Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Abdul Qadir Baloch on Wednesday apprised the National Assembly about the human and monetary cost of Pakistan’s war against terrorism along the Pak-Afghan border over the past six years.
Baloch told lawmakers that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) secretariat had released Rs6.38 billion to the political administrations of five agencies where locals are returning now that counter-terrorism operations have abated.
The conflict in Fata reached a turning point after the 2014 Army Public School attack in Peshawar, when the army launched Operation Zarb-i-Azb targeting militancy in these areas, forcing tens of thousands of locals to flee to other parts of the country.
High human cost
The Safron minister today said that as a result of the conflict, a total of 5,740 people lost their lives over the past six years, of which 5,332 were civilians.
Paramilitary forces on the frontline of the conflict, the Frontier Constabulary and Khasadar forces, each lost 234 and 174 men respectively.
Injuries
According to Baloch, around 6,427 people were injured during the conflict.
Out of that figure, 153 injured personnel belonged to levies forces, while 132 of the injured men were from the Khasadar paramilitary force.
A total of 6,142 civilians were also wounded in the conflict.
Compensation
A total of Rs3,480.55 million were set aside as compensation for families and legal heirs of those who were killed and injured, according to the report presented in the National Assembly today.
Out of that, Rs 2,823.6m went to families of those who were killed, whereas Rs 656.95m were disbursed to the injured.
The Safron minister also touched upon the cost of the government’s Citizen’s Losses Compensation Program (CLCP), which promises civilians reimbursement for damaged property.
According to Baloch’s report, Rs400,000 was handed to people whose properties were “fully damaged”, whereas Rs160,000 was paid as compensation for “partially damaged” properties.
Baloch said that a little over 15,000 people have already been remunerated for property-related losses.
The compensation disbursement is preceded by a survey which is conducted to establish the severity of damage.
According to that survey, 80,000 houses in Fata were damaged. So far, only 22,471 properties have been validated for compensation, Baloch said.
Agency wise breakdown of compensation amount paid over the past 6 years
