Among the IDPs, a man who witnessed the birth of Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Many among the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are old and weak. At an age when one struggles to get out of bed, they have traversed the terrain from their homes in Waziristan to IDP camps.

Fifteen years shy of being a centenarian one such IDP, Khan Wali speaks of his happiness when he witnessed the birth of Pakistan, when he greeted the father of the nation Quaid-e-Azam and mentions leaders like Field Marshal Ayub Khan.

Today he stands in line to collect rations, worried about his health and how he will make the rent this month.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has assured the IDPs that their rehabilitation is the government’s responsibility; that they will not be left alone in this difficult hour.

Having lost his wife to a stray bullet in Mir Ali, Khan Wali is all alone. Many more like him do not know if they will be able to return to Waziristan, whether they will be able to spend their final days on their beds at home.