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‘Malakand operation affectees still faced with problems’

* Measures taken to cope with the situation not up to the mark

By Akhtar Amin

PESHAWAR: The Regional Institute of Policy Research and Training (RIPORT), a Peshawar-based non-governmental organisation, has said that the Malakand operation affectees were still faced with a host of problems that needed to be redressed forthwith.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, RIPORT Project Director Abdur Rahman said that the Malakand displacement was the biggest ever during the last 15 years, but the measures taken to cope with the situation were not up to the mark.

RIPORT has introduced an SOS Help System - Early Warning and Correction Project - to assist the local population in the insurgency-hit areas of the province.

He said that the RIPORT had introduced the project with an innovative SOS call service to solve the problems faced by the affectees of Malakand and Swat operations.

The SOS service is open to the area residents, who are internally displaced or have returned to their homes, but are in need of help. The problems faced by them and received by the project are referred to case officers and monitors for finding solutions in collaboration with various national and international agencies and departments.

He added that 70,000 displaced families were still languishing in Jalozai camp, 2,000 in Peshawar, 35,000 in Charsadda and 15,000 in Mardan districts. He said that neither these families were included in the Benazir Income Support Programme nor registered with the NADRA.

Meanwhile, action committee for IDPs of Doog Darra has demanded of the authorities to approve a special grant of Rs 25,000 for each displaced family of Upper Dir.

Addressing a press conference here, president of the committee Muhammad Raqeeb said that 5,000 families of Dir were displaced due to military operation, making them to take shelter in tented camps.

He said that most of the Dir IDPs were not registered. He said that food and financial assistance was distributed among IDPs on political basis, urging the government to work out a strategy for transparent distribution of assistance. He threatened to block the Kohistan Road if their demands were not met.

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