KOHAT: Of the 23,939 internally displaced families of Orakzai Agency registered by Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) for issuance of voluntary return form (VRF) only 5,500 have returned to their respective hometowns due to inadequate cash compensation.

Similarly, only 128 families turned up for issuance of VRF for repatriation in the fourth campaign which was arranged from April 7 to 15, 2017. The VRF process has been continuing since 2010.

Sources said that the number of people being repatriated was low because the tribesmen considered the compensation insufficient for construction of their houses and starting small businesses in their hometowns from a scratch.

Giving details about the recent campaign, Mr Wajidullah of SRSP, who is supervising the IDPs repatriation, told this scribe that VRF was essential for reimbursement of cash and food at a focal point inside Orakzai Agency by the FDMA and WFP.

He said that the verification and registration spot was established at Jarma on Bannu road because theIDPs were mostly settled close to the area.

He put the new figure of those families staying back at 7,759, adding that most of them had probably plans to wait for melting of snow in far-flung Mamozoi area in upper Orakzai Agency.

Mr Wajidullah said that one camp for Sunnis at Jarma and the other at Kacha Pakha for Shia families were established for the voluntary verification. But the registration point at Kacha Pakha was lying closed after twin suicide blasts targeted the IDPs on April 18, 2010. Besides its closure, the registration had also been stopped in Hangu.

He said that 50 per cent of the Shia families were still not registered. He said that 23,683 families had been VRF-verified since Dec 2016 of total 31, 826 according to Nadra data of 2008.

Kamran Khan, a WFP representative, said that a total of 5,500 families hadreturned to theirvillagesby2016.

`We are presently giving food to 7,759 families of which 7,000 were in Kohat and 759 were benefiting at Haji Camp, Peshawar.Correspondent