulam Khan and Angoor Adda border crossings had also been closed for all kind of movement on either side of the borders. Shakir Wazir, a tribal elder of Kabulkhel tribe of North Waziristan, told Daily Times that hundreds of families of his tribe – despite having Pakistani computerised identity cards and other legal documents – were stuck on the other side of the border as authorities at the two crossing points were not allowing them to enter Pakistan.

“Due to the closure of the border crossings, students will suffer the most as the academic year at Pakistani educational institutions has been started,” Wazir added.

“We have orders from the top,” Wazir quoted border officials as saying when asked why TDPs were being allowed to come back. “Even the patients are not being allowed to be shifted to Pakistan,” he added.

Earlier, the FDMA had set April 30 as the last deadline for repatriation of around 1,500 families from Afghanistan to North Waziristan Agency.

Mian Adil Zahoor, then FDMA assistant director operation and relief, had said that the government would facilitate return of the tribal people from Afghanistan by the end of April this year. He had said after expiry of the deadline the tribal people could return to their homes, but would not be entitled to any assistance. A large number of people of North Waziristan have been stuck in southeastern Paktia and Paktika provinces of Afghanistan – the two provinces bordering Pakistan.

Tribesmen have appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor, Peshawar corps commander and Frontier Corps inspector general to consider their issue on priority basis. “The entire family of my uncle-in-law Akhtar Muhammad is stuck in Afghanistan,” Wazir added.

Published in Daily Times, September 9^th 2018.