After Army's clean-up of North Waziristan, locals want civilian govt to get in action
The situation in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) is reportedly returning to normalcy as the internally displaced persons are returning to their homes and peace has prevailed, but life remains difficult for them due to the lack of basic facilities.
According to the NWA General Officer Commanding Maj Gen Hassan Azhar Hayat, who hosted journalists for a briefing on the area's overall situation on Thursday, all no-go areas have been cleared by the Army and 80 per cent of the people displaced from the areas have now been resettled.
He said that around 80 per cent of the displaced people from the area had returned and were "contributing to the development of the agency".
Major Gen Hayat told reporters that the era of operations has come to an end and an era of development has started in the agency with the launching of new projects.
Sharing the details of these projects, he informed reporters that four army public schools have been established in NWA. A model town is also in final stages in main Miranshah city.
However, a resident of Miranshah was of the view that while the Army's contributions were commendable, the civilian government did not seem serious about addressing the issues and problems of the tribal people.
“No doubt that we are in a new and peaceful Waziristan -- but it is one without basic facilities,” Malik Noor Khan, a local tribal elder, told DawnNews.
Tribal elder Noor Khan said: “We have no basic facilities like electricity, clean drinking water, schools and hospitals etc. We need schools with teachers and hospitals with doctors."