July 10, 2026
By Rehan Piracha
LAHORE
A fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has painted a grim picture of the humanitarian fallout from the mass displacement of residents in Tirah Valley, District Khyber, describing a crisis marked by civilian deaths, disrupted livelihoods, delayed compensation, and deep confusion over who it was among the security forces, the civil administration, or the provincial government who had actually ordered people out of their homes.
The report, titled ‘Displaced by Conflict: The Humanitarian Crisis in Tirah Valley’, was compiled after HRCP conducted a day-long mission to Bara in District Khyber and to the office of the deputy commissioner in Peshawar on 19 May 2026. A team of HRCP members and staff, led by Akbar Khan, vice-chair of HRCP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, met with displaced families, traders, journalists, NADRA officials, lady health workers, and senior police and administration officials to piece together what happened and why.
A community caught between militancy and displacement
According to the report released to the media on July 10, insecurity in Tirah Valley had been building for years before this year’s mass exodus. Residents told the mission that the security situation began deteriorating in 2023, worsened through 2024, and escalated sharply in 2025. Communities in the camp said they were well aware that militants operated in the area but insisted that security forces were capable of containing the threat — and some went further, questioning whether the militant presence was even being used as a pretext for the evacuation.
The report notes that between 2024 and 2025, when residents refused either to leave the valley or to form armed “peace lashkars” at the state’s request, authorities reportedly imposed restrictions on the supply of food and medicine to the area — a measure that respondents described as “inhumane”. Residents said between 20 and 30 civilians were killed and nearly 400 were injured, including women, children and the elderly, over that two-year period.
Then came January 2026. A mass exodus took place amid harsh winter conditions, and displaced families told the mission that several newborns died because of the severe cold, snowfall, and inadequate arrangements along the way. Community representatives were unambiguous in their assessment, terming the move “forced” and holding security forces directly responsible, on the grounds that it is the forces — not the civil administration — who wield effective control in Tirah.
The compensation picture, according to residents, has been similarly troubled. They alleged that only around 20 percent of displaced families had so far received transportation and other assistance packages, with the majority still uncompensated amid reports of irregularities and mismanagement. Families said they had initially been told the displacement would last only two months, with returns expected to begin from 10 April 2026, a date that, as of the mission’s visit in May, had come and gone with no practical steps toward return.
Traders and livestock owners left without a plan
The economic toll extends well beyond individual households. Traders’ representatives told the mission that roughly 3,600 shops, employing nearly 8,000 traders and shopkeepers, had been affected, resulting in widespread unemployment and the destruction of goods. No separate market or business area was set up for displaced traders in Bara or elsewhere, they said, and traders were not even permitted to transfer their existing stock out of the valley.
Livestock and poultry farming — described in the report as the backbone of local income and food self-sufficiency, particularly for women — suffered heavily as well. The inability to relocate animals during the displacement caused what representatives called significant economic loss and damage to livelihoods.
Journalists say crisis met with inaction
Perhaps the most detailed account in the report comes from a meeting with the Bara Press Club, whose president and general secretary told the mission that the security situation in Tirah had been worsening steadily since 2021, driven by the regrouping and return of militants into the merged tribal districts. Journalists said local communities repeatedly raised the alarm but that authorities failed to act in time, allowing militant gunfire attacks and retaliatory shelling, artillery fire, and drone or quadcopter strikes by security forces to escalate — with civilian casualties, including women and children, among the consequences.
Education has been among the biggest casualties of the prolonged insecurity. Journalists said enrollment at the valley’s only government high school, in Warsak, collapsed from around 2,500 students to just 350 by 2025 — a drop that has left the fate of thousands of dropouts an open question. Frequent firing and shelling during school and working hours, they said, kept fear a constant presence in everyday life.
On the question of who authorized the January displacement, journalists said the matter had never been properly clarified, but that there was a widespread public perception that security forces wanted the valley evacuated, while the civil administration was left to publicly own the decision and its fallout. The report notes that the district administration later confirmed the displacement took place under an agreement with a 24-member committee of tribal elders — even as the provincial government has denied any involvement, despite the district administration answering to it. Journalists also pushed back on a narrative circulating in mainstream media that the January displacement was simply a routine winter migration, pointing out that Tirah’s permanent residents are well accustomed to harsh winters and would not ordinarily flee because of them.
The registration process for displaced persons drew sharp criticism. Journalists said it should have been handled by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority rather than the district administration, and described a rollout marked by poor planning: a single registration point that later had to be expanded to five amid mounting pressure and confusion. They put the number of registered households at approximately 35,000, but said many genuine Tirah residents were turned away because their national identity cards listed temporary addresses in Peshawar, Kohat, or Bara — even as some non-resident property owners reportedly secured registration through personal influence.
Journalists also questioned how militants continue to operate despite the heavy presence of security forces and surveillance in the area, and criticized the decision to permit only one displacement route out of the valley when an alternative through Orakzai district could have eased the hardship. According to their account, at least 19 people — mostly women and children — died during the displacement itself, due to severe weather, road accidents, and inadequate arrangements, with another 15 injured. They further alleged interference in the transfer and registration process by political representatives and their aides, as well as by a group identified as Tawheed-ul-Islam.
The press club representatives also objected to the official labeling of the displaced as “temporarily displaced persons” rather than internally displaced persons, and said local journalists have faced advisories from security agencies, threats, and restrictions on reporting freely about security matters in the valley.
On compensation, journalists detailed the package agreed with the 24-member tribal committee: Rs 22,000 for transport by four-wheel vehicle, Rs 45,000 for six-wheel vehicles, and Rs 75,000 for ten-wheel vehicles, plus Rs 240,000 disbursed upon arrival through SIM registration, monthly assistance of Rs 35,000 for two months, and a further PKR 25,000 in return assistance. The report notes, with some irony, that the provincial government had separately announced a Rs 4 billion relief package even while publicly distancing itself from the military operation and displacement that made it necessary.
Women bear a disproportionate burden
At a registration camp in Bara and at Dogra Hospital Bara, the mission heard directly from NADRA staff, displaced women, and lady health workers. NADRA officials said displaced women from Tirah undergo biometric verification, cross-checked in some cases against previous polio vaccination records to help confirm their place of origin, before receiving SIM cards, help opening bank accounts, a support package of PKR 240,000, and monthly assistance of Rs 50,000.
But the women themselves described a far harder reality: registration delays, lack of financial support, poor living conditions, health problems, food shortages, and continued uncertainty about when — or whether — they would be able to go home. One woman told the mission she had been repeatedly making the two-hour journey from Kohat, where she was staying with relatives, back to the camp just to complete her registration, all while worrying about her family’s health in the extreme heat. Another described the displacement itself as traumatic, said many of her family’s animals had died in the process, and said her family was still without stable shelter or adequate food, despite official assurances of assistance.
Lady health workers at Dogra Hospital Bara added a clinical dimension to these accounts. While normal deliveries can be managed locally, they said, women requiring C-sections must be referred to hospitals in Peshawar because of a lack of surgical facilities — a gap that causes delays and complications. They also said displacement and insecurity had worsened women’s health outcomes more broadly, increasing pregnancy complications and miscarriages, and that fear and movement restrictions were deterring people from seeking timely medical care at all.
Officials claim displacement not forced
Officials offered a markedly different framing. The district police officer (DPO) for District Khyber told the mission that while Tirah’s overall crime rate remains comparatively low — aside from poppy cultivation, which he called a common cash crop in the area — militant groups including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-i-Islam, and other splinter factions do operate there. He said residents had been raising concerns about militant presence throughout 2024 and 2025, after which authorities gave them the option to vacate ahead of planned operations, and he pointed to the district’s long, porous border with Afghanistan and its difficult mountainous terrain as reasons militant infiltration could not be entirely prevented. He said the police’s role in the displacement had been limited to providing security, in close coordination with the military, and that no cases of serious human rights violations had been reported to local police during or after the exodus. Policing in the valley, he noted, is currently handled through a single police station at Bagh Markaz, backed by ex-Levies personnel, provincial police, and eight border and hilltop checkpoints, for a population the 2017 census put at 286,184.
The additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of District Khyber was firmer still, telling the mission the administration had been in continuous negotiation with the 24-member tribal committee for nearly a year and a half, and repeatedly insisting that the displacement was “not forced” but the result of mutual consultation. He said the administration had initially estimated around 20,000 affected households, but that roughly 33,000 had since been registered with NADRA, of which nearly 13,000 had been verified and assisted. He acknowledged that CNIC address mismatches, harsh weather, and logistical constraints had all slowed registration, and said a grievance redressal committee — including members of the 24-member body — had been set up to resolve pending cases. He put the share of registered households that had received assistance at around 95 percent, with the rest still under review, and said the pace of any return would depend on security clearances and ongoing development work, with cash support being provided for rent and relocation costs in the meantime.
HRCP’s findings and recommendations
In its concluding observations, HRCP said the picture that emerged was one of a population displaced amid a deteriorating security situation and a security response whose ultimate authorship remains contested. While the administration maintains the move was consultative, most affected residents and independent observers described it as compelled by fear and a lack of real alternatives — with the provincial government notably absent from the security decision-making itself. The commission also flagged the disconnect between official assurances of a two-to-three-month return timeline and the actual state of security on the ground, which as of the mission’s May 2026 visit did not appear conducive to a safe and voluntary return.
To address this crisis, HRCP offered several key recommendations to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and relevant authorities, emphasizing the need to ensure the safe, voluntary, dignified, and informed return of displaced families as soon as security and basic services allow. The commission urged authorities to improve transparency in the verification process so that no genuinely affected family—including those caught in CNIC address disputes—is excluded from assistance. Furthermore, they called for the immediate release of all pending compensation and the creation of a public grievance mechanism to handle registration irregularities. HRCP also demanded accountable, impartial investigations into civilian casualties, property destruction, and the shelling of populated areas, alongside an immediate prioritization of healthcare, shelter, food, education, and psychosocial support for vulnerable groups like women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Beyond immediate relief, the commission highlighted the critical need to strengthen health facilities in Bara and Tirah by equipping them with emergency medical services, surgical capacity, ambulances, and proper maternal care. They recommended developing a comprehensive rehabilitation and reconstruction plan to rebuild schools, markets, roads, water systems, and livestock livelihoods, while also allowing national and international humanitarian organizations to operate freely in the region. Finally, HRCP underscored that long-term peacebuilding requires investing in stronger civilian governance, rule of law, and community trust. This must include protecting freedom of expression so local journalists can report without intimidation, and ensuring that elected representatives, civil society, women, and the affected communities themselves are meaningfully included in all future negotiations and policy decisions regarding Tirah.
HRCP’s report leaves little doubt that, months after the January exodus, the residents of Tirah Valley remain suspended between an unresolved conflict, an unfulfilled promise of return, and a relief system that, by the community’s own account, has reached only a fraction of those who need it.