Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM to meet Shehbaz Sharif over tribal displacement issue

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi on Sunday said he will discuss with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday the large scale displacement of tribal people from Tirah Valley, near the Afghanistan border, in the province.

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi on Sunday said he will discuss with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday the large scale displacement of tribal people from Tirah Valley, near the Afghanistan border, in the province. The Tirah Valley, west-southwest of Peshawar in the hilly terrain, has long been a sensitive security zone and a stronghold for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that has carried out attacks on Pakistani security forces regularly. Tens of thousands of people have fled the Tirah Valley in recent weeks to avoid possible military operations in the area. Afridi declared in unequivocal terms that the displacement of people from the Tirah Valley was not voluntary but carried out under a forced and organised plan, which the provincial government does not accept under any circumstances. The federal government had completely failed to fulfil promises made during previous displacements of tribal populations, Afridi alleged. ''Prime Minister Sharif has called me for a meeting on Monday. I will present the case of the tribal people with full force,'' Afridi told the Khyber Peace Jirga (tribal council meeting) at Bara, about 20 kms from Peshawar. A tribal elder Ali Gul Afridi said the residents of the Tirah Valley are fleeing after warnings broadcast from mosques urged families to evacuate ahead of a possible military action against terrorists. The military's media wing, however, has denied any action in the area. ''No formal operation has been launched in Tirah valley. The security forces are just carrying out intelligence based targeted operations against the terrorists,'' the military said in a statement on Saturday. Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif too had denied any operation was planned or underway in Tirah, calling the movement of people a routine seasonal migration driven by harsh winter conditions. Afridi announced that separate jirgas would be convened in all tribal districts, including Khyber and Tirah Valley, to ensure the protection of the constitutional and fundamental rights of tribal residents. Criticising the federal government, he said it had completely failed to fulfil promises made during previous displacements of tribal populations. The Chief Minister then announced that PKR 4 billion has been released on an emergency basis for the affectees of Tirah Valley, with the amount expandable up to PKR 100 billion, if required. At the conclusion of the jirga, it was unanimously decided that after holding jirgas in all tribal districts, a large grand jirga will be convened at the provincial level to decide further course of action.

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