ISLAMABAD: Head of the Peace Jirga Haji Sher Muhammad appealed to the government on Monday to complete the ongoing operation in North Waziristan as soon as possible and allow the residents, who have migrated to Bannu and other parts of country, to return to their native area.

Talking to a news conference at National Press Club, Mr Sher Muhammad said people should be allowed to move back to the areas which have been cleared.

“A number of affected people have been living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) schools. The local administrations have instructed them to vacate these schools by August 30. We know that the education of students will be disturbed, but we don’t have any alternative arrangement,” he said.

Member of the jirga Malik Noor Rehman said that the affected people with dual addresses on their CNICs have been denied facilities.

“People having different permanent and temporary addresses should be declared eligible for the aid, because most of them do not have a house in other cities, despite having addresses in the CNICs,” he said.

The affected people believed that the financial package announced for them was not sufficient.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2014