July 25, 2026
By Islam Gul Afridi
KHYBER
A large pool of rainwater has collected over the course of three days, at the registration center for displaced persons located near Bara Bazaar in Al-Haj Market. The compound has been flooded, making it largely unusable for those in waiting. On July 24 people from 500 families belonging to the Malikdinkhel tribe arrived there. Their names were on the list but because of four consecutive days of heavy monsoon rain, large amounts of water have accumulated there, causing severe difficulties for everyone.
The centre was set up to verify and register people displaced from Tirah Valley, but now the staff has to work from behind tents – separate for men and women. Even then, reaching these tents is not easy — people have to wade through standing water to get to the registration area.
The worst hit are those with physical challenges.
Maroof Khan, a person with a disability had to wait for hours at the centre, having arrived in the morning at eight, but seeing his entire process completed by half past three in the afternoon. He had to wade through the pool of water with the help of a stick. When he arrived in the morning, he saw the extent of disarray at the center.
“People have been trying on their own initiative to drain the water and clear a path,” he says. “Only after this did the staff start their work around 11. Still, there is no arrangement for clean drinking water at the centre, no shade, and no fans to provide relief from the heat.”
People who came for registration told Voicepk that rescue personnel had come to the site but had taken no practical steps to drain the water or improve conditions, while no representative of the district administration arrived to assess the situation either. When contacted, a district administration official said they were aware of the difficulties faced by displaced people at the registration centre and that preparations were underway to set up a new registration centre at an alternative location as a permanent solution.
Tirah Valley’s locals had to undergo a second wave of displacement in early January 2026, due to fears of a possible military operation.
In the first phase, more than 35,000 families were registered, but a large number of affected families were left without registration or financial assistance. Subsequently, following talks between a 24-member committee of local elders, the district administration, and security officials, it was decided that further registration would be conditional on verification by local elders. So far, documents for 16,000 families have been submitted under this arrangement, of which a list of 1,600 families has been issued in the initial phase. Only one registration centre has been set up for the phased verification of those on the list, where work has been ongoing for the past several days.
No formal relief camp has been established for those displaced from Tirah, forcing affected families to live in rented houses, relatives’ homes, caves, or makeshift tents. During the recent rains, the tent of one displaced family also collapsed.
Meanwhile, a new date of October 10 has been set for the return of the displaced to their areas, whereas at the start of the displacement, the return date had been given as April 10. Leaders of the displaced persons’ movement say that waiting until October will only increase challenges for the affected families, since severe cold sets in Tirah Valley by that time, making it impossible to repair damaged homes and other property. The movement has demanded that the return date be brought forward, warning that otherwise a new humanitarian crisis could emerge during the return process.
The district administration has not set any final deadline for completing the ongoing registration process, while large numbers of displaced families continue to complain that the obstacles hindering their registration and financial assistance have not been removed.
In the current fiscal year’s budget, the provincial government has allocated approximately Rs 5.5 billion for financial assistance to those affected in Tirah, in addition to more than Rs 6 billion in funds already disbursed previously.
