Following the refusal of a majority of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan Agency to stay in government established relief camps, the government has allowed them to stay with their relatives and host communities.
Member Operations, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Brigadier Mirza Kamran Zia, told Business Recorder on Tuesday that so far 455,597 people (36,793 families) had been registered with the NDMA, of which 119,915 were male, 143,785 female and 191,897 children.
He said that only 27 families, consisting 227 persons, had agreed to stay in main IDP camp at Baka Khel (FR Bannu), while majority of them had opted to stay with their relatives and host communities as per local traditions. Zia said that earlier the government had assigned the task to make necessary arrangements for IDPs to Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron), but now it had decided to engage NDMA in the process.
Out of 36,793 families that had migrated from the area, 34,000 had preferred to stay in Bannu, 1,700 families had arrived in D I Khan, 480 in Lakki Marwat and 400 in Khuram Agency, he added. "After registration, the IDPs are free to go anywhere in the country and there are no restrictions from any provincial government on their movement," he said, adding that IDPs were also going to live with their relatives in Balochistan and Punjab.
Zia said that the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had increased the registration check posts from three to five to facilitate the IDPs. "We are giving the IDPs cash amount, but from next month we will transfer the amount to their bank accounts which are under process," he said.
He said that the government had disbursed cash to 15,050 families and food packs consisting of 93 kg had been distributed among 850 families. NDMA had handed over additional 2,000 tents to FDMA, 1,000 tents had been provided to Deputy Commissioner Bannu by KP PDMA, he added.
Zia said that the Punjab government had sent 50 trucks carrying necessary food items, Pakistan Army was also going to send 40,000 food packs and the UAE was sending 50,000 food packs (95 kg each). The members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly had donated their one-month salary for the IDPs, he added.
He said that there were efforts to expand the camps and make additional arrangements to facilitate all those DPs who wished to live in camps. A field hospital was being set up jointly by the army and civil administration to facilitate the IDPs. The World Food Programme (WFP) had also established a food point in the area, with the approval of the federal government, he added.