Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday dismissed reports of a military operation in Tirah Valley, saying that recent displacement from the area was a seasonal process due to harsh winter conditions.
"There is no operation going on in Tirah Valley," said Asif while addressing a news conference in Islamabad alongside Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Coordinator for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan.
The press conference came days after the federal and provincial governments traded accusations over who authorised the evacuation process in the remote KP valley.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had rejected the misleading claims regarding the alleged depopulation from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tirah Valley "on the orders of the army" amid reports of the evacuation of families ahead of a planned operation.
In a clarification issued late on Saturday, the ministry stated: "These assertions are baseless, malicious, and driven by ulterior motives aimed at creating alarm among the public, disinformation against security institutions and furthering vested political interest."
However, KP CM Afridi claimed that residents of the Tirah Valley were "forced to leave", stressing that the provincial government did not evacuate them.
Addressing the presser today, Asif said migration from Tirah and other valleys along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was a routine, annual process during the winter season. “During snowfall, people migrate from valleys located along the Pak-Afghan border. Migration from the Tirah Valley also takes place every year,” he said.
The defence minister said efforts were being made to present the situation as a crisis. “This migration is being turned into a crisis, even though it is a normal, seasonal movement,” he added.
Asif said the provincial government had allocated funds to support displaced families. “[The] Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt has set aside Rs4 billion for those who are migrating,” he said.
He went on to say that a notification regarding the relocation was issued after consultations between the provincial government and a local jirga.
“The notification was issued after consultation between the provincial government and the jirga,” Asif said, adding that it was agreed to establish schools and police stations in the area.
The defence czar said that members of the jirga had met representatives of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Jirga members went to meet the proscribed TTP members on December 11... after that, they met the chief minister of KP,” he said.
“Around 400 to 500 TTP members, along with their families, are present in Tirah. However, intelligence-based operations against terrorism continue,” he said.
He stressed that the area was not being evacuated for any operation. “The armed forces deployed in that area have nothing to do with it,” he added.
The defence czar also claimed that illegal activities were a major source of tension in the region. “Cannabis is cultivated on around 12,000 acres in the Tirah Valley. The income is about Rs3.5 million per acre, and this is the real dispute,” he said.
Asif said the government was willing to take journalists to the Tirah Valley to show the situation on the ground. “We [govt] can take journalists to Tirah to show them the real situation,” he added.
