As many as 6 countries and World Bank have provided $166.3 million donation for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) after military operation against terrorists.
The Ministry of States and Frontier Region (SAFRON) told this to the Senate Special Committee on Marginalised Segments of Society during its briefing. The committee met with Senator Nisar Muhammad in the chair at the Parliament House here on Monday. The committee discussed the latest returning situation of temporarily dislocated persons (TDPs) of South and North Waziristan Agencies.
The Ministry of SAFRON informed the committee during the briefing, "China has given $10 million, the United States $30 million, Germany $12 million, Turkey $5.3 million, World Bank $75 million, Japan $19 million and the United Kingdom has given $15 million for reconstruction and rehabilitation of affected people of FATA due to destruction of their homes, shops and other business during the military operation against Terrorists."
Secretary SAFRON, M Tariq Hayat told the committee that the returning process of TDPs to their homes would be completed in March 2017. He said that the government has started the long-awaited return of the FATA TDPs after the successful completion of Operation Zarb-e-Azb and under the National Action Plan (NAP).
During the briefing, he said that the government provides all the returning families cash grant of Rs 35000 (Rs 10000 for transport and Rs 25000 as return cash grant) and has so far disbursed more than Rs 6.225 billion among the returnee TDPs. Moreover, 6-month food ration is also provided in their area of return.
He said that similarly, immediately upon return if families require tents, non-food items or tool kits, etc, these are also provided on need basis which plays a major role in their initial settlement. Now it has been monetised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the assisted families are provided with Rs 30000 cash shelter allowance.
He said that after occupying houses by the returnees, the government is providing Rs 0.4 million for fully damaged house and Rs 160,000 for partial damaged house.
Tariq Hayat said that the phase-wise return of more than 3.36 million TDP families of FATA to their areas of origin has been started since March 2015 and so far more than 2.78 million families have returned to different agencies after the announcement of National Action Plan. He said that the rest of 0.57 million families, with majority of families from North Waziristan Agency (NWA) and South Waziristan Agency (SWA) will return to their area of origin as soon as the weather conditions normalise there.
He said the government made budget of Rs 15 billion for permanent reconstruction in financial year 2016-17. "But we also sought more than Rs 15 billion in this financial year for FATA," he added. He maintained that a demand of Rs 10 billion has been submitted to the Finance Division but release is awaited. He said that Rs 7.6 billion worth projects were also approved by the Special Forum on August 29, 2016.
He said that China is providing Rs 1.6 billion to reconstruct 88 damaged schools in tribal areas. He said that PC-I, worth Rs 1.6 billion, for these damaged schools has been submitted to CDWP for approval. Answering a question, Tariq Hayat said that army is looking after the law and order in tribal areas and it determines the clearance for returning TDPs. He added that Ministry of Defence could answer questions related to law and order.