Return of NWA TDPs begins

Thousands of Pakistanis who fled to Afghanistan to escape fighting between the army and militants in the north-western tribal areas began returning home Monday, two years after they were displaced, officials said. The first batch of 200 tribal families from North Waziristan district, or some 2,000 people, were being greeted by officials at the Ghulam Khan border crossing, local administrator Kamran Khan Afridi told AFP.
He said similar numbers would be arriving daily until January 26, with the families first accommodated in camps before being sent back to their villages and towns. Pakistan's army launched an operation in June 2014 to wipe out militant bases in north-western tribal areas and bring an end to a bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were forced to leave North Waziristan by the offensive, many fleeing over the border into Afghanistan.