Peshawar- The repatriation process of internally displaced people (IDPs) to South Waziristan will begin on March 16, a government official said Saturday.
The Assistant Political Officer (APO) of South Waziristan, Nawab Safi said that people displaced during the military operation Rah-e-Nijat will return to their home from next month.
Registration for the families will take place from March 8-11 in Tank and each family will receive Rs25,000, he added. Nearly 70,000 people had left South Waziristan during Operation Rah-e-Nijat (“Path of Salvation”), the Pakistan military's air and ground offensive against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in the Mehsud tribal area of South Waziristan that began in 2009.
Safi added that in the first stage of rehabilitation, around 8,000 IDPs will return to their villages in districts Sararogha and Sarokai.
In July 2012, the repatriation of IDPs from Dera Ismail Khan and Tank to South Waziristan started under the supervision of army and civil administration.
The IDPs of South Waziristan in Islamabad last year, demanded that the government should rehabilitate them in their native towns.