The Kurram Deputy Commissioner (DC) has ordered the setting up of Temporarily Displaced Persons (TDP) camps in Lower Kurram tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing an “expected” anti-terror operation, it emerged on Saturday.
The development comes as two aid convoys, heading to Parachinar, which has been facing shortages of food and medicine due to roadblocks, were attacked this month after a peace deal was signed between warring tribes on January 1st.
After a Nov. 21 attack on a convoy in the Bagan area killed 50 people, subsequent clashes stemming from decades of land disputes have claimed at least 130 more lives.
The order, dated January 17 and a copy of which is available with dawn.comwas written by Kurram DC Ashfaq Khan to the relief secretary of the KP Rehabilitation and Settlement Department.
Titled ‘Establishment of Camp for TDPs of Kurram District’, the letter read: “It is stated that LEAs (Law Enforcement Agencies) are planning to operate [sic] in various areas of Lower Kurram as per the details given below to counter terrorism.”
According to the details listed, 866 families and 9,685 Baggan “households”; 466 families and 5,245 households from Mandori/Uchat/Charkhel; and 547 families and 2,494 households from Chapri Paraw and Chapri would be relocated.
Under the plan, more than 1,000 families would be relocated.
The letter proposed four sites in Thall for TDP camps to “ensure the safety and support of the affected population during the planned operation”, including the Government Boys Degree College, which is said to have 25 rooms and two halls.
Government Technical College, which had 15 classrooms and one hall; a Rescue 1122 complex under construction with 10 rooms and two hallways; and a judicial building under construction with 15 courtrooms and two courtrooms were the other proposed sites.
“Further, a committee in Chapri Lower Kurram under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner (R&HR) Kurram has already been notified. […] for coordination purposes,” the DC letter adds.
In Thursday’s attack on a convoy in the Bagan area of Lower Kurram, two security personnel were killed and five others were injured. The retaliation by the security forces left six attackers dead and 10 injured.
Although police recovered the bodies of four drivers with their hands tied, five were still missing.
Sources said that of 35 trucks in the convoy, only two managed to return to Thall, while more than 10 trucks were looted and set on fire.
On January 4, a government convoy was attacked near Bagan, injuring former DC Javedullah Mehsud and leaving the convoy stranded.
Protest in Lower Kurram
Meanwhile, the three-week-long protests in Bagan continued on Friday, with residents demanding the reconstruction of their city and compensation for losses suffered during an earlier attack.
The protesters have vowed not to allow convoys to proceed to Parachinar until their demands are met.
Local elder Haji Karim said the city of Bagan, located about 60 kilometers from Parachinar, and its bazaar, comprising more than 500 shops and houses, were destroyed in an attack following the Nov. 21 ambush of a convoy bound for to Parachinar.
He claimed that during a meeting with the general officer commanding the other day he was given assurances of compensation, but that they remained dependent on the successful passage of the third convoy to Parachinar, which was disrupted in Thursday’s attack.
