Archive January 28, 2026

More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled from Tirah, a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, as fears grow of an imminent military offensive against the Pakistan Taliban, according to local residents and officials.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has contradicted claims made by locals and provincial authorities, insisting no military operation is occurring or planned in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province town.

During an Islamabad news conference, he attributed the mass migration to harsh weather conditions rather than military actions, despite residents fleeing for weeks over fears of an impending army operation.

The exodus began after mosque announcements in December last year urged residents to vacate Tirah by January 23 to avoid possible conflict. This follows Pakistan’s August military campaign against Taliban forces in the northwestern Bajaur district, which displaced hundreds of thousands.

Shafi Jan, a provincial government spokesman, blamed federal authorities via social media for the displaced people’s hardships, accusing the Islamabad government of changing its position regarding military operations.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, from imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, has opposed military intervention and pledged to prevent a full-scale operation in Tirah.

Military officials maintain they will continue targeted intelligence operations against Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). They claim many TTP fighters have found refuge in Afghanistan since the Afghan Taliban’s 2021 return to power, with hundreds crossing into Tirah and using residents as human shields during raids.

Nearly half of population

Local government administrator Talha Rafiq Alam reported that approximately 10,000 families – about 70,000 people – from Tirah’s 150,000 population have registered as displaced. The registration deadline has been extended from January 23 to February 5, with assurances that residents can return once security improves.

Zar Badshah, 35, who fled with his family, said mortar explosions in villages recently killed one woman and injured four children in his community. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.

At a Bara government school, hundreds waited in registration lines for government assistance, many complaining about slow processing. Narendra Singh, 27, explained that members of the Sikh minority also fled Tirah due to food shortages worsened by heavy snowfall and security concerns.

Oxfam says it will not disclose the personal details of its Palestinian staff to Israel, citing its army’s deadly attacks in Gaza that have killed hundreds of aid workers.

As part of a crackdown on NGOs providing life-saving aid to Palestinians, Israel last year demanded that some of the world’s best-known charities working in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem hand over detailed information about their Palestinian and international staff, operations and funding.

On January 1, Israel withdrew the licences of 37 aid groups, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, International Rescue Committee and Oxfam, saying they failed to adhere to the new “security and transparency standards”.

But Oxfam has said it will not share data about its Palestinian employees.

“We will not transfer sensitive personal data to a party to the conflict since this would breach humanitarian principles, duty of care and data protection obligations,” an Oxfam spokesperson told Al Jazeera. “More than 500 humanitarian workers have been killed since October 7, 2023.”

“We call on the government of Israel to immediately halt deregistration proceedings and lift measures obstructing humanitarian assistance,” the spokesperson said. “We urge donor governments to use all available leverage to secure the suspension and reversal of these actions.”

According to rules set out by Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs, the information to be handed over includes passport copies, resumes and names of family members, including children. It said it would reject organisations it suspected of inciting racism, denying the state of Israel’s existence or the holocaust. It would also ban those it deems as supporting “an armed struggle by an enemy state or a terrorist organisation against the State of Israel”.

Israel says 23 organisations have agreed to the new registration rules. The others are understood to have refused or are weighing their decisions.

The Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO) condemned the organisations that have adhered to Israel’s demands.

“PNGO underscores the grave risks inherent in this measure, which constitutes a clear violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and established humanitarian work standards,” it said, adding that complying with Israel’s order poses a “direct threat” to the safety and security of local staff.

On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said it was prepared to share a “defined list of Palestinian and international staff names, subject to clear parameters with staff safety at its core” to Israel, while acknowledging that the demands were “unreasonable”.

MSF’s decision was condemned by some doctors, activists and campaigners, saying it could endanger Palestinians, given Israel has targeted aid workers throughout the genocide in Gaza.

A former MSF employee, requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera, “It is extremely concerning … that MSF would make a decision like this.

“MSF faces profoundly difficult decisions – concede to the demands of a genocidal regime, or refuse and face complete expulsion and an abrupt end to all health activities in the coming weeks. But what is humanitarianism under genocide? There must be alternatives – alternatives that demand a much bolder and more disruptive approach to humanitarianism amid such brutal political decline.”