Background
Kurram Agency is located in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan and shares a border with Afghanistan. The Agency is bordered on the north and west by Afghanistan (Nangarhar and Paktia provinces respectively), on the east by Orakzai and Khyber Agencies, on the southeast by District Hangu and on the south by North Waziristan Agency. The agency comprises a total area of 3,380 square kilometres.
Kurram Agency takes its name from the river Kurram, which passes through it. The headquarters of the agency is located at Parachinar. Kurram Agency is the only tribal region in the country which has a large number of Shiites - the rest of the six tribal agencies are overwhelmingly inhabited by Sunni Muslims. Total population of Kurram agency is 500,000, with 58 percent Sunni and 42 percent Shia.
The majority of the Shias lives in the upper Kurram, while Sunnis in lower and central Kurram. The population of Kurram valley consists of a number of tribes, namely Turi, Bangash, Parachamkani,
Massozai, Alisherzai, Zaimusht, Mangal, Kharotai, Ghalgi and Hazara. There was also a sizeable Sikh population but most of them have left the valley. Sectarian violence is not a new phenomenon in Kurram Agency where well over 4000 people have been killed in clashes between the Sunni and Shia tribes since 1980.
Kurram Agency has three tehsils: upper Kurram, lower Kurram and central Kurram and four major towns namely: Parachinar, Sadda, Alizai, and Baggan.
In November 2007, the sectarian clashes started in Upper Kurram Agency and they spread over both upper and lower sub-divisions of the agency. Families started fleeing the Agency to other districts such as, Hangu, Kohat Peshawar etc.
The government notified the entire Kurram agency as a conflict zone and requested the humanitarian agencies for registration and assistance. UNHCR established registration desks through the Social Welfare department in Hangu and Kohat for registration of IDP families but after the bombing incident at the Kacha Paka registration center in Kohat on 2nd May 2010, claiming the lives of 42 security officials, the registration centers were and moved to Peshawar.
Methodology
As part of the returns planning matrix, the protection cluster was asked by the Return Task Force (RTF) on 2 September 2015, to conduct a Return Intention Survey (RIS) of Kurram Agency.
Responding to this request, and in line with the Return Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) endorsed by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in February 2012, but also in accordance with the “Return Policy Framework for IDP from FATA” signed by FDMA in 2010, the Protection Cluster and its members agreed to conduct a series of consultations with the displaced population to capture their intentions and position vis-à-vis the announced return process.
It should be understood that the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement are clear on a government’s responsibility to respond to the needs of IDPs during displacement and in displacement until attaining durable solutions, including sustainable returns. However, a government may request assistance from the humanitarian community to assist and facilitate returns.
A representative sample of 534 families out of 4552 families were chosen for this quantitative Return Intention Survey (RIS) which would provide results within 5% margin of error and 95% confidence level. Out of the 534 respondents, 478 were registered while 56 families were not registered.
The Return Intention Survey (RIS) was conducted using a questionnaire (Annex A) which was slightly adapted to the current situation. 21 Enumerators from PVDP, PADO, Paiman Trust, YRC, IRC, KK, EHSAR, AICD,, PRSP, SRSP and UNOPS contributed to the exercise and were trained by the Protection Cluster on the questionnaire as well as on basic principles of confidentiality, informed consent and interviewing techniques. Six of the 21 enumerators were female staff.