PESHAWAR: Where is the political agent of North Waziristan, Siraj Ahmad Khan?

A Fata Secretariat official said that he had requested to be airlifted from Miramshah while an officer in the regional headquarters said he had arrived in Peshawar but the question is what was he doing there when all and sundry had left the tribal region already?

Mr Siraj has moved to Peshawar but has gone incommunicado with his two cellular phones not responding.

Analysts say that Mr Siraj should have left his official abode the moment the last tribesman left North Waziristan since the launch of the military operation on June 15 and moved to Bannu to lend a helping hand to the authorities in facilitating displaced persons.

A senior government official said that Federal Ministry of States and Frontier Regions already directed assistant political agent to sit in Bannu and facilitate displaced persons from North Waziristan.

“It would be good if the political agent of North Waziristan also set up his base camp in Bannu for the interim period to help displaced people. He has been interacting with the tribes and the tribal elders. He needs to reconnect with them to know their needs and also help them a dozen other things including attestation of documents,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, July 17th , 2014