Political agents accused of corruption in Khyber Agency, SWA

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PESHAWAR: Tribal elders from Khyber Agency and South Waziristan Agency (SWA) have accused the high-ups of their alleged involvement in wide-ranging corruption and financial irregularities.

The tribal elders showed disappointment over the performance of concerned political administration in a press conference headed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s (PTI) Iqbal Afridi in Peshawar. Meanwhile, elders from Ahmadzai Wazir tribe from South Waziristan held a jirga and a press conference at Wana on Monday.

Iqbal Afridi and his colleagues accused a certain political agent and his subordinates for involvement in corruption and acquisition of bribes from tribesmen in connection with the survey of damaged houses and other infrastructures.   Ahmadzai Wazir tribal elders said that the political agent of South Waziristan performed his duties at Tank and never bothered to visit Wana or any other part of the agency.

The PTI leader said that officials of political administration were busy in conducting a survey of damaged houses and infrastructure after the repatriation of displaced tribesmen from Bara sub-division. However, instead of collecting data on a merit basis, he alleged that these officials demanded huge amounts of bribe from the people who were badly affected in last one-and-a-half decade.

He, therefore, demanded a high-level enquiry against all those officials who were involved in financial corruption, irregularities and misuse of authority. Similarly, he alleged that all high-ups and officials occupying important offices, including the office of political agent, were engaged in minting money instead of resolving problems of tribesmen.

The PTI Khyber Agency president said that leading elders from all over Bara had decided to initiate a drive for safeguarding the interests and early rehabilitation of displaced tribesmen. In this connection, they announced constituting a committee with Haji Namdar as its president and Gul Sharif as general secretary.

Bara Assistant Political Agent Arshad Khan contradicted such allegations and said that a survey of damaged houses, other infrastructures and affected tribesmen was being carried out through a transparent way in accordance with FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) procedures.

On the other hand, at the traditional jirga in Wana, the speakers criticised South Waziristan political agent for insulting them. “Instead of performing his duties in consultation with the tribal jirga, the political agent and his subordinates are showing interests in check posts from where they are getting maximum financial benefits,” they said.