LANDI KOTAL, Nov 4: More than 50,000 internally displaced persons have so far returned to their homes in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency as the first phase of the repatriation process is about to complete.

Fata Disaster Management Authority, which was tasked to supervise the return of over 17,000 registered families to Tirah, said in a daily report that 12,024 families comprising 53,951 individuals left Durrani camp in Kurram Agency and Jarma transit point near Kohat for their respective localities till November 4.

FDMA had first fixed October 15 as the final date for the completion of first phase of the return process, started on September 15.

The date was later extended to November 5 owing to the eagerness shown by majority of the displaced families to go back to their homes.

The return process of all Tirah displaced families would be completed in two phases.

The second phase of the return process will be started on March 1.

According to official figures, 17,140 families of Bar Qambarkhel, Malikdinkhel, Shalobar, Zakhakhel and Adamkhel were registered with the FDMA when residents of Tirah were forced to leave Bagh-Maidan and its surrounding localities after Taliban captured the area on March this year.

The region was reclaimed from Taliban in June when security forces launched a military operation against them.

FDMA officials said that the number of displaced families was more than the registeredone as nearly 5,000 families had relocated to safer places without getting themselves registered with the authorities.

`The number of individuals can be around 100,000 of which over 50,000 have so far gone back and the rest will be sent back during the second phase of the return plan,` officials said.

Meanwhile, most of the returning families have started rebuilding their damaged houses alongside resuming farming in the fields as agriculture is their main source of income.

Ali Akbar, a resident of Shalobar, told Dawn by telephone that with winter fast approaching, most of the returning families spent most of their time in rebuilding and repairing their damaged houses.

`Shelter is our prime requirement as Tirah valley receives heavy snowfall and excessive rainfall in winter,` he said and added that most families were faced with financial problems as they had spent all their hard earned money while they were displaced from their homes and were compelled to live in rented houses in different parts of Orakzai and Kurram agencies and settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Akbar sad that many of them were also faced with shortage of edibles as local markets had not yet fully opened and local traders had also not yet resumed their businesses.

`We have not yet come across any security threat but still life has not returned to complete normalcy as most people are scared of a Taliban reprisal and also a harsh winter is starring,` he said. He demanded of the authorities to arrange for emergency food supplies.