The queue is long, time is running out, but the wait is infinitesimal: it has been four hours since Haji Gul, a sexagenarian, has been waiting at a rations distribution point in Bannu, in temperatures that are crossing over 40 degrees Celsius. But Gul’s troubles do not sprout from the immediacy of the situation; they mark a deeper conflict within the conflict: Gul is worried about how to bring his family back from Afghanistan once the operation is over.

Gul’s family is one of the 120,000 people from villages located on the Durand Line that migrated to Afghanistan as a fall out of the operation Zarb-i-Azab in June 2014. Gul, who married twice, belongs to the Dattakhel village. His daughters and four sons all have gone to Khost, Afghanistan.

“One of my wives is from the Zadran tribe; it’s her family in Khost that is sheltering them,” says Gul, explaining how a few households collect food to serve them, keeping the tradition of “Melmastya” intact even in times of great distress.

The migrants from Pakistan vary from tribe to tribe, based on their movement of forced or ‘partially’ forced displacement, which is the largest cross-border migration between Pakistan and Afghanistan in little more than a decade. In the past, tribesmen in North Waziristan would threaten to migrate to Afghanistan whenever disputes with the government remained unresolved; these threats hardly ever materialized into reality... until recently.

As the bombs fell, tribesmen moved their families away from their homes in North Waziristan. Where did they go?

Gul’s house was flattened before his eyes, but luckily for him, everyone survived. “Khost was closer to us, and while there was intermittent bombing, I decided to take them to a safer place”.

But now, Gul too is anxious. He has heard of greater scrutiny of people who shifted to Afghanistan, and he has become adamant about bringing his family to Bannu. “If I don’t bring them back now, this might be a difficult task in the future” Gul says.

While some families have returned to Pakistan into Kurram Agency, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says that the influx of the internally displaced has stabilized at around 0.1 million. This surmounts to around 10,000 families living in Khost, while 36,000 families are residing in Paktika. The majority are living with relatives in their homes, adding a strain on available resources. Then there are 15,000 people are living in Gulan Camp in Khost.

North Waziristan consists of three subdivisions and nine Tehsils. The migration towards Afghanistan has mainly taken place from within sub-tribes of the Uthmanzai Wazir, the main tribes in North Waziristan living on both sides of the border. However, interviews held with elders of tribes reveal that a large number of Mehsud and Bhittani tribes that had shifted to North Waziristan after the operation in South Waziristan in 2009 had also shifted to Afghanistan. Tribal elders say that there are militants who have also slipped through along with the people fleeing.

Based on a number of interviews of tribal Maliks, local sources, and officials from Fata, it becomes clear that members of the following tribes living in the three subdivisions of North Waziristan have gone to Afghanistan, because of the proximity of Khost and Paktika to their abodes.

Mirali Sub-division

Spinwam Tehsil: Turi Khel, Hassan Khel and Titi Madaa Khel

Shewa Tehsil: Miami Kabul Khel

Mirali Tehsil: Tori Khel and Bora Khel

Miranshah Sub-division

Ghulam Khan Tehsil: Saidgai and Gurbaz

Datta Khel Tehsil: Mada Khel, Manzar Khel and Khader Khel

Razmak Sub-division

Shawal Tehsil: Kabul Khel

However, the politics and security parameters surrounding such a migration seem to be hovering over the whole operation. While the purpose is to cleanse the area of militants, the dynamics of tribal attitude in Fata and particularly North Waziristan has wider implications. The internally displaced during a military operation are considered to be a “by-product” but in the case of this terrain, “concerns runs deeper” as a security expert put it.

Gul’s family is one of the 120,000 people from villages located on the Durand Line that migrated to Afghanistan as a fall out of the operation Zarb-e-Azab in June 2014. Gul, who married twice, belongs to the Dattakhel village. His daughters and four sons all have gone to Khost, Afghanistan.

In August of 2012, a Jirga at the Islami Madrassa Nizamia, Eidak in Mirali sub-division of North Waziristan declared it would renounce its Pakistani nationality and move to Afghanistan since “there are no drone strikes there.” But nobody went anywhere, permanently at least; the jirga declaration was just another threat in a series of such threats previously orchestrated from South Waziristan and Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency, claimed officials.

In subsequent years, however, families did move to Afghanistan. In early June, the Ahmadzai tribes, living in South Waziristan, were also warned against moving across the border. With changing geo-political realities, the tribals who move freely across the border might now feel the ache of an international boundary. The Disraelian dream of a “scientific border” to demarcate borders to protect the “interest of British India” remains a contentious issue between the Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While the Pakistani security establishment views such movement in a historical context, the resolution of the Afghan National Assembly in 1949, repudiating all treaties’ with the British India Government, formally rejects the Durand Line. The 1955 resolution of the Loya Jirgah argues for the ‘non-recognition’ of Pakhtun territories as part of Pakistan, and the issue of Pakhtunistan and its supportive elements. However, in recent times, cross-border attacks, insurgency and statements from both the countries of shelling across the borders have put the IDPs to be viewed in the context of a security parameter rather than a humanitarian one.

But supporters of a “xenophobic” policy argue that there is much reason to believe that Pakistan’s porous borders are more volatile than ever. A veteran politician who enjoys considerable influence in the tribal belt, particularly Waziristan, and wished not be named, says that the problem is that majority of the militants have managed to run across the border and those that were able to, have taken refuge in urban areas.

“The IDP crisis is not as straightforward,” he says, since the Wazirs have a history of vengeance. Those that have come down to Bannu and elsewhere need to be shown through practice that they belong in Pakistan.

“There are elements that might try to take advantage of the situation,” he claims, alluding to the rise of groups such as the ISIS, who could be an inspiration for those elements who do not respect international boundaries. If the tribesmen are supportive of it, this could be another front opened, he says in a warning tone.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 13th, 2014