During Khyber National Jirga for internally displaced persons from Bara, tribal elders on Wednesday termed the ongoing operation in Bara a drama and demanded the government immediately halt it.
“Hundred of children and women were maimed and over dozens innocent tribal people in the agency are being killed daily,” they said speaking at the jirga held under the auspices of Tehreek-e-Mutasereen (TM) Bara Khyber Agency at the press club.
The elders said it had been 29 months since a curfew had been imposed and an operation was carried out in the agency. “Such a prolonged curfew has not been witnessed in the history of the world,” they said.
They said peace prevailed in the area before operation but now Bara had become a battlefield.
Samiullah Advocate said houses had completely been destroyed, businesses closed, thousands of residents of the agency dislocated to Jalozai camp and others were stranded because of the operation.
He said all educational institutes and health centers were closed down.
Mohkim, Mir Abar and Haji Hanan were of the view that a war had been imposed on the tribal people just to make Punjab safe.
Maulana Moharrak Shah, Javed Afridi, Haris Afridi and Shah Faisal were of the opinion that on one hand they were forced to leave the agency but on the other, they were not given the IDPs status. They said the Bara effected were deprived of all kinds of facilities.
Through a resolution, the tribal elders demanded the government halt the operation and lift the curfew. They also asked the government to announce compensation for the affected.
FATA alliance seeks separate entity for tribal areas: The FATA Grand Alliance has demanded the government give identity to the tribal people in the form of a separate province “Kabailistan”, wherein elected assembly members themselves make constitutions for the tribesmen.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday at the Peshawar Press Club, Malik Khan Marjan Wazir, chief patron of the alliance, said since the independence of Pakistan, no political ruler had been interested in the development of FATA and all had looted them.
He said the struggle of FGA had compelled the former and present rulers to introduce reforms in FATA and it was due to the very struggle that President Asif Ali Zardari announced reforms in Frontier Crime Regulation (FCR).
He said it seemed that coalition partners of the present government had determined to merge FATA into settled areas of the province without consulting tribesmen, therefore, some political parties were trying to create hindrances in the reformation announced by the president for the tribal people.
Wazir said the FGA was grateful to the MQM for the favoring Kabailistan.
He said the FGA, with the support of members of parliament under the supervision of Hameedullah Jan Afridi, had submitted a resolution in the National assembly demanding provincial status for FATA.
He appealed to government to review its policies and keep the NATO supply blocked.
