The bombed schools of Pakistan

Violent attacks by armed groups in the federally administered tribal areas (FATA) of Pakistan has not only resulted in the loss of lives but also hit the education system hard in the region bordering Afghanistan.

More than 450 schools in the northwest area of the country have been destroyed in attacks, forcing students to stop attending schools or learn outside amid the ruins.

The destruction of the schools appears to have negatively impacted the female literacy rate. A large number of girls and women have been forced to seek education in other districts such as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as the law and order situation worsens.

The Pakistani government and its education division have made promises to improve the system and infrastructure, but the conditions of the buildings shown in the images tell a different story.

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/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Children look at the ruins of their school that was blown up by armed groups in Azam Khel village near the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to the federally administered tribal areas, FATA, secretariat, more than 450 educational institutions - including dozens of schools for girls - have been bombed since 2008.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Teachers stand on the rubble of a school in Shalman village after an attack. According to Ahmad Khan, principal in one of the schools in the region, students were pulled out of their school after the attack and teachers resigned after receiving threats from rebels. Fearing more attacks, he closed the school.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students attend class in the open air in the remote area of Tirah Valley in Khyber tribal agency of FATA, where security forces re-opened educational institutions after five years.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students have to sit on the ground in classes since the furniture destroyed in the attacks have yet not been replaced.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students in Landi Kotal town in FATA said that despite the threats and fear of rebel attacks, they attended school everyday.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Ajmal Mansoor, a student in the second grade, said: "I was sleeping when I heard the booming sound of the blast in the school near my home. My parents asked me not to go to the school but still I attend the school."



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

A senior student teaches his juniors as they sit among the debris of a destroyed school.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Students use the main gate of their school as a blackboard.



/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera




Students sit in this dilapidated school as the teacher reads a newspaper.




Tribal elder Noushad Yousaf visits the school that was bombed by armed groups in Shekhmal area.







/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

Last year, the FATA's education department said that the male literacy rate was 36 percent while it was only 10 percent for females.






/Wali Khan Shinwari/Al Jazeera

A female teacher in the Jamrud subdivision gives lessons in the open air

Books, Tents Provided to Schools in Khyber Agency

BARA, June 1: The Education department of Khyber Agency has distributed 6,000 books among schoolchildren in Tirah Maidan area.
The Agency Education Officer, Mr Ateequr Rehman, visited Tirah Maidan and distributed books, school bags, other items among children. About 36 tents were also given to the schools which have been destroyed in terrorist attacks.
Mr Ateequr Rehman told TNN, “We have 15 community schools, 8 regular schools, and 17 private schools. We analysed all the schools to identify their basic needs. We distributed 6,000 books and 36 tents, which had been given to us by UNICEF. We appeal to children to join their schools as their teachers and schools are waiting for them now.”
The displaced people of Tirah have stated returning to their native areas where educational institutions reopened.

Report by TNN

Two Commanders of LI KIill in Bara KhyberAgency

LANDI KOTAL: Two activists of a banned militant group were killed and two others were injured in a clash with security forces in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Sunday.

Officials said that a convoy of security forces was on a routine patrol in the area when armed members of Lashkar-i-Islam attacked it. Two militants identified as Hassan and Mehmud were killed in retaliatory firing, they said.

Officials said that two attackers were also injured in the incident while the remaining managed to flee. The killed and injured militants were close aides of Qari Hidayat and Jalil, two local commanders of Lashkar-i-Islam.

Sources said that the attack was a reaction to air strikes on Lashkar-i-Islam base in Nala Malakdinkhel area on Friday night. Security officials claimed to have killed 10 militants in the air strike but local sources said that some members of Lashkar-i-Islam were injured in the strikes.

Meanwhile, headless body of an unidentified person was found in Speena Khawra area of Jamrud tehsil on Sunday.

Local people informed Khasadar Force about the body, which was buried when no one recognised the deceased.

In Dir Lower, a policeman was killed in a roadside blast in Warsak Kandaro area on Sunday morning.

Officials said that a van of Asbanr police station was on routine patrolling in the area when it was targeted by an improvised explosive device, planted on the roadside. They said that a constable identified as Islam Gul was killed in the blast.

The killed policeman was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Sia Adenzai with full official honour. DPO Ghulam Habib, Col Arshad and other officials were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, a man was killed and his father was injured when unidentified persons opened firing on them in Mian Cham Samar Bagh on Sunday.

Local people said that Shahenshah and his father Faiz Ali Khan were working in their fields when the attackers opened firing on them. Shahenshah was killed on the spot while Faiz Ali suffered critical injuries. The injured was referred to Peshawar in precarious condition. The motive behind the incident could not be ascertained.

In Peshawar, an elder of Badhber received minor injuries when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle at Faqirabad Chowk on Sunday.

An official of Badhber police station said that Hakeem Khan was going from his village Mashokhel to Peshawar city when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near his vehicle at Faqirabad Chowk. The vehicle was damaged badly and Hakeem Khan sustained minor injuries.

Meanwhile, at least 88 suspects including some foreigners were arrested during a search operation in Hayatabad here on Sunday.

An official said that hundreds of policemen and policewomen took part in the search operation conducted in Phase-5, 6 and 7 of Hayatabad. He said that hundreds of houses were searched during the operation.

Another official said that police seized weapons and explosives during raids in different suburban localities and took several people into custody.

In Swabi, about 170 suspects were arrested in a midnight search operation conducted jointly by Swabi and Mardan police in a village near Buner district.

District Police Officer Sajjad Khan told a press conference here on Sunday that the operation was carried out in Malikabad village.

Hand grenades, fuses and rocket launchers were seized during the operation.

The official said that a high profile wanted man identified as Khurram Mansoor alias Qazafi, involved in various anti-state activities, was among the arrested persons.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2014

Militants Destroy School, Set Two Houses on Fire in Bara

PESHAWAR: Militants on Saturday destroyed another primary school in Tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency with explosives and set two houses of members of peace militia on fire.
According to official sources, militants planted explosives in boys' primary school in Aka Khel area of Bara that badly damaged the school building.
It is pertinent to mention that educational institutions were closed down in Tehsil Bara due to curfew therefore, fortunately no loss of life occurred.
A total of 70 schools and educational institutions have so far been destroyed by the militants in Khyber Agency in the past three years.
Meanwhile, extremists set on fire two empty houses, owned by the members of Aman Lashkar (peace militia) in Aka Khel area.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2013

Khyber Agency: Three bodies found killed by tribal Militia

villagers found three bodies on Wednesday in an area in the Khyber tribal region where a tribal militia had publicly executed three men earlier this week after accusing them of being cohorts of a powerful militant commander.The bodies, bearing gunshot wounds, were discovered in the Zakhakhel bazaar area of Landi Kotal subdivision. An official of the Khasadar force (tribal police) identified the dead as Khanay, Jumma Khan and Aryana.The official blamed a local militia, Tauheed-e-Islam. “These men were shot dead for allegedly spying for the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the area,” the official said on condition of anonymity. He added that the militia has claimed responsibility for the grisly murders. An official of the political administration confirmed the deaths but said the dead men ‘could not be identified’ and refused to say how they were killed.On March 17, the Tauheed-e-Islam militia had publicly executed three suspected LeI members in the same area, though security forces and political authorities denied any such executions in the region.Search operationSecurity forces have rounded up eight suspected militants during a search operation in Kandaokhel area since Tuesday night. They also defused two bombs planted at the Landikotal helipad, according to official sources.On March 18, 14 bodies, bearing torture marks, were discovered by villagers in the Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency.Local residents blamed the paramilitary Frontier Corps, which is conducting operations in the area, for the killing – an allegation that the force denied. 4 killed in N WaziristanAt least four people were killed and eight injured in separate incidents of violence in North Waziristan agency.
“Clashes between the Hurmaz and Muski sub-tribes in Mir Ali sub-division left one person killed and five other injured,” said an official of the political administration.Eyewitnesses told The Express Tribune that the sub-tribes exchanged heavy gunfire over a land dispute. Tribal elders inter­­vened late evening and proposed a jirga.In another tribal feud, three people were killed and three others were injured when two families clashed over the ownership of the Datta Khel bus stand. The culprits involved in the killings managed to escape. Later, a routine patrol by security forces resulted in their vehicle being hit by a roadside bomb, in the Khathonry area, North Waziristan.

(With additional input by our correspondent in MiraMshah)

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22nd, 2012.

Clash kills six in Khyber agency: officials

Four members of a local peace committee and two militants were killed during an exchange of fire in Akakhel area, said a senior official.—File photo



PESHAWAR: At least six people were killed in a clash between militants and members of a local pro-government militia in Pakistan's Khyber tribal district on Thursday, officials said.

The area close to the border with Afghanistan has been plagued by fighting between armed forces and militants tied to the Pakistani Taliban, and fresh fears of unrest caused more than 18,000 people to flee the district last month.

Four members of a local peace committee, or pro-government militia, and two militants were killed during an exchange of fire, senior local administration official Rehan Gul Khattak told AFP.

“Militants with Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam) attacked a patrol of the local peace committee, which triggered a gunfight in Akakhel area,” he said, adding that the more than 30 militants escaped following the attack.

Local intelligence officials confirmed the incident and casualties.

Pakistan's army has previously launched a series of offensives targeting the Lashkar-e-Islam, a Taliban-allied militant group waging a local insurgency.

The Black Constitution Act 1901

Pakistani citizenship does not apply to FATA Aftab shiekh formed the senate
Tribal Areas Act 1901 is applicable in FATA can not keep Christians from a certified Tribe, domicile l may not given.
State Constitution misinterpreted and are valid guilty of treason, be told what law applies in FATA, Aitzaz Ahsan ...

Islamabad (Online) Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Immigration and shocked, saying that the Senate of Pakistan Citizenship Act does not apply to tribal areas the issue is sent to the Senate by the relevant Standing Committee on Thursday Achievements are jobs on the property buy are also eligible. He further informed the House of the Act of 1901 applies to FATA and Pakistan Citizenship Act does not apply to the opposition leader Aitzaz Ahsan said the prime minister has misinterpreted the Constitution and the Constitution treason in FATA if Pakistan does not ask citizenship law then ask what law is.

The state is equivalent to the full House for a surprise at the minister asked the chairman of the Senate Act, which applies to FATA However the appropriate response to the Senate Standing Committee sent to discussion issue .                                                         

The Genius People Of Khyber Agency

This girl belong to bara khyber agency .she got 3rd position in BISE Peshawar 2014 matric exam.she got this number from Hamza girls high school Jan khan killi bar qambar khel which is under miltary operation from last four years.if we think that the student of khyber agency can get good position in this situation if government of pakistan provide good educational environment to them then these people also can do more for pakistan as done by their forefathers in past.

Pakistani Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi in Peshawar With His Moustache Style

Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi is 47 year old He belongs to Bara in Khyber Agency.
He is a man with 30 inches long moustache curling towards forehead. His tall moustache made him the centre of attention for militant group Lashkar-e-Islami.
Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi is not only the source of amusement for people but he became the victim as well.
I quoted from ‘Dawn’, Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi said “it was the summer of 2008, when members of the LeI arrested me and took me to a religious scholar who declared the moustache un-Islamic and ordered it to be shaved”.
He decided to move to Peshawar where he would be able to grow his moustache freely. He did not go to his hometown for four years and he did not see his relatives due to the threats of shave by militants.
His wife was also not happy with his moustache but he did not take care of anything against his moustache.
Malik Ameer Muhammad Afridi runs an electronics business in Deen Plaza. He was proud of his unique style as no one in Pakistan has this style of moustache. He uses special oil and products to care his whiskers and spends approximately 30 -40minutes daily to curl his moustache in curved form.
He left his family and hometown for the sake of his moustache.
Obviously it would be difficult for him to survive alone far from his family. It seems so funny that he is suffering just because of his moustache but it is his life and he has the right to choose his liking and disliking.
He is implementing this funny statement “Mooch Nahi to Kuch Nahi”.                                                                taken from Bieng Pakistani

About Me

I am student of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Kohat University of Science & Technology (KUST), Kohat, KPK, Pakistan. This blog is being run as a project compulsory for the award of B.S Hons degree. Khyber Agency, the land of my dreams, is my hometown.

Physical Verification of Government Employees Lamented Across Fata

KHYBER AGENCY: In compliance with the instruments from the Fata civil secretariat, the Agency Education Office of Khyber Agency completed the process of verification of all the male and female teaching staff much to the objection of a majority of female staff and reservations expressed by the general public about achieving the desired results.


In a directive issued by the Fata Civil Secretariat a week ago, all the government employees working in various government departments across Fata were required to appear before officials of their concerned department for physical verification. The directives were issued in light of mounting criticism by general public about habitual absence of the government employees from their respective departments. It was also alleged that a good number of government employees, especially in the health and education department had taken up lucrative jobs in gulf and other countries.


The Agency Education Office and the Khyber Agency political administration while in their bit to show efficiency and urgency in completion of the assigned task, asked all the male and female teaching staff to appear before the concerned officials at their offices at Jamrud and Landikotal but most of the employees didn't appeared for physical verification as they were not informed at the right time.
Female staff in Landikotal was required to abandon their official duties and travel to Jamrud from far off lociliates like Sheen Pokh and Prang Darra in Loey Shalman and Kharghali,situated on the Afghan border.


Sources in the AEO office said that some female teachers were seen carrying their infant babies and then waiting for hours at the vanue of verification where the arrangements for the ladies staff were also insufficient.


Ali Ahmed of Prang Darra told The News that he had to spend Rs. 6000 to bring female members of his family for physical verification in Jamrud. The two women of his family, he said were Class-IV employees at the girls primary school adjacent to his house.
A female teacher,requested not to be named,said that AEO Atiqur Rehman himself appointed illegally Landikotal AEO.Asking the high ups for inquiry,she said that according to posting law AEO must not be from the same tehsil he was supposed to be appointed.


Amroz Khan,a resident of Sheen Pokh area in Loey Shalman said that his request for verification in Landikotal was denied by the concerned officials despite his repeated demands. He said he spend Rs. 5500 to bring the female staff of the girls school in his village.


When approached, Assistant Agency Education Officer (Female) Ms. Waheeda said that she too was not in favour of asking the female staff to appear in person at the Jamrud office. She said that though a number of the abstaining teachers were either dismissed from their jobs while many more were issued show cause notices in near past, the on going process of verification would not help in achieving the desired results.


She said that instead spot verification would have positive results as it would prove as to whether a certain teacher was attending to his or her duties or not.


It was interesting to know that Ms. Waheeda was not even aware about the actual strength of female staff at the government schools in Jamrud and Landikotal.


It was also interesting to know that despite closure of more than 80 percent of the government schools in Bara sub division, the entire staff, both male and female at these schools were verified as present on their duties.


Agency Education Officer Ateequr Rehman also expressed his displeasure over the 'flawed' procedure of verification and said that his advise was not sought when the said procedure was devised. "It was a mistake and I opposed it when I came back from my visit to Tirah", he clarified.


Haji Hukam Jan, a local elder said that the authorities conducted the exercise in a haste and the female staff was made to suffer both physically and financially by asking them to travel to Jamrud from far off localities.


He said that physical appearance at the AEO office would not expose those who were habitual absentees as they were still not regularly attending to their duties and had taken a day out of their alternate occupations to appear before the concerned officials and obtained a 'bogus clearance certificate'.

Posted by Mr.Ashrafuddin Pirzada at Wednesday, June 04, 2014

LI Asks Schools in Bara to Adopt Uniform System of Education

LANDIKOTAL: The Khyber Agency based banned organization Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) and asked the Bara based private schools owners and principals to make Quran compulsory for all students and adopt uniform education system, sources said on Wednesday.The sources said that on the call of LI commander Qandahar Zakhakhel, around three hundred teachers, principals and owners of the private schools gathered in Mandi Kas area of Bara. Speaking to the teachers and private schools’ owners, Commander Qandahar Zakhakhel said that LI had received complaints of extra dues and English/Urdu max curriculum in the schools.Qandahar said that LI noticed as all the owners, principals and schools teachers were gathered. He asked them that all the private schools should adopt uniform system of education and reduce their dues. He stressed upon the Islamic education said that reciting Quran for all students should be on the top of the school curriculum.
When contacted Private Schools Association (PSA) president Asghar Khan Afridi he said that they were in contact with the LI commanders to peacefully resolve it. Asghar Khan said they were optimistic to reduce the schools’ dues and would adopt government and other standard syllabus in the schools. Posted by Mr.Ashrafuddin Pirzada at Wednesday, June 11, 2014
                                      

Orphan Got First in Fata,2nd pPosition in Peshawar Board

Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: The Khyber Agency political agent,Mutahir Zeb awarded rupees 0.1 million to an orphan child who violated curfew hours in Akakhel Maira of Bara tehsil and got second position in Peshawar board.




To promote the education cause in the militancy hit Khyber agency areas the Khyber agency political agent Mutahir Zeb the other day awarded Rs.0.1 million prize to an orphan child, Qari Muhammad Tahir Khan, who got first position in Fata while second position in 9th class exam in Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Peshawar.(BISEP). Qari Tahir sustained 528 marks out of 550 marks and declared him second position holder in Peshawar board. Tahir is the son of a widow whose husband was killed in Bara few years ago. Most of the Bara residents had been shifted to Peshawar from militancy to save their lives.But extreme poverty compelled Tahir's mother to live there in Akakhel Maira and send Tahir to a school near to his village in Bara subdivision. Tahir not only taking position in school but his family members said that Tahir aslo memorized(hifz) the Holy Quran in short time. "Tahir never missed a single class,he used to come to the school even violating curfew hours to attend classes in Abubakkar Public high school", said the school principal Arif ullah.He said that Tahir remained an outstanding student of his school. "Tahir had been given admission on orphan quota because his mother had no source of income to pay his school's dues", the school principal said. Talking to this scribe,Qari Tahir said that he want to become a doctor.He thanked Mutahir Zeb and said that now he would be able to keep continue his education.Tahir requested the government,pelanthrophets and educational institutions to help the other hundreds of poor and orphan children who had abandond education due poverty.He said if he was helped both moral and economically he would also take first position in next matric exams. Bara parliamentarian, Nasir Khan and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khyber Agency leader Iqbal Afridi also appriciated the economical support with the talented student.The political leaders said that they would also help Tahir. Iqbal Afridi said that more than 45 government-run schools have been destroyed in Bara subdivision which had suffered education of hundreds of children . Iqbal Afridi demanded of the federal and PTI-led Khyber Pakhunkhwa governments to start the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the destroyed schools in Khyber Agency to save the children's future.

Relaxing Restrictions: Bara Road Reopens After Three Years

The road was closed for traffic since September 2009 when the military operation against Lashkar-e-Islam began.
PESHAWAR:

Bara Road, the main route linking Khyber Agency to Peshawar, was reopened after more than three years.

The road was closed for traffic since September 2009 when military operations against Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-e-Islam began. The road was reopened on Sunday by the Frontier Corps (FC) following repeated requests from residents.

“It has been decided to open the road for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening,” said a Sarband police official. The road will be open for general traffic from 8am to 10 am and 4pm to 6 pm.

“We have been informed by security forces deployed in Bara about the decision and asked to arrange security for vehicular traffic,” he added.

Tribesmen welcomed the move but expressed cautioned regarding the security situation in Bara.

“It is good news that the road will reopen after three years but the real problem remains the law and order in Khyber Agency,” said a local elder. There is the possibility of bomb attacks and there is no guarantee that terrorists would not attack people along the road, he stated.



The closure of Bara Road also resulted in shutting down Bara Bazaar, which was the main centre of economic activity in the area, leaving many jobless. This also forced people to use alternative routes which are long and unpaved to reach Bara.

Former senator Haji Muhammad Shah Afridi visited Bara on Sunday to inform the people about the decision, which he said was a major breakthrough.

Meanwhile, a security official died when unidentified militants opened fire at a check post in Zawa, Akka Khel on Sunday. According to a security forces official, their men retaliated and forced the militants to retreat. However, the injured officer, Naik Gran Wali, succumbed to his wounds en route to the hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2013.

Bara Tragedy: FC Commandant Replaced ‘Over Tribesmen Tillings’

The commanding officer of the Frontier Corps (FC) of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency has reportedly been transferred, after Bara tribesmen demanded action against security forces alleged to have killed 18 tribesmen in a midnight raid on Tuesday.

Colonel Jawad Zia’s transfer orders were said to have been issued and he has been replaced by Colonel Naeem Sarwar, apparently on the demands of the protesting tribesmen.
FC officials, however, denied the transfer, saying Colonel Zia was reposted as per routine and was still serving in Khyber Agency. They added that Colonel Sarwar has taken over as the new commandant of the force in Bara.
According to details, Bara tribesmen staged a sit-in protest in front of the Governor House bringing with them 15 bodies of their loved ones. All the bodies were mutilated and were recovered from the Alam Gudar area of Bara, Khyber Agency.

Following the tribesmen’s sit-in outside the Governor House, a jirga was constituted from within the protesters, including lawyers from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas lawyers’ forum to hold negotiations with Governor Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar.

Read more »

Government Girls School Blow Up in Bara

The school was closed due to the ongoing military operation in the tehsil, says political administration official. PHOTO: FILE

BARA: 

Unidentified militants destroyed a government girls primary school in the Sipah area of Bara tehsil on Saturday.

Political administration official Javaid Afridi said that around 4am, the primary school in Sipah was destroyed when explosives planted by unidentified militants in the school building went off. Panic gripped the area’s residents after the explosion.

“The school was closed due to the ongoing military operation in the tehsil,” the official added. Explosives were planted in one of the classroom of the building, which completely destroyed the structure.

More than 90 schools have been destroyed in the agency by militants. Most residents of Sipah now live in the Jalozai camp for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the official said. Tent schools have been set-up inside the camp for students to continue their studies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2013.

Sikhs of Khyber Agency Find Peace in Karachi

By Sohail Khattak
KARACHI: Known as a city of migrants, Karachi and its inhabitants are not usually considered the most welcoming hosts but for Hakeem Sardar Manmoon Singh Peshawari, a Pashto-speaking Sikh from the Khyber Agency, it has become home to his family and practice.
Khyber Agency lies in Pakistan’s troubled Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan where Islamic militants rule the roost.

The young hakeem, who fled from the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, spends his Wednesdays at the Hakeem Peshawari’s clinic at Masan Chowk – a Pashtun area near Karachi port – prescribing medicines to a growing line of patients.

The clinic at Masan Chowk is one of many – with education in herbal medicine from Peshawar, the hakeem now attends to around 1,200 patients visiting his clinics in different areas of the city. “I make Rs 50 from one patient,” said Peshawari. “People from all communities and religions visit my clinics.”

He is among the few Pashto-speaking Sikhs in the city who migrated from Khyber Agency due to the worsening situation in Afghanistan and surrounding tribal areas after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

“I was in Kabul in late 2001 but it became impossible to live there. That is when I moved to Karachi and opened a private clinic in Hub,” explained Peshawari. “Later, I shifted to Clifton.”

Apart from his nine family members who live with him in Karachi, the rest are in Peshawar. “We are all Pashtuns and our forefathers came from Afghanistan. We are original Sikhs and have been strictly following our religion for centuries.”

Though Peshawari and his family had to relocate from the Khyber Agency, their reasons had nothing to do with their religion. “Around 25,000 Sikhs live in Tirah and the Muslim Pashtuns there are proud of us and respect our beliefs,” Peshawari said. “If we were not living in their areas, we would have left this country ages ago.”

Finding new homes

Pramjeet Singh, a 40-year old hakeem also hailing from the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, is another Pashto-speaking Sikh settled in Karachi. “I grew up in Tirah and my family, all Pashtuns, has been living there for centuries,” said Pramjeet, who runs his clinic in Landhi.



Despite his Pashtun background and language, he has never ever faced any problems in Karachi due to his ethnicity. “I have always been welcomed in all areas of the city – whether dominated by Urdu-speaking people or Pashto-speakers,” said Pramjeet. “I never felt any hatred towards me due to my background. I can run my clinic freely anywhere in the city.”

According to Sardar Ramesh Singh of the Pakistan Sikh Council, around 10 families of Pashto-speaking Sikhs from Khyber Agency are now living in Karachi. “Most of these families moved to Karachi, rural Sindh and Punjab when the law and order situation in Khyber Agency deteriorated.”

Building communities

Business is the main reason why Sikhs choose to live in Karachi, Sardar Ramesh said. “They visit each other and share their joys and sorrows” he said, explaining that their native language is Gurmukhi Punjabi but some of the Sikhs have adopted the language of the areas they have been living in for centuries. “Sikhs from Sindh speak Sindhi while those from FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa speak Pashto.”

Pashto poet, writer and critic Raj Wali Shah Khattak said that although Sikhs are not Pashtuns by origin, they speak the language and share some of the cultural traits.

“I don’t think the Sikhs have roots in any of the known 3,500 Pashtun tribes,” said Khattak. “But they have been living long enough with the Pashtuns and follow parts of their culture. In my opinion, they should be acknowledged officially as Pashtun Sikhs.”

- See more at: http://newseastwest.com/pashto-speaking-sikhs-in-pakistan-flee-militant-violence-in-khyber-agency-and-find-peace-in-karachi-they-claim-themselves-as-original-sikhs/#sthash.EfiEAXxf.dpuf

TheSchools of Khyber Agency are Completely Destroyed

                                     

JAMRUD: In the war against terrorism Khyber Agency 63 educational institutions were destroyed which would be rebuilt in Annual Development Program as it would help in increasing the literacy rate of the agency which is already 39.19% in which 63% is male literacy rate and 16.13% female literacy rate. These views expressed by MNA Al-Haji Shah Jee Gul Afridi, Agency Education Officer Ateeq-ur-Rehman, Malik Ismail Tourkhel, Malik Wazir, Malik Khalid Afridi, Haji Abdur Lahood Afridi, and Political Admintrator Azmat Ullah Wazir in a ceremony held by Department Education Khyber Agency and political administration at Jirga Hall on Thursday.

The speakers appealed head masters, principals, tribal elders and political agent to spread the message of government that education is important and children should be taught.

They said that the institutions of Khyber Agency would be provided with better facilitates so that the children of agency does not lack behind. They speakers also said that by the help of teachers and head of the schools every child of agency would be attending the school. A committee would be formed to evaluate the schools performance in which nominated persons by political agent, MNA and AIO of Education Department would be in that committee.

The tribe elder Malik Ismail Tourkhel, Malik Wazir and Malik Khalid said that the school in agency lack behind and they does not have the basic facilities and even clean water is not available for the children. Malik Ismail Tourkhel pointed out that Assistant Political Agent Jamrud was not present in the ceremony.

FRONITER POST

18 Innocents Villagers were Killed by Security Forces in Bara Khyber Aghency

Peshawar: Protest outside Governor’s house for 18 killings in Bara
Posted by: Alize Ahmed, Uploaded: 16th January 2013
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Hundreds of villagers from northwest Pakistan are protesting the killing of 18 of their relatives in an overnight raid that they blamed on security forces, displaying the bodies of the victims in the provincial capital.
About 3,000 people gathered Wednesday at the governor’s house in Peshawar. They said gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed homes in their area Tuesday night and shot villagers dead.
They blamed Pakistani security forces in the area for the killings. But an official with the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary organization operating in the area, said the villagers had been killed by militants.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The incident happened in an area of Khyber Agency where Pakistani security officials have been battling militants.

The People Belong to Minorities are also Badly Effected from War Against Terror in Khyber Agency and FATA

The peoples belong to sikah religion .They were living from last 100 years .There business and homes has completely destroyed in the war.Now these people has migrated to peshawar and hassanabdal .

The Map of Khyber Agency

Governor of KPK Announced Package for IDP of Tirah Khyber Agency

Governor of KPK announced package for IDP of tirah khyber agency



LANDI KOTAL: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan will visit Bagh Maidan area of Tirah valley today (Tuesday) where he is expected to announce a development package for the thousands of internally displaced persons who recently returned to the valley, local administration officials said on Monday.


An earlier scheduled visit by the governor to the valley on May 29 was cancelled at the last moment due to security concerns. Local elders, school children and officials of different


departments waited in vain for hours at the makeshift helipad at Bagh Maidan when security officials announced cancellation of the visit.


Officials conceded that a huge sum of Rs5 million went to waste due to the last minute cancellation of the governor’s visit.They said that alongside announcing a comprehensive development package aimed at rehabilitating and improving the basic infrastructure, the governor would also inaugurate the offices of political administration, established for the first time in Tirah, a Nadra swift center and a model school in Kuz Bagh.


The governor will also meet local elders and listen to their grievances and demands, said the officials. Khyber Agency political agent Syed Shahab Ali Shah, assistant political agent Bara Nasir Khan along with contingents of khasadars and levies have already reached the Bagh Maidan to oversee the security arrangements.


Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2014

Security Forces Strike kills 25 millitants

LANDI KOTAL: At least 25 suspected militants were killed and 15 injured when military planes bombed their hideouts in Tirah valley of Khyber Agency early on Tuesday, Inter-Services Public Relations said.

It further said that Pakistan Air Force planes targeted the hideouts in Wacha Wana, Mehraban Killay, Dwa Thoe, Rakgall and Tangu areas.

The ISPR claimed that nine militant bases and hideouts had been destroyed in the targeted localities.

The ISPR claim could not be verified independently. The bombing was in retaliation to Sunday’s deadly attack on the Karachi airport carried out by the Tehreek-i-Taliban.

A Jamrud-based resident of Tangu village told Dawn that at least six non-combatants, including women and children, were among the dead.

Sources who did not want to be identified said a bomb struck the house of one Sameed Sherkhan Khel in Tangu at around 1.30am, killing his wife, two sons, two daughters and a niece and leaving three members of the family critically injured.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2014m

The People of Khyber Agency and FATA are Badly Agnored by Government

                                                                                                                                           The best way to controlled terrorism is education .If pakistani government provide facilities to the people of FATA . Military operation is not the solution of controlling terrorism in FATA .The people of khyber and all FATA are completely ignored by government .If pakistani government provide jobs and provide good education facilities to the belt .then it is easy to control terrorism . Today every person and family of khyber and FATA are badly effected from this war.

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