ISLAMABAD: Despite the allocation of a huge amount for the compensation of war-weary tribal men of the country by the federal government, the affected people of South Waziristan could not get the promised amount due to the local administration’s dillydallying tactics.
The people of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in general and Waziristan Agency, in particular, suffered from huge man and material losses in the on-going war on terror for over a decade.
Sources said that the federal government has allocated huge funds in the last three years for payment as compensation for the losses to properties to the affected people. However, despite allocations of handsome amounts, releases have not been made accordingly.
They said that an amount of Rs45 billion has been allocated in PSDP 2017-18 for rehabilitation and compensation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP), however, till May 11only Rs12 billion has been released and the remaining amount would lapse at the close of the financial year.
They said that since the people of the areas are passing through a great ordeal, a mechanism should be devised to release the said amount to ease the woes of the masses.
A government official wishing to go unnamed told this scribe that local administration working under a political agent failed to complete damages survey in time due to which the huge amount allocated for the rehabilitation of the war affected people could not be utilised.
He further stated that recently Sohail Khan, political agent South Waziristan Agency, has added strange conditions in the survey which were not part of the approved SOP, which he said are illegal and will not stand the test of law.
Former additional IGP Rehmat Khan termed the action a classic example of an attempt to keep people away from getting their due rights. He stated that this action shall be challenged in a court of law in due course of time.
He said that steps should be taken so as the allocated amount could not be lapsed and be used according to the set formula.
The inclusion of these conditions may result in cancellation of seventy per cent of the surveys. Resultantly, people would have no option but to protest which would further deteriorate the already fragile security situation in the region.
Despite repeated attempts, South Waziristan PA Sohail Khan could not be reached for his comments on the issue.