News
Jirga asks govt to facilitate IDPs
By Asim Qadeer Rana
ISLAMABAD: Five political parties have shown reservations over the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs) of tribal areas and conveyed their (IDPs’) demands to the Government of Pakistan for delivering their rights, in the Grand Tribal Jirga (GTJ) held on Saturday. The leaders of various political parties spoke at GTJ. The participants of the GTJ collectively agreed that the government had to do much for supporting the IDPs and delivering their rights, while they expressed their desire for getting them involved in the decision making.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Qaumi Wattan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali and leader of MQM Haider Abbass Rizvi addressed the grand jirga and discussed issues faced by over a million IDPs camped in different cities of KP.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of JUI-F, said that the military operations in the tribal belts seem to have only increased with time while he demanded the State should take remedial actions for keeping the calm. He said that the displacement of tribal people from their homes had become a humanitarian issue and all stakeholders needed to play their role to handle it. Maulana Fazl added that they arranged this Jirga for all the tribal elders to sit together for handling the situation in future. He criticised both the federal as well as provincial governments for failing to play their role to handle the situation, saying that IDPs have rendered sacrifices for the sake of national security by leaving their homes to facilitate the army. He also criticised the media for blacking out the IDPs issues and projecting a sit-in in Islamabad for the last three months.
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai said that everyone should be provided with their rights if the State has to be kept unified. He demanded the government of providing the right to vote to everyone living in the belt from Bajaur Agency all the way down to South Waziristan.
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali said that the game show at the D Chowk began right when there was a need to focus upon the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs). He held that he felt there was a definite connection among the two and that the loss was being borne by the Pakhtuns. Criticising the PTI-led government in KP, Asfandyar said incidents of extortion had increased to such an extent that even provincial ministers were paying to the extortionists. “How can such a government provide protection to the citizens? During ANP’s government, when displaced people from Bajaur, Orakzai and Khyber agencies came to KP, the provincial government supported them fully instead of shifting responsibility,” he added. The provincial government should do its part first and then look elsewhere for help, he stated.
Asfandyar further said development work carried out by the previous ANP government was being undone in the province under the PTI’s slogan of change. He also showed dissatisfaction on the military operation in tribal areas. Qaumi Wattan Party (QWP) Chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said that he was not going to stay home and keep the fuss of containers at the D Chowk to continue while numerous Pakhtuns were bearing the pain of being displaced. He pledged he will soon take action out on the roads against those causing destabilisation. Haider Abass Rizvi, leader of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said that he understands the worries of a person who gets displaced and that measures will be taken for overcoming the cry of the IDPs.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk