Fata conflict has displaced over a million people

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Speakers at a conference here Monday said the prolonged conflict in the tribal areas had rendered over a million people homeless who are now reluctant to go back to their war-ravaged native towns.
The conference titled ‘Impact of conflict on civilians in Fata’ was jointly organised by the Department of International Relations and a non-governmental organization, Community for Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP), at the University of Peshawar.
Former chief secretary Khalid Aziz was the keynote speaker. Acting Vice-Chancellor, University of Peshawar Dr Qibla Ayaz, chairman of the International Relations Department Dr Ijaz Khan and head of CAMP Naveed Shinwari also spoke on the occasion.
A good number of faculty and students of the university attended the moot.The speakers said life had been severely affected by the external forces, who had come to fight their wars from the tribal areas. They said conflict had hindered the process of development and damaged the local economy, social values and institutions of Fata.
They said although weapons have been part of the tribal culture, the last 30 years have witnessed unprecedented weaponization of the tribal society.They said the tribal elders had good influence in their areas, which should be used for checking negative sentiments among the local population against the state.
The speakers said the cost of the conflict was far higher than the cost of preventing it through reforms and much attention needed to be given to it. They said development projects and extension of bank loans should be extended to Fata for strengthening the micro finance and small and medium enterprises.
Dr Qibla Ayaz said Fata shared borders with neighboring Afghanistan and any conflict over there had a direct impact on the people living in the tribal areas. He told the organisers to make recommendations of the conference so that these could be put forth to the policy-makers.
Dr Ijaz Khan described poor literacy rate and lack of educational institutions as the main factors behind the poor socio-economic condition of the tribal people.He stressed the need for promoting educational facilities in the tribal areas. He urged those at the helm of affairs to take sincere steps for improvement of the law and order situation in the tribal areas and creating job opportunities there.
Other speakers said that youth of the tribal areas had been used in the conflict while the lack of accessibility for the humanitarian assistance providing organizations and the media meant that the true situation was almost hidden from the public and the heinous crimes and the human rights violations in the tribal belt weren’t reported.