Nowshera, April 2: Scores of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Tirah valley of Khyber Agency held a protest demonstration on Tuesday at Jalozai camp to seek registration and provision of relief goods.
The IDPs gathered at a compound adjacent to the offices of Provincial Disaster Management Authority at the camp to protest against the non-availability of necessary relief items to them.
Addressing the protesters, Haleem Gul Shalobar said that more than 200 displaced families from Tirah were compelled to share tents with old IDPs from Bara at the camp as they were yet to be formally registered.
He said that most of the families had to leave their houses in Tirah in haste. They left every thing behind, they added. “We are in need of food, clothing, household items and above all a shelter to protect our families from harsh weather,” he said.
Mr Gul said that most of the newly arrived members of displaced families also left behind their national identity cards and couldn’t get registered at the camp. He demanded of Nadra authorities to set up mobile offices at the camp to issue new national identity cards to IDPs so that they could be registered.
Ali Akbar, another tribal elder, said that some of the government officials were persuading them to go to Durrani camp in Kurram Agency where Fata Disaster Management Authority had already started registration of Tirah IDPs.
“Most of the IDPs at Jalozai can’t afford to go to Kurram Agency. They want to remain near their relatives at Jalozai so they should be registered here,” he insisted.
Adnan Khan, a spokesman for PDMA, told Dawn that they had so far accommodated 274 families from Tirah at Jalozai and their formal registration would be started as soon security situation improved in the camp.
He said that UNHCR had certain reservations over the security situation in Jalozai. However, he said that PDMA had amicably removed the reservations of UNHCR.
Mr Khan said that PDMA was doing its best to provide all possible facilities to the newly displaced families but the influx was so sudden that it required time to make arrangements for them.
The Jalozai camp in-charge, Noor Akbar, told Dawn that the blast at a distribution point at the camp on March 22 temporarily halted the registration process. — Correspondent
