Tens of thousands flee near Pak-Afghan border over fears of military operation

Tariq Butt, Gulf Today Correspondent / APMore than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said.Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, has criticised the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.When the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governments are locked in a blame game over displacement of people from the restive Tirah Valley, officials estimate that around 80-85 per cent of all residents have been evacuated so far.Inclement weather continues to hold up the evacuation process, which has been temporarily halted. Those who had already left their homes and became stranded due to snow storms have also finally reached Bara after two days of hectic rescue operations.Heavy snowfall and the slow pace of registration at multiple locations along the 110-kilometre road from Tirah to Bara has multiplied the miseries of displaced families, with most spending sleepless nights on the road in severe cold.District administration officials said that though the exact number of families who arrived in Bara was not yet known, they estimated that only around 15 per cent were yet to be evacuated.They said the final date for evacuation had been extended after heavy snowfall and the remaining families were told to stay back till weather improves, though no exact completion date was given.Officials explained that the relaxation was given in light of weather-related hurdles, as it was imperative to give the Tirah people some ‘space’ prior to the restart of their final evacuation after an improvement in weather condition.The families still stranded in their homes due to the suspension of the evacuation process are facing an acute shortage of edibles, as authorities were not allowing anyone into the valley.In Bara, local tribal elders, former parliamentarians and political party representatives blamed both governments for forcing families to vacate their houses to pave the way for yet another military operation.Demanding an immediate halt to the ongoing ‘inhuman’ treatment’ of displaced families, Hamidullah Jan Afridi, a former MP, sought transparency in the registration process, and called for honouring all commitments made with the 24-member jirga of Tirah elders prior to the start of displacement.He also demanded stopping of political interference in the registration process and due compensation against all losses the people of Tirah had incurred during their displacement.The district administration has also increased the number of registration centers in Bara to expedite the process and make it more transparent.Officials said that alongside the Paindi Cheena centre, four new centres had been made operational in Alamgudar, Bar Qamber Khel, Malakdin Khel and Qambarabad localities of Bara.They said that separate desks for female registration were established at all centres, as many displaced families had complained that the women had to be herded into the same centres as men, which they considered against their culture and traditions.The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan.23, has been extended to Feb.5. He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. "Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security. "There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.