Khawaja Asif, Attaullah Tarar and Ikhtiar Wali Khan address the press conference. PHOTO: SCREENSHOT
ISLAMABAD/PAKISTAN:
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said the current move to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tiral Valley was part of a “routine” seasonal migration and added that there was no talk of a military operation in the region, amid a raging controversy over the situation between the federal and provincial governments.
Following increased unrest and growing security concerns, large-scale displacement is underway in the Tirah Valley, with thousands of families leaving their homes for safer areas, including Bara and Peshawar.
The situation has brought the federal and provincial governments into disagreement, with the former rejecting the notion of planned or forced displacement while the latter has dismissed as “misleading and factually incorrect” the federal government’s claim that the displacement of residents of Tirah Valley in Khyber district is voluntary in nature.
Addressing a press conference on the issue in Islamabad, along with Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar and Prime Minister’s Information Coordinator for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan, Asif dismissed reports of forced displacement in the Tirah Valley as a “misrepresentation” of what he called “routine” seasonal migration.
“This [issue] what has been described as a crisis is in reality not one. It’s a routine.”
Speaking about the controversy, he said residents of six to seven valleys in the region migrated for four to six months when the snowfall started, moving to areas where the cold is less severe while leaving one or two people behind for safety reasons.
“This is not a crisis but a common practice that has been going on for years and can be verified.”
Asif said a jirga was held on December 11 in the presence of banned terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which included 24-36 points regarding migration. He said the TTP negotiated a Rs4 billion migration package with the provincial government which was later approved.
The minister stressed that the army, present in the area for defense purposes, had no link with this agreement, specifying that the agreement was strictly between the jirga and the provincial government.
He further explained that years ago, it was strategically decided that intelligence-based operations (IBO) would be more effective than large-scale operations in the region in order to minimize collateral damage and civilian casualties.
“The army abandoned operations in favor of the IBOs a long time ago… There is no question of an operation there [in Tirah Valley]. Migration there is routine,” Asif reiterated.
Criticizing the performance of the provincial government in this area, the Minister of Defense highlighted the total absence of hospitals, schools, police stations and civilian law enforcement in the region, despite promises.
He said the federal government had begun a process to reverse this trend by building schools and hospitals so that citizens could benefit from the benefits, while suggesting that the interests of the provincial government are linked to those of the TTP in the joint exploitation of this resource.
—————
More to follow
