NW traders demand Rs70b compensation for losses

BANNU: Traders from North Waziristan Agency Sunday asked the government to announce Rs70 billion as compensation for the losses they suffered during the militancy and the subsequent military operation.
A grand jirga of the traders and businessmen was held here in Bannu Township, with president Mir Piyao Jan in the chair and attended by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) provincial president Pir Yousaf Shah, NWA ameer Maulana Abdul Hai Haqqani, Chief of Waziristan Malik Shah Nawaz Khan, Shah Wazir Khan, Hakeem Khan, Zahir Khan, Malik Nisar Ali, Malik Ghulam Khan, Malik Riaz Khan and others.
The speakers said that their markets, businesses, stocks and shops in North Waziristan had been destroyed during the military operation. They said the tribal people had always rendered sacrifices for the solidarity and sovereignty of Pakistan whether it was the war in Kashmir or Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
They said they did not want confrontation with their military as the world considered them terrorists, adding that the goods in godowns and markets were neither terrorists, nor they had sheltered the terrorists when the markets were bombed. “No-one bothered to care for us as resolutions were adopted in the assemblies and even Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) declared us as terrorists,” Malik Riaz Khan said.
They said the tribal people had been undergoing troubles and problems like stateless people and added that 43 innocent tribalpeople were killed in shelling in Saidgai area. They said the traders and businessmen incurred total loss of Rs70 billion during the operation and the government should announce compensation so that they could resume their business activities after repatriation.