MPA warns of assembly boycott over delay in Tirah IDPs’ return plan

KHYBER: MPA Abdul Ghani Afridi on Monday warned that he would take displaced families back to Tirah Valley himself if the authorities did not announce a return plan within two weeks, as he pressed for the early repatriation of people uprooted from the area.

Speaking at a press conference at the Bara Press Club, the lawmaker said thousands of families from Tirah had been forced out of their homes during snowfall for a military operation in the valley. He said the federal government had later stepped back, leaving the displaced population, in his words, high and dry.

Afridi said residents of Tirah, who were used to the valley’s cooler climate, were now living in small rented homes in Bara and Peshawar. He said he would move a resolution in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly over what he described as an injustice and then boycott proceedings if the displaced people were not sent back soon.

“I will move a resolution about this injustice in the provincial assembly and will later boycott its proceedings if the early return of IDPs is not ensured,” he said at a presser.

He said the sudden displacement had stripped Tirah residents of their houses, farmland, crops and businesses, leaving many to borrow money to meet everyday expenses. Afridi also maintained that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had consistently opposed military operations anywhere in the province.

The MPA said some quarters were attempting to malign the provincial government by compelling people to leave their homes on security grounds. He also alleged that, in the absence of Tirah residents, an organised mafia was taking over their land and property, while timber smugglers were cutting forests in the valley.

Afridi further called for an immediate end to repeated closures of roads leading to the Akkakhel area and demanded unrestricted movement for local residents in their own areas.