Provision Of Relief To IDPs Is Challenge For Emergency Response Unit
Muhammad Khurshid
June 15, 2009
The Emergency Response Unit (ERU) established by the government of Pakistan for providing relief to the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of tribal areas and Malakand division has been doing its best to make the life of IDPs easier as they have left their homes in a hurry after the Pakistani Army operation against terrorists. Provincial Relief Commissioner and Incharge of ERU Muhammad Azam Khan has been using all his energies for making the relief operation a success. He made himself available round the clock to make the relief operation more effective. The recent bombing in Peshawar lone five star hotel has affected the relief operation to some extent as the representative of UN and other donor agencies have left Peshawar in hurry. Now the government of NWFP has been trying to provide security to the UN officials and other foreigners. NWFP Chief Secretary has already issued instruction to the concerned officials to keep watch on the miscreants so they cannot be able to disturb the peace again. At the moment the Emergency Response Unit has been needing immediate funding so it can be able to continue the relief operation in an effective manner.
According to newspaper report, the militants´ strategy to target the NGOs and UN agencies working for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) has added to the miseries of the already distressed and displaced from their native areas.
The insurgents — having no concern for the woes of the masses — on the one hand displaced thousands of people while on the other they are bent upon scaring away those providing assistance to the war-affected people of Malakand division.
Though the militants are responsible for the huge displacement of the people of Malakand division, the operation at the eleventh hour also left people with no option but to flee the region.The government too failed to evolve a post-operation strategy to cope with the huge influx of people.
The June 9 blast at the lone five-star hotel in Peshawar left 17 people dead and many wounded. Most of the foreigners caught in the hotel explosion were the ones working in the UN agencies and other organizations providing relief to the affectees of military operation in Malakand division.
At the time of the blast, officials of the WFP, UNHCR and UNFPA, who had arrived in Peshawar, were present in the hotel to take stock of the IDPs situation.One of the two UN staff members killed was Perseveranda So, a Unicef education specialist from the Philippines. The other was Alexander Vorkapic, a Serbian information technology specialist for the UNHCR. The three injured UN staff members included a Briton national of the WFP.
The UN aid agencies had already warned that their efforts to help IDPs in Malakand division were in trouble due to fund shortfall. The shortfall coupled with attack on the PC has raised fears that the recent military gains against the Taliban in Swat could be undermined by a failure to help more than two million refuges from the area.
After the attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel, the United Nations has shifted most of its international staff from Peshawar.The blast in Peshawar´s most secured area had not only exposed the security lapses but also deprived the city of the lone five-star hotel where functions and high-level gatherings would take place.
Due to the inefficiency of the government and security agencies, Peshawar, once known as the city of flowers, has become a no-go area for the foreigners and for many Pakistanis as the locals, too, are avoiding visiting public places for fear of terrorism.
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According to newspaper report, the militants´ strategy to target the NGOs and UN agencies working for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) has added to the miseries of the already distressed and displaced from their native areas.
The insurgents — having no concern for the woes of the masses — on the one hand displaced thousands of people while on the other they are bent upon scaring away those providing assistance to the war-affected people of Malakand division.
Though the militants are responsible for the huge displacement of the people of Malakand division, the operation at the eleventh hour also left people with no option but to flee the region.The government too failed to evolve a post-operation strategy to cope with the huge influx of people.
The June 9 blast at the lone five-star hotel in Peshawar left 17 people dead and many wounded. Most of the foreigners caught in the hotel explosion were the ones working in the UN agencies and other organizations providing relief to the affectees of military operation in Malakand division.
At the time of the blast, officials of the WFP, UNHCR and UNFPA, who had arrived in Peshawar, were present in the hotel to take stock of the IDPs situation.One of the two UN staff members killed was Perseveranda So, a Unicef education specialist from the Philippines. The other was Alexander Vorkapic, a Serbian information technology specialist for the UNHCR. The three injured UN staff members included a Briton national of the WFP.
The UN aid agencies had already warned that their efforts to help IDPs in Malakand division were in trouble due to fund shortfall. The shortfall coupled with attack on the PC has raised fears that the recent military gains against the Taliban in Swat could be undermined by a failure to help more than two million refuges from the area.
After the attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel, the United Nations has shifted most of its international staff from Peshawar.The blast in Peshawar´s most secured area had not only exposed the security lapses but also deprived the city of the lone five-star hotel where functions and high-level gatherings would take place.
Due to the inefficiency of the government and security agencies, Peshawar, once known as the city of flowers, has become a no-go area for the foreigners and for many Pakistanis as the locals, too, are avoiding visiting public places for fear of terrorism.
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