KHYBER: Scores of grief-stricken families have started vacating their houses in different parts of restive Tirah valley as fears of another large-scale military operation are looming large in the region.

Residents in the region told this scribe that ‘voluntary evacuation’ had been in progress since last month as they had lost any hope of restoration of lasting peace while also fearing collateral damage during sporadic intelligence-based operations (IBOs).

They said that so far hundreds of families from Shalobar, Adamkhel, Bar Qambarkhel, Zakhakhel and parts of Malakdinkhel left their homes and headed mostly towards Bara and Peshawar.

Sources said that Tirah elders and other stakeholders had constantly been resisting official pressure of picking up arms and formation of so-called peace committees or Amn Lashkars against various proscribed militant groups operating in the valley alongside their forced displacement.

PDMA officials show ignorance about fresh displacement of locals

Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsud had in June intimated to Tirah elders and Bara parliamentarians during a meeting at Khyber House about possible use of force by security forces against terrorists in the valley and the government’s desire to convince people of the region to vacate their houses to evade possible collateral damage.

Scores of Tirah residents lost their lives and many others received injuries while a number of houses were also damaged during artillery shelling by security forces and use of quadcopters by terrorists.

Peshawar commissioner’s pleadings were then, however, vehemently rejected by Tirah elders, local politicians and public representatives, who had expressed their strong opposition to any military operation and forced displacement of people.

“The people of Tirah have now completely lost trust in law enforcement agencies’ abilities to rein in outlawed groups and establish peace while also avoiding targeting private houses during IBOs,” sources said, adding that they were left with no other option but to leave their homes as no one was ready to take stock of their grievances.

The residents of Bagh and Peer Mela told this scribe that most of ‘fleeing’ families were using Bagh Maidan-Dwa Thoye-Bara road as they were stopped and pressurised by members of outlawed militant groups to stay in the valley.

They said that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Lashkar-i-Islam and Hafiz Gul Bahadar group affiliates had over the period of time forcibly occupied several houses in different parts of Tirah while using locals as human shield.

A resident of Peer Mela, who wished not to be identified, told this scribe that they had long been pleading for cleansing Tirah of undesirable elements but not at the cost of troubling locals as they had suffered huge losses, both human and monetary, during previous military operations.

He said that a good number of families, who were aspiring to migrate to Orakzai, Hangu and Kohat where they had either personal properties or had relatives, via Arhanga Top, Sungra route via Dars Jumaat in Akkakhel and Haider Kandaw were not allowed to use those routes as the newly-displaced families were informally asked to use Dwa Thoye road up to Bara.

Sources among displaced families told this scribe that though their names were registered at Dwa Thoye security checkpost, they were not provided any other facility which the government had provided to IDPs in previous years.

They said that a registration point, which Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) had established at Paindi Cheena locality some six months ago to facilitate ‘fleeing’ families, was closed with no arrangement for any official registration of families.

Officials of PDMA, when approached, said that they had no knowledge of any new displacement from Tirah, nor had they made any fresh arrangements in that regard.

Local sources said that people of Tirah were utterly disappointed and had no expectations from government to either restore peace in the valley or make arrangements for relocating the newly-displaced families.

“We have wrapped up all our personal belongings and left our homes at the mercy of Allah without knowing anything about our future and the future of Tirah as it is almost a war-like situation in the valley,” they said.

They said that the evacuation would gain momentum once locals handled the stockpiling of the recently harvested hemp crop from their fields as the crop was also one of the main sources of their livelihood.

Sources in Bagh-Maidan Markaz said that a jirga of Tirah elders was scheduled to meet top security officials at brigade headquarters in Bagh on Wednesday (today) to ‘chalk out’ a strategy about fresh developments and any official recognition of the new IDPs.

Meanwhile, security officials paid visits to a number of seminaries in different parts of Tirah and distributed food packages among deserving students along with gifting sports gears to them to restore the fading trust of local youth.

They interacted with youth and insisted that healthy activities were attracting them towards positive paths and distracting them from falling into the hands of terrorist groups. Students were also provided with textbooks and stationery.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2025