Hundreds of Bara families need assistance to rebuild houses

Over 300 families belonging to the Surankhel sub-tribe of Sipah in Nangrosa village, located in the Upper Bara area, urgently require financial aid to rebuild their homes. Despite returning to their houses in 2022, these residents are still awaiting the assessment of damage to their properties. Frustrated by the lack of response to their repeated appeals to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and the Khyber district administration, some families have begun rebuilding their homes independently in preparation for the upcoming harsh winter season.

The entire Nangrosa valley was evacuated in early 2012 following the takeover of most parts of Upper Bara by the proscribed militant organization Lashkar-i-Islam. Many families, unable to access the area due to a lack of road connections, migrated to Afghanistan via the Mazathal Kandaw, a distance of just four kilometers from the Afghan border.

They returned to Peshawar and Bara via the Torkham border in groups, but without being registered as internally displaced persons (IDPs) as no such registration point had been established for them at the border crossing.

One resident, Haji Bawar Khan, explained that after spending time in Afghan border towns before returning to their hometown, the non-registration of their return deprived them of all the official assistance that other IDPs from Tirah and Bara were entitled to. Another resident, Sada Gul, noted that nearly all the houses in Nangrosa, numbering in the hundreds, were either partially or completely destroyed during the decade-long displacement, with none of the returning families having any legal right to claim compensation for their losses due to non-registration.

The residents of Nangrosa reported that their irrigation channel system, developed over several decades, was also destroyed, along with most of their livestock, as they were unable to find adequate space and pasture in Peshawar and Bara. With the village yet to be connected by road, residents must cross the Bara river multiple times daily to access essential household items, transport ailing individuals to a health unit located five kilometers away, and transport their small agricultural produce to nearby markets for sale.

The community emphasizes the urgent need for the repair of damaged irrigation channels, the restoration of drinking water supply from natural springs through regular pipes, and a prompt survey of damaged houses to enable them to rebuild their homes. They also request Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, MNA Iqbal Afridi, and MPA Abdul Ghani to visit their area and arrange for the immediate construction of a road to connect their village with the rest of the district and Peshawar.