1. Introduction
1.1 Background
During the past 6 years, the Pakistan army launched three military operations in Bara Tehsil (Khyber Agency) namely in 2009, 2011, and 2014.
Bara was notified in 2012 and remained a conflict zone until December 2014. During that period, an estimated 69,000 families were displaced, registered and verified by NADRA. Most of the registered Bara IDPs were staying in host communities in Peshawar and Nowshera, while a small number settled in Jalozai camp.
Due to the close proximity of Bara to Peshawar, Nowshera and Jalozai, a significant number of the displaced families spontaneously returned to their places of origin between 2012 and 2014. They kept on receiving their food rations, travelling back and forth to Peshawar on a monthly basis in order to collect their rations. They also received NFI assistance.
After the last military operation in October 2014, NADRA registered and verified 35,000 newly displaced families from Bara, making the total number of displaced families approximately 105,000.
During a Return Task Force meeting held at the FDMA office on 17 December 2014, the Government announced the de-notification of 5 tribal areas namely Aka Khel, Kamar Khel, Malik Din khel, Shalobar, Bar Qambar Khel of Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency.
The protection cluster, fulfilling its mandate as per the return SOPs, conducted a Return Intention Survey (RIS) in December 2014 to assess the voluntary and informed nature of the returns as well as the IDPs overall preparedness. Subsequently, from April – November 2015, the cluster organized post-return monitoring exercises in the 5 tribal areas of Aka Khel, Kamar Khel, Malik Din khel, Shalobar, Bar Qambar Khel of Bara Tehsil, Khyber Agency. (The questionnaire that was used in the post-return monitoring is annexed on page 15).
Enumerators of protection cluster members CERD and PSRP participated in the data collection exercise. The exercise was carried out to better identify the voluntary and well-informed character of the return, and to identify the immediate protection and humanitarian concerns of the returnees in their areas of origin.
Enumerators were trained in data collection tool and basic principles of confidentiality, informed consent and interviewing techniques.
This report covers the monitoring surveys of the Aka Khel, Kamar Khel, Malik Din khel, Shalobar, and Bar Qamabar Khel tribes.