14 may, 2026
By Islam Gul Afridi
KHYBER
Muhammad Ayaz is a resident of Khyber district who has been forced to relocate for a second time in three months due to ongoing unrest in the area. He arrived at a registration centre established for families recently displaced from the plains of his tribe, the Akakhel, but tribal elders took his identity card copy and mobile number and told him he would be contacted later for formal registration.
Ayaz recounts that he had first moved to the plains after violence erupted in the Shadalay area of Tirah valley. Within a few weeks, unrest spread there too, and the government issued orders for evacuation from that area as well.
“Right now we are living in a rented house in Shaikhan in Peshawar,” he said. “There is no work here, which makes it extremely difficult to meet our expenses. Nor has the government provided any financial assistance, nor has our registration been completed. We want nothing more from the government — only a promise of peace, and a return home.”
Problems in the registration process
The registration of families displaced from the Akakhel plains has begun, with 15 families registered on the first day.
Following district officials, a delegation of local elders met the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and submitted a list of 170 families to be registered in the first phase. Officials inform that displaced families from different areas of Lower Bara and one village in Upper Bara will be registered first, followed by families of the Akakhel tribe displaced from Tirah, to be registered in the second phase.
According to available information, 900 families displaced from the Tirah valley have already been registered, but serious problems persist in their verification and access to financial assistance. Local elders claim that more than 6,000 families displaced from Tirah valley remain unregistered to this day.
District officials stated that in the past few weeks, following the Tirah plains, more than 500 families have relocated from Akakhel tribal settlements — including Jandro Kalay, Kandori Kalay, Alam Kalay, Sapri and Spina Tiga, among other villages — and their registration process has now been initiated. Committees comprising the Akakhel National Council and local elders are working to verify the displaced families.
Javed Khan, a member of the Executive Committee of the Akakhel Qaumi Council, said that between three hundred to eight hundred families from the Akakhel plains have been displaced. He acknowledged that the earlier registration of families displaced from Tirah had faced significant problems, but said that this time, to address those issues, two elders each from the tribe’s sub-branches — Madakhel, Sultankhel, Sanzalkhel, Mirkhel, Maroofkhel, Marghatkhel and Sherkhel — are present alongside National Council members during the verification process to prevent ineligible individuals from being registered.
Only 16,000 families verified out of 35,000 registered
Displacement from Tirah valley began in early January 2026, and so far 35,000 families have been registered, of which 16,000 families have been verified. On one hand, displaced families continue to face obstacles in registration and accessing financial assistance. On the other, the deadline for their return — agreed upon under a formal accord and due in early April, a month ago — has passed without any concrete plan of action being announced.
‘25 people, one small house’
Seventeen-year-old Morcha Khan was provided registration documents and a mobile SIM card a few weeks ago, but has yet to receive any financial assistance. He says he was displaced from Jandro Kalay in Akakhel and is now living on rent in Peshawar. He had come to the registration centre to find out when the government would provide financial support, but found no information desk or guidance facility available.
“We are 25 people living in a small rented house in Matni, Peshawar, with virtually none of the basic necessities of life. Before we were displaced, we were promised that registration and financial assistance would be provided immediately — but nothing has been done so far.”
Protest and negotiations
The Bara Siasi Ittehad staged a sit-in protest on Peshawar’s Ring Road, during which police used tear gas against the demonstrators and roads leading to the KP Assembly were blocked. After hours of protest, lengthy negotiations took place between the alliance’s leadership and the Commissioner Peshawar, Deputy Commissioner Khyber, and Assistant Commissioner Bara. The Alliance’s president informed participants that of the fourteen demands, only three would be taken up at a Grand Jirga to be convened on Friday, while orders for implementation of all remaining demands had already been issued.
The Bara Siasi Ittehad’s demands included the immediate return of people displaced from Tirah, permission to resume cultivation of farmland in the valley, public disclosure of the registration list of displaced families, immediate financial assistance to families verified by the twenty-four-member committee, implementation of the thirty-five-point agreement, compensation for fully or partially destroyed homes, investigation into alleged corruption in the distribution of financial aid, recruitment of local residents to eighteen hundred government posts, payment for land taken for government use, and the establishment of lasting peace in Bara and Tirah.
The protest also had the support of the Tahreek-e-Mutasareen, whose sit-in camp outside the Bara Press Club has been ongoing for the past one hundred and ten days. The movement’s spokesperson Sohbat Khan Afridi stated that while some demands specific to Tirah affectees were not formally part of the sit-in, the key issues — registration of displaced families, financial assistance and early return — were discussed during the negotiations. He expressed hope that Friday’s talks would yield positive progress on these fundamental demands.
The deadline has passed but no road map in sight
The agreed deadline for the return of displaced persons, set under a formal accord for early April, has long passed. Yet neither the 24-member representative committee nor the government has presented any clear road map forward. Meanwhile, affectees continue to raise complaints about registration delays, lack of financial support and inadequate facilities at their temporary residences.
This crisis reflects not only an administrative failure but also the painful reality of thousands of families still searching for a roof over their heads, a livelihood and, above all, peace.