Rahat Shinwari

English | اردو Nearly fifty thousand people have been displaced from Tirah Valley in Khyber agency following clashes between the between the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and the government-allied organization, Ansar-ul-Islam (AI). While Khyber Agency’s political office put the estimate at 50,000, unofficial sources doubled it, saying almost 100,000 locals had been forced to migrate out of Tirah abandoning their homes and possessions. The fighting left almost a hundred thousand homeless and several dozen dead. The displaced people are demanding that the government register all IDPs and establish camps at peaceful locations in the Tribal Areas. Zakir Shah Afridi, who belongs to the Maidan area of Tirah region, said that his house was bombarded by rocket fire causing the fields, mountains and even his house to catch fire. Zakir and his family fled the fighting, walking for hours in the midst of battle and heavy rainfall to escape through neighboring Kurram Agency. Now, he is living in Peshawar with his family. The lack of camps and no process for registration has meant that the IDPs are staying in Orakzai Agency, Kurram Agency and Peshawar with their relatives. The assistant director of the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA), Farman Ali says that the registration […]