Pakistan in Media

Editorial, The News International, Pakistan
Wednesday, May 13, 2009

The NWFP government says there are now at least 700,000 IDPs in the country. Many have yet to be registered. While concern is growing over their plight, and agencies including the UNHCR and the ICRC have made appeals for immediate help, there are many issues that need to be considered. One of these is that the vast majority of IDPs are opting to move in with relatives or rent out accommodation, even when the rates are exorbitant given that many of those forced out of homes are no longer working and have only limited savings. This means the strategy of setting up camp villages which have already appeared in Mardan, Swabi and other places across NWFP is somewhat less effective than it may have been in other circumstances. There are cultural reasons linked to the behaviour of the IDPs. Even though some concede they would have better access to food and other forms of relief at camps, they argue that their women observe 'pardah' and cannot be put up in tents living next door to strangers. The issue of blood rivalry has also been brought up, and the displaced people say they fear that in a camp they may be vulnerable to enemies who may seek to extract revenge.

These factors may seem irrelevant given the scale of suffering we see and the need for basic items such as food and water. But the fact is that they matter deeply to those affected. For some at least the simpler issue of human dignity also plays a part. Living independently is for them preferable to living on what they perceive is charity. Our government needs to step in, help attune international relief teams to these realities and find means to work around them. At the moment we have a situation where up to 20 or 30 people are living in single-room apartments. Some means of offering them assistance, perhaps in the form of jobs, or compensation for what they have suffered must be found.

Some thought must also be given to those who have opted to stay on in their homes or have had no choice but to do so. Severe food shortages are being reported in Mingora, medicines are unavailable and almost all doctors have left the city. Some plan must also be put in place to help the people caught up in the midst of fighting. Many of them are the most impoverished residents of war-hit towns and villages, who lack the resources to flee. These people, like the IDPs, must not be punished for their helplessness. In the months ahead we may find that the people of the northern areas hold the key to their future. All that is possible must therefore be done to show them they have not been abandoned and that all that is possible is being done to ensure their suffering is as limited as possible. A failure to do so would benefit the Taliban.