Armed forces, federal govt have not issued any orders for ‘depopulation’ of Tirah: information ministry
The Ministry of Information has said that neither the armed forces nor the federal government has issued any orders for the “depopulation” of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tirah Valley, where residents have been vacating their houses amid a planned military operation against militants.
“The government has taken notice of misleading claims in circulation regarding alleged ‘depopulation’ from Tirah Valley on the orders of the army.
“These assertions are baseless, malicious, and driven by ulterior motives aimed at creating alarm among the public. No directive has been issued for the depopulation of Tirah by the federal government and the armed forces,” a post on the ministry’s X account said on Sunday.
The ministry further maintained in its statement that law enforcement agencies had been routinely conducting “targeted, intelligence-based operations, strictly against terrorist elements, with full care to avoid disruption to civilian life, for which no migration is needed or being undertaken”.
“It may be noted that the local population is increasingly concerned over the presence of khawarij (a term that the state uses for terrorists) and desire peace and stability in Tirah,” the ministry said.
While the ministry’s statement maintains that no migration is being undertaken in Tirah, families in the valley had started vacating their homes last year as fears of a large-scale military operation loomed.
Residents in the region earlier told Dawn that the ‘voluntary evacuation’ had been in progress since November 2025 as they had lost any hope of restoration of lasting peace while also fearing collateral damage during sporadic intelligence-based operations.
More to follow
