PESHAWAR: The Pakistani authorities in North Waziristan have managed to facilitate the return of two batches of 334 families who had migrated to Afghanistan after the launching of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation and it is planned to bring home all the Pakistanis within a month.
\nOfficial sources told Media that the livestock owned by Pakistani refugees in Afghanistan had already been brought back to Pakistan. They said the livestock was brought back to North Waziristan through the Saidgi border town between the two countries.
\nThe tribal families had taken their livestock to Afghanistan in the summer of 2014 when they shifted from North Waziristan to Khost and Paktika provinces in Afghanistan in the wake of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation.
\nOnce the task of bringing home the livestock was completed, the civil and military authorities in the next stage made preparations to repatriate the more than 13,000 displaced Pakistani families via the Ghulam Khan border.
\nOn the first day of the repatriation process on Monday, 200 Pakistani families crossed over to North Waziristan from Afghanistan\u2019s Khost province via the Ghulam Khan border.
\nThe next day another 134 families were welcomed home. They were registered at the border and then transported to the Bakkakhel relief camp in Frontier Region Bannu for necessary background checks and security clearance before sending them to their villages in North Waziristan. It is unclear how long this process would take even though the returnees are desperate to go to their homes and villages after being away for more than two and a half years.
\nA senior army officer, requesting anonymity, said it is a beautiful feeling to get them back. \u201cIt is unbelievable to see their happy faces. It is very cold though and we are worried they don\u2019t get sick as it is snowing in most parts of North Waziristan,\u201d he remarked.
\nThe army officer said elaborate arrangements have been made at the Ghulam Khan border to receive the Pakistani families returning from Afghanistan. \u201cWe have moved truckloads of beddings to the border. If returning families get late, we keep them at Ghulam Khan. They are provided bedding, tents and food and washrooms too have been set up,\u201d the army officer added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR: The Pakistani authorities in North Waziristan have managed to facilitate the return of two batches of 334 families who had migrated to Afghanistan after the launching of the Zarb-e-Azb military operation and it is planned to bring home all the Pakistanis within a month. Official sources told Media that the livestock owned by Pakistani […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n