MIRAMSHAH: Thousands of tribal people are stranded in Bannu while more than 500 families have migrated to Khost province of Afghanistan owing to imposition of curfew in North Waziristan Agency.

The political administration of Waziristan Agency imposed curfew in the tribal region onThursday last when a vehicle of security forces was targeted by an explosive device in Ghulam Khan area. Nine soldiers were killed and several others were injured in the blast.

No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, however, all the entry and exit points and roads in North Waziristan were closed by the authorities after imposition of curfew and launching a search operation.

On Tuesday, the curfew was lifted for three hours, from 1pm to 4pm, giving a breathing space to the tribal people, who faced severe shortage of edibles and other essential commodities.

The tribal people said that dur-ing the last 144 hours, curfew was relaxed only for three hours.

During the search operation, security forces arrested 60 suspected persons in Ghaulam Khan tehsil where the blast took place. The arrested persons were shifted to undisclosed location for interrogation.

Fearing further arrests, more than 500 families from Gorbaz and Saidgi areas of Ghulam Khan tehsil reportedly crossed the border and migrated to Khost province of Afghanistan.

Inayatullah and Abdullah, who migrated to Khost province along with other people, told Dawn by telephone that administration of Khost province decided to giveRs3,000 and ration to each migrated family to help them.

According to reports, 500 vehicles loaded with fruits, vegetables, wheat flour and other daily use items have been stuck on Bannu-Miramshah Road for the last six days. The truckers are not allowed to enter the tribal agency.

`Most of the seasonal fruits and vegetables, being shifted to Waziristan and onward Afghanistan, are getting rotten, said Rahman Sher, a fruit merchant stranded in Frontier Region of Bannu.

He said that the edibles, loaded on the trucks parked on BannuMiramshah Road, began to stink.

`Nobody cares that fruits and veg-etables worth millions of rupees have lost,` he said and demanded that they should be allowed to unload food items from the trucks.

The passengers including children, women, elderly persons and even patients are also stranded in their vehicles. They wait for lifting of curfew to reach their destination.

Ghulam Ali, a resident of Mirali who along with his family was coming from Punjab, told Dawn by telephone that they were stuck in Bannu and were faced with a difficult situation.

`About 200 vehicles are parked on Miramshah-Ghulam Khan Road for the last six days,` the local people said. They complainedof severe shortage of food items and other daily use commodities in the entire North Waziristan tribal region.

They said that all the shops and markets in Miramshah, Mirali and other localities remained closed for the last six days owing to curfew.

The tribal people said that the prices of essential items had increased manifold due to non-supply to the market. They added that available seasonal vegetables and fruits got rotten in the closed shops.

All trade and commercial centres, educational institutions and public and private health facilities have been closed since the im-position of curfew.

The local people said that besides food items, medicines were also short in the tribal region.

The students are the worst sufferers as intermediate examinations are being held in different colleges of the tribal agency but they can`t appear in their examinations. The students said that they missed several papers including that of chemistry, physics, Islamiat and Islamic history etc.

Some of the students were taking their papers in Bannu district and could not reach there owing to curfew. They said their academic year was wasted that will ruin their future.