Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], January 31 : Scores of displaced people from the Tirah Valley held a protest in Bara on Friday over delays in the payment of transport fares, amid reports that the number of arriving families had dropped sharply, according to a report by Dawn.
Irate demonstrators began throwing stones at the gates of the Alamgudar Registration Centre after running out of patience due to the slow pace of cash disbursement. They said Friday saw a surge of displaced families at the Alamgudar Centre, as they were keen to receive the assured transport fare, while staff struggled to manage the heavy influx of newly arrived internally displaced persons.
Turab Ali, a resident of Sipah, said most displaced families had already endured serious difficulties while travelling from Tirah to Bara in severe cold and could not tolerate any further delay in receiving money after reaching Bara. Lal Zamir, another newly arrived resident from Tirah, said the registration centre staff kept IDPs waiting for long periods without any "valid" reason, prompting many frustrated people to protest by pelting stones at the centre's main gate and several official vehicles parked outside, Dawn reported.
The centre was closed later in the evening, with the district administration deciding to announce a revised schedule for cash distribution among tribesmen from Tirah to avoid overcrowding and mismanagement.
They said that although the administration had opened four points in Bara last week to facilitate newly arrived Tirah IDPs, cash distribution was being carried out only at the Alamgudar Centre, leading to a buildup of impatient displaced persons. The other centres in Shalobar, Malakdinkhel and Qambarabad remained relatively empty due to a decline in IDP arrivals from Tirah, as cited by the Dawn report.
The inflow of fresh IDPs from Tirah had slowed significantly after the district administration suspended the evacuation on Jan 23, when heavy snowfall hit most parts of the valley, making travel on slippery roads almost impossible. Members of a 24-member Tirah Jirga were also advising remaining residents against leaving their homes due to both harsh weather conditions and confusion created by statements from federal ministers regarding a "military operation" against militants in the valley, Dawn reported.
The district administration has not announced a new date for the evacuation from Tirah to resume. Only a few families reached Bara on Thursday and Friday following an improvement in weather conditions. Meanwhile, officials in Bara said that 13,725 families, comprising nearly 70,000 individuals, had arrived in Bara from various parts of Tirah since the evacuation began in late December, as reported by Dawn.
They added that all those families were issued mobile SIM cards after completing biometric verification at Paindi Cheena and three other registration centres in Bara. Officials said the remaining families would be registered upon arrival in Bara over the coming days, Dawn reported.