KOHAT: Most of the Orakzai people displaced five years ago are living in miserable conditions awaiting construction of their houses and release of compensation to start a new life.

The tribesmen with money had constructed houses on the Indus Highway at the Orakzai Square, but the less privileged are running from pillar to post to find a permanent shelter.

A family from Orakzai district headed by a blind man, Sabir Khan, told this correspondent that the administration had conducted surveys of many areas, but his village was neglected. He said that when he appealed to the administration for survey and construction of his ancestral house, the low cadre officials demanded Rs30,000 as bribe from him which he could not pay.Sabir`s son has been affected by paralysis. His wife lamented that the government was running from discharging its duty to provide shelter to them. She said the ration supply had also been stopped to the displaced people for a year now.

She said they were now living in Borah Garhi in a mud shelter, which had no rooms and doors mal(ing life difficult for them and their children in this winter. She said that they wanted to go back to their town. A local elder, Mohammad Zaman, said that the affected family first went to Peshawar, then to Kot, Bilitang and Borah Garhi in Kohat.

`I provided them the portion reserved for cattle and gave them daily vegetables from my farms,` Mr Zaman said and added that the family needed a complete house in native Orakzal dis-trict and monthly help. He appealed to philanthropists to donate for the distressed family.

ARRESTED: Police arrested a drug smuggler carrying 25 kilogrammes of hashish from Khyber district to Dera Ismail Khan on Saturday.

District police officer Wahid Mehmood told mediapersons that after receiving information he deputed a police team that erected a blockade near the Kohat tunnel toll plaza and stopped a suspicious pickup van for checking.

Upon search, 25 kilogrammes of hashish packed in packets was found in secret cavities of the vehicle. The smuggler, identified as Sabir Shah of Dera Ismail Khan, was also arrested. The police have registered a case against him.Correspondent