PESHAWAR - The internally displaced families of North Waziristan Agency refused to vacate government schools buildings till August 10 as directed by the district administration.
The district administration had asked the internally displaced families to shift to camps established for them in Bakakhel area and vacate schools for students, whose summer vacations have now been completed. According to Commissioner Bannu Muhsin Shah, around 25,000 families are residing in these government schools and it is not possible to provide them alternate building facilities in Bannu. He said the presence of these IDPs families in government schools would affect the educational activities and it is direly needed to shift them to IDPs camps. He said in Bakkakhel camp, 217 families have been shifted where all facilities of life are available for them. “The government is also planning to establish three new camps along with compounds for these IDPs, where 900 families will be accommodated,” he added.
 The residents of the area have appealed to the government to vacate the schools in Bannu, as valuable time of their children would go waste.
The affected families from North Waziristan Agency also organised a grand jirga at the Wild Life Park, Bannu and demanded of the government to take steps for their repatriation. They said when now 80 per cent areas of NWA have been cleared of militants as declared by Pakistan Army, it is responsibility of the government to take steps for repatriation of IDPs to their respective hometowns. The jirga was convened by Dawar and Wazir tribes of North Waziristan Agency.
They appealed to the federal government to take steps for the safe repatriation of IDPs as valuable time of the students would be wasted in case their stay was prolonged in IDPs camps.