The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday demanded that national and international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) should be allowed to go North Waziristan Agency to help the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the wake of military operation against terrorists and militants. Speaking to journalists here at the party central secretariat, PTI additional secretary general Saifullah Khan Niazi said that IDPs were facing great hardships due to lack of adequate aid for the affected people.
About the rumours of substandard food being supplied to the IDPs, he said the government should hold a through probe into the matter as it was a matter of serious concern which might further aggravate the already complex situation. Niazi said the KP provincial government was needed an additional Rs 4 billion from the federal government to provide medical facilities to the IDPs, adding more than 400,000 children will be worst affected if they were not properly taken care of.
Niazi criticised the federal government what he called 'lack of support' to the KP provincial government to deal with the influx of IDPs, saying the PML-N government was responsible for the incorrect assessment of the possible number of IDPs expected as the Operation Zarb-e-Azb was yet to be completed. Naizi said the government has said 0.7 million IDPs were expected, while the number of displaced persons has crossed one million to date. "The IDPs need proper attention of both federal and provincial governments and together they could help them as co-ordinated efforts are needed to cope with the challenge," he asserted.
The PTI leader stated the PTI-led provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was providing Rs 23,000 each to the IDPs families. According to him, three major hospitals, 34 basic health units and 45 medical camps have been established by the provincial government to cater with the IDPs where more 30,000 patients, including male, female , elderly people and children have so far been treated.