Pakistan: Govt accused of discrimination among IDPs of various areas

Syed Bukhar Shah

A 50-year-old internally displaced person from Khyber Agency’s Bara tehsil complained against the government for discriminating among the IDPs from different areas.

Shah Jehan Malikdinkhel also lamented that one of his sons who is a doctor had abandoned him in old age.

He is among the IDPs from Khyber, Bajaur and Mohmand agencies who have been attending the protest camp set up outside the Peshawar Press Club for the last 53 days.

They are demanding the government to give them the relief package that was extended to the IDPs from North Waziristan where the Pakistan Army launched a military operation against the local and foreign militants on June 15.

He also complained of misappropriation in the distribution of the relief goods among the IDPs at the Jalozai Camp in Nowshera district. He said the government had failed to check corruption at the distribution centres at the camp.

Shah Jehan, a retired Subedar from the paramilitary Frontier Corps, has five daughters and five sons. He said his four daughters and four sons are married.

“Now I have to cater to the needs of a small family. Being a pensioner, I have to pay the fees of my son and daughter who are receiving education at public schools,” he said.

Like other IDPs, Shah Jehan also had to leave his house in Nakai in Tirah valley. He also owns a house in Kohe Sher Haider area in Bara. He said his houses were destroyed in heavy shelling.

“Life in the camp is very difficult. There are no education and health facilities. We even don’t have clean drinking water,” he said “We are protesting for our rights,” he added.

Shah Jehan claimed the authorities were not solving their problems for their vested interests. “We have suggested to the authorities to give us cash instead of the substandard food items,” he said.

Shah Jehan was unhappy with one of his sons who is doctor and has a wife who is also a doctor for abandoning parents in old age. “It is deplorable that some children abandon their parents in distress even though they worked hard to educate their offspring,” he stressed.