ISLAMABAD: More than one million people displaced from North Waziristan appear to be the main sufferers of the ongoing political crisis in the country, because neither the federal government nor the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government seems to be willing to own them.

After Thursday’s police action against protesters at a relief camp for internally displaced persons in Bannu, both the PML-N and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have been trying to pass on the responsibility of looking after the IDPs to each other.

Talking to reporters at his residence in Islamabad before leaving for Sahiwal to address a public meeting on Saturday, PTI chairman Imran Khan stated in categorical terms that the responsibility for taking care of the IDPs mainly lay with the federal government.

Mr Khan said KP was a small province and it was the federal government’s responsibility to provide it with additional police personnel and funds to support the large number of IDPs there. He claimed a total of three million IDPs were living in various camps in the province.

Read: All 92 detained IDPs released in Bannu

Addressing the public meeting in Sahiwal, the PTI chief went on to say the IDPs had intentionally been kept in KP to create problems for the PTI-led government of the province.

On the other hand, federal Information Minister Pervez Rashid suggested that taking care of the IDPs was the responsibility of the KP government. He said the federal government was only supposed to provide the funds required for the purpose.

In a statement Mr Rashid alleged that Mr Khan “does not consider it his party’s responsibility to take care of the IDPs as he is a supporter of terrorists and at his behest his party’s government in KP is punishing the IDPs”.

The federal minister said: “Instead of apologising for its inefficiency and poor arrangements for the distribution of relief goods, the KP government put the hapless people who are sacrificing for the country behind bars.”

He warned of strict action against those held responsible for the alleged mismanagement at the time of aid distribution.

Also read: Clash between IDPs and law enforcement agencies in Bannu

He claimed the federal government was providing all possible financial support to the IDPs as they were the responsibility of all. He criticised the KP government for “doing nothing” for the IDPs and “arranging dance parties in its sit-in”.

He said Mr Khan should accept responsibility for the police action against the IDPs. “Instead of making lame excuses, the KP government should make better arrangements for the distribution of relief goods,” he added.

A number of policemen and IDPs were injured on Thursday when police resorted to baton-charge and firing into the air to disperse the protesters at a food distribution centre in Bannu. Later, police arrested over 90 IDPs, took them to the Bannu prison and registered a case against them.

However, all the arrested persons were released on Saturday on bail granted by a local court after intervention of the high-ups in Islamabad and Peshawar.

Also on Saturday PML-N legislator and chairperson of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Marvi Memon visited the camp in Bannu to express solidarity with the IDPs.

Later, she held a protest sit-in outside the Bannu prison, calling for release of the arrested IDPs.

Meanwhile, the PTI chairman termed Ms Memon’s protest outside the prison “a drama” and asked her to persuade the federal government to provide resources to the province for arranging better facilities at the IDPs’ camps.

He added that KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had decided to move the Supreme Court against the alleged apathy of the federal government towards the province.

Published in Dawn, November 16th , 2014