IDPs Nahqi camp closed

ISLAMABAD (APP) - The Nahqi camp for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mohmand Agency has been closed after all the families that had been living there voluntarily returned to their homes. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, during a two-day operation which was assisted by the UN refugee agency, the camps population of 982 families - or more than 4,000 people returned to their homes in the Beizai and Safi Tehsils in Mohmand Agency. The Nahqi camp was established by the FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) with the support of UNHCR in January this year inside Mohmand Agency, to accommodate thousands of people fleeing conflict. Living in a camp was not easy but restarting lives was another tremendous challenge for returning families. They will need continued support from humanitarian agencies to rebuild their lives back home, said Ahmed Warsame, UNHCRs Head of Office in Peshawar. UNHCR field teams and officials from the FDMA were present in the camp to ensure that all returns were voluntary. Some 2,000 families living outside the camp had also started to return. UNHCR was grateful to the FATA Disaster Management Authority and all the international organisations that supported the camp and its ultimate closure in a dignified manner, added Warsame. With the closure of Nahqi camp, only three camps for internally displaced individuals remain. Thats down from 27 organised camps at the peak of the displacement emergency. The camps in Jalozai in Nowshera, Togh Sarai in Hangu and New Durrani camp in Kurram Agency were currently home to some 9,000 families, most who fled their homes in the Bajaur and Kurram agencies. More than 350,000 people displaced by conflict of FATA were still living in host communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Province.