LANDI KOTAL, Sept 3: The damaged infrastructure, insecurity and confusion about restoration of writ of the government are hampering the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Bara despite reopening of some important roads by the political administration during the last one and a half month.

The residents of Sipah, Malikdinkhel, Shalobar and Akkakhel, who had recently travelled to their respective areas, said that almost 80 per cent houses were either destroyed completely or damaged partially. Most of the bridges were destroyed and roads were in dilapidated condition in those areas, they added.

`It was a painful sight when I saw complete destruction in Qambarabad. It was like as if I have entered a ghost town,`Said Mohammad, a resident of Qambarabad in Shalobar, told Dawn after paying a brief visit to his village when administration reopened the roads a week before Eidul Fitr.

He said that he along with hundreds of other IDPs was overjoyed to hear announcement about reopening of roads.

They were expecting early return of IDPs, he added.

`Most private buildings have signs of heavy artillery shelling in Shalobar area.

Some have been burnt by militants,` Mr Mohammad said, adding that not a single power transformer was intact. The power cables and poles had also been taken away by militants during the last four years of complete blockade of Bara during military operations, he said.

The tribesman said that `only a few` families had returned to Arjali Nadi, Muslim Dhand and Sur Kas areas of Shalobar but they too were scared and confused.`I did not see a single family rebuilding its house. There is no electricity, water and no health facilities and above all no government writ,` he said.

The situation in the adjoining Malikdinkhel and Sipah areas is not different where some 30 to 35 families have returned during the last three weeks, mostly after Eid.

These families have reoccupied their damaged homes in Speen Qabar, Spera and Alam Gudar areas of Sipah and Nala in Malikdinkhel.

`Not a single house in the entire Nala locality is intact while a local market of Kohi Markaz comprising some two dozens shops is completely flattened,` Abdul Shahid, a teacher and a resident of Malikdinkhel told this scribe.

He said that a major portion of Kohi Sher Haider Government Degree College was also destroyed while a basic health unit had also been blown up by militants.

Abdul Shahid said that most of the families, wanted to return to their homes, but they were scared of reprisal of militants and were avoiding bringing their women and children back.

`Security forces have established a number of checkpoints along the Batta Thal-Dogra Road, which is also causing inconvenience to those, who want to get back to their homes,` he said.

He added that security forces conducted physical search at Bara Bazaar, Aslaha Market, Dogra and Nala checkposts that harassed and embarrassed most of the IDPs.

`We are required to get ourselves registered with security forces every time we travel to Bara,`he said and demanded that they should be issued a permanent travel pass to avoid repeated physical checking.

The roads have been reopened andsome families have returned to their respective localities but still most of the market places are closed in Bara. Mr Shahid said that most of the Bara traders were reluctant to reopen their shops owing to insecurity but there were few `clever guys` who had converted their pick-up vehicles into mobile shops, selling edibles and other necessary items to the relocated families.

But Sabir Shah of Sipah was not very optimistic about full scale return of Bara IDPs. He said that most of the returned people were middle or low earning groups of Bara and they were finding it difficult to pay their house rents and utility bills in the settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

`I believe only 15 per cent of the displaced families have so far returned while the rest are still sceptical about the prevailing law and order situation,` Mr Shah said.

Khiyal Nazir of Akkakhel was of the opinion that most of the younger lot of Bara was reluctant to go back owing to some restrictions imposed by militants that included growing of beard.

`Most of our young people are cleanshaven and they also possess cellular phones with digital cameras and musical ring tones which are a taboo in Bara and thus they are reluctant to go back,` he said.

A sarcastic comment came from a longtime political and social worker Bazaar Gul, who said that the only benefit of reopening of some important arteries in Bara was that it had made the carriage of funerals to Bara a bit easier.

`Prior to it we had to negotiate road clearance for funeral procession with both the security forces and local militants but now it has become hassle-free,` he said.