PESHAWAR: Scores of internally displaced persons belonging to Kokikhel tribe held a protest demonstration on Thursday against the federal government for its failure to provide them with ration and other essential items. They urged the government to allow them to return to their homes so that their children could continue their studies.

Wearing black armbands, the IDPs gathered outside Peshawar Press Club and shouted anti-government slogans. Talking to mediapersons, they said that they had come out of their localities in 2012 and were still living in different areas in a miserable condition.

They said that thousands of displaced people were waiting for repatriation to their villages, but they were not allowed to return. They said that the provision of ration had been suspended about six months ago, which had increased their problems.

The people said that they belonged to various villages of Tirah valley, including Mehrban Kallay, Zarmanza, Tango, Dri Khula, Serai, Toor Dara and Khaist Khula, which had been kept backward by the successive governments. They said that the area was administratively located in NA-46.

Dr Malik Shah Khan, a representative of the protesters, said that the people had held meetings with relevant officials and presented them their demands, but to no avail. Another elder Aqal Khan said that their villages had been cleared of militants, but they were neither allowed to return nor given ration and non-food items. —Bureau Report