Thursday, July 02, 2009
By Noreen Haider
Fighting around the town of Mirali in North Waziristan in October 2007 led 80,000 people to flee their homes. The fighting started on Oct 7 after militants ambushed a military convoy near Mirali, and continued for ten days before a ceasefire took hold as a result of efforts by a tribal council from the Orakzai district in FATA (The News, Oct 21, 2007).
The HRCP called upon the government and militants to put an immediate end to hostilities, the bombing of villages and the use of heavy weapons which endangered the lives of civilians (Dawn, Oct 13, 2007).
Large numbers of families left the villages of Ipi, Haiderkhel, Mosaki, Hurmaz, Hasukhel, Barokhel, Milagan, Zairaki and Esori on Oct 10 (Dawn, Oct 11, 2007). Most of the displaced went to the neighbouring Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts, while others headed to Peshawar, some 190 kilometres to the north. The people displaced fled in lorries, vans or on foot.
After a week of fighting the town of Mirali, with a normal population of 50,000, had become virtually empty, although many families left behind a single male member to watch over their homes and possessions. By Oct 18 some IDPs had started to return to recover belongings or to resume their lives. (IRIN, Oct 21, 2007).
In January 2008, heavy fighting between the army and militants broke out in South Waziristan. (The Nation, January 24, 2008). As a result of the conflict, a large number of families from South Waziristan were displaced. According to one report the number of displaced people exceeded 60,000 (PIPS, March 11, 2008). Hundreds of displaced families, mostly women, children and the elderly, fled to the neighbouring Tank district and North Waziristan. After reaching Tank, many IDPs were reportedly living in parks and other open areas. Over 100 displaced families from South Waziristan reached North Waziristan, where locals had set up relief centres in Miramshah, Mirali and Esha (Dawn, January 29, 2008). Some displaced families sought shelter with relatives outside Waziristan after areas of the region were sealed off by the army in January (IDMC report, May 2008).
In April 2008, the army reopened some roads in South Waziristan to allow thousands of displaced persons to return home. A ration card scheme for over 10,000 displaced families was also started by the South Waziristan administration to allow families to receive relief goods. Nevertheless, a number of displaced families from Waziristan and other conflict-affected areas chose not to return (IRIN, April 16, 2008).
In Balochistan, tens of thousands of people have been displaced as government forces fought some Baloch tribes. According to a humanitarian assessment in July and August 2006, the displaced people, including 26,000 women and 33,000 children, were living in makeshift camps without adequate shelter in Jafarabad, Naseerabad, Quetta, Sibi and Bolan districts. Twenty-eight per cent of children under five were acutely malnourished, and six per cent faced severe acute malnourishment and their survival depended on immediate medical attention. Over 80 per cent of the deaths among those surveyed were of children under five (ICG, October 22, 2007, p. 6).
In May 2007, at a public meeting in Dera Bugti, President Musharraf said that 65,000 people out of 90,000 displaced from Dera Bugti had returned home. A regional human rights organisation, however, believed that 200,000 people were still displaced.
Although the insurgency had simmered down in Balochistan considerably but there is still no valid data regarding the number of IDPs returned to their homes. There is still no access to the humanitarian aid agencies to reach out to those IDPs in Balochistan because of the security situation.
Displacement has occurred in Balochistan not only as a result of conflict but also due to floods in June and July 2007 that affected 2.5 million people and displaced 300,000. The earthquake that rocked Ziarat and other parts of Balochistan in October 2008 displaced 15,000 people. Most of them are still homeless.
During the Kargil conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan in 1999, hundreds of families were forced to leave their homes along the Line of Control (LoC) to escape cross-border shelling. These families sought shelter in IDP camps or with relatives, and many were also affected by the October 2005 earthquake. Although many earthquake-affected families have returned to their area of origin, helped by a government scheme to offer homeowners more than $3,000 in building assistance, those displaced by the conflict have not received the same assistance.
Almost a decade on, displaced families are still living in IDP camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. An estimated 32,000 displaced Kashmirs remain in refugee-like conditions on the Pakistani side of the LoC (AJK government).
There is no information available on the exact numbers of people displaced in Pakistan today, due to administrative restrictions on access to affected areas. Pakistan was not party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, and had no legislation to recognise refugees. The 1946 Foreigners Act (amended 2000) remained the only law applying to refugees and asylum seekers even though it recognised no distinction between them and other foreigners.
Conflicts have clearly displaced, and will continue to displace, civilians in urgent need of protection and humanitarian assistance. Therefore it is critical that donors and humanitarian agencies continue to press the government for access to displaced populations in the country. The government must extend humanitarian aid to all IDPs and seek for this the cooperation and assistance of the UNHCR.
In Pakistan there is no effective humanitarian response system in place for the thousands of people displaced by conflicts. The piece meal, adhoc measures of providing wheat flour and dry ration will not solve the medium- and long-term problems of the IDPs. What is immediately required is a firm policy regarding the displaced people as a result of natural disaster and conflicts.
The government must also establish a separate department which would take care of the multi-dimensional issues relating to IDPs and develop strategies and do comprehensive planning for their relief, return and rehabilitation.
There is a strange phenomenon being witnessed on private channels these days regarding IDPs. Over-dressed and over-made-up anchors and artists are trying to collect 'charity' for the 'poor people' of Swat. I implore whoever is in power to do something about it to please put an end to this charade which is an insult to the displaced people.
Internal displacement is a disaster and there are international protocols and UN policies and frameworks on dealing with this crisis. Internal displacement is a very complicated and sensitive issue and it must be dealt with deep consideration of all the angles to it. It must not be reduced to collecting alms on TV by people who have no idea what they are doing.
(Concluded)
The writer is a journalist and has extensive experience of research and monitoring in disasters. Email: noreenh111@hotmail.com
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