IDPs Are In Dire Need Of Help
Muhammad Khurshid
May 25, 2009
The internally displaced persons of Malakand Division and tribal areas where the army has been conducting a big operation against terrorists, who crossed the number of two millions have really been needing the help. The NWFP government has established the Emergency Response Unit headed by Relief Commissioner Muhammad Azam Khan with the sole objective of coordinating the relief operation. The ERU will be facilating the donor agencies for carrying out relief operation in various camps established by the government for the IDPs in various parts of North West Frontier Province.
According to an editorial comment of a leading newspaper of Pakisan, necessary as it had become to fight the militants in Malakand division, the military option was always going to have severe consequences on the civilian population of the area.
At the moment, the immediate plight of the IDPs and the need for relief operations has preoccupied the state and its international allies. However, already there are disturbing signs of the tough road ahead for the IDPs even if they can return to their homes sooner rather than later. AFP has reported that the IDPs ´fear hardship and hunger as crops spoil in untended fields, with aid agencies warning that it could take years for farmers to recover.´ Wheat, maize and vegetables – subsistence crops for Malakand´s poor farmers – are all set to rot and deal another devastating blow to the region´s economy.
The problem is that the inability to harvest the crop will not only leave the people wholly reliant on food aid, but they will also be unable to earn any money to pay for the resources needed to sow the next crop. This means that even if the military operation could be wrapped up in the next few weeks or months, the people of Malakand will still need a great deal of help from the state for the foreseeable future. The fact is, after the implosion of the tourism economy in the country´s northwest, the latest blow to the other main source of subsistence for the region´s population has for all intents and purposes created an economic void – a dangerous situation in an area where a counter-insurgency is being fought.
State planners will have to address the economic plight of the people in the northwest or else risk the population embracing the militants in order to survive. If the choice is between survival and starvation, the people will make the rational choice and turn to cash-rich militants, who may seek to hide among the population and drag the state into a drawn-out guerrilla war. Of course, none of this is unexpected – the military operation was always going to severely impact the local economy – but it does highlight the fact that a successful counter-insurgency campaign continues long after the guns have fallen silent. In this regard, it is good that the government is at least thinking along the right lines; the ´3R´ approach – relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction – is a sensible one. However, there´s many a slip ´twixt cup and lip; having a plan is very different from implementing it. The IDPs should not be left to fend for themselves when they return home.
According to another newspaper, the UN has launched an appeal for $543m to help the over 1.5 million people displaced in Pakistan. The UN has described the scale of the displacement as overwhelming. The head of its office for humanitarian coordination had previously described the crisis as one of the worst ever. Accounts of the suffering of the IDPs continue to pour in. High heat, sickness and a lack of facilities at camps all add to these. The situation is an exceedingly complicated one to tackle. Rarely have so many people streamed out of homes so rapidly and in so much distress. The limited capacity of the state to cope with disaster has aggravated the situation. To make matters worse, more displacements could follow, from Waziristan and other areas where the military operation may soon be extended. We see before us a sea of misery with no signs yet of the shore anywhere in sight. Experienced relief agencies which have worked before in all kinds of condition of crisis admit to being overwhelmed and at a loss to tackle the situation. Efforts are being made also to reach out to IDPs based with host families, but there are as yet many difficulties inherent in this.
While global attention is at least focused on the IDP issue, the situation of people still based in the conflict zone is being largely forgotten. According to information that has emerged from Kalam, where local people have agreed to an uneasy truce with the local Taliban, there are desperate shortages of food and medicine. Women are said to have died in childbirth because there was no access to medical help. Transport has vanished off roads and supply lines have been cut off. There is a need for this situation too to be addressed. The humanitarian crisis needs to be taken note of as a whole. The Pakistan government needs to consider requesting the Red Cross and other groups with expertise in war zones to move into areas of fighting. People there too need assistance as do the millions who have fled. Aid drives to collect funds are now on across the country – but there is still a need to do much more to offer succour to people who face a nightmarish reality in which they have been driven from homes and forced into an inhospitable situation.
The End
According to an editorial comment of a leading newspaper of Pakisan, necessary as it had become to fight the militants in Malakand division, the military option was always going to have severe consequences on the civilian population of the area.
At the moment, the immediate plight of the IDPs and the need for relief operations has preoccupied the state and its international allies. However, already there are disturbing signs of the tough road ahead for the IDPs even if they can return to their homes sooner rather than later. AFP has reported that the IDPs ´fear hardship and hunger as crops spoil in untended fields, with aid agencies warning that it could take years for farmers to recover.´ Wheat, maize and vegetables – subsistence crops for Malakand´s poor farmers – are all set to rot and deal another devastating blow to the region´s economy.
The problem is that the inability to harvest the crop will not only leave the people wholly reliant on food aid, but they will also be unable to earn any money to pay for the resources needed to sow the next crop. This means that even if the military operation could be wrapped up in the next few weeks or months, the people of Malakand will still need a great deal of help from the state for the foreseeable future. The fact is, after the implosion of the tourism economy in the country´s northwest, the latest blow to the other main source of subsistence for the region´s population has for all intents and purposes created an economic void – a dangerous situation in an area where a counter-insurgency is being fought.
State planners will have to address the economic plight of the people in the northwest or else risk the population embracing the militants in order to survive. If the choice is between survival and starvation, the people will make the rational choice and turn to cash-rich militants, who may seek to hide among the population and drag the state into a drawn-out guerrilla war. Of course, none of this is unexpected – the military operation was always going to severely impact the local economy – but it does highlight the fact that a successful counter-insurgency campaign continues long after the guns have fallen silent. In this regard, it is good that the government is at least thinking along the right lines; the ´3R´ approach – relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction – is a sensible one. However, there´s many a slip ´twixt cup and lip; having a plan is very different from implementing it. The IDPs should not be left to fend for themselves when they return home.
According to another newspaper, the UN has launched an appeal for $543m to help the over 1.5 million people displaced in Pakistan. The UN has described the scale of the displacement as overwhelming. The head of its office for humanitarian coordination had previously described the crisis as one of the worst ever. Accounts of the suffering of the IDPs continue to pour in. High heat, sickness and a lack of facilities at camps all add to these. The situation is an exceedingly complicated one to tackle. Rarely have so many people streamed out of homes so rapidly and in so much distress. The limited capacity of the state to cope with disaster has aggravated the situation. To make matters worse, more displacements could follow, from Waziristan and other areas where the military operation may soon be extended. We see before us a sea of misery with no signs yet of the shore anywhere in sight. Experienced relief agencies which have worked before in all kinds of condition of crisis admit to being overwhelmed and at a loss to tackle the situation. Efforts are being made also to reach out to IDPs based with host families, but there are as yet many difficulties inherent in this.
While global attention is at least focused on the IDP issue, the situation of people still based in the conflict zone is being largely forgotten. According to information that has emerged from Kalam, where local people have agreed to an uneasy truce with the local Taliban, there are desperate shortages of food and medicine. Women are said to have died in childbirth because there was no access to medical help. Transport has vanished off roads and supply lines have been cut off. There is a need for this situation too to be addressed. The humanitarian crisis needs to be taken note of as a whole. The Pakistan government needs to consider requesting the Red Cross and other groups with expertise in war zones to move into areas of fighting. People there too need assistance as do the millions who have fled. Aid drives to collect funds are now on across the country – but there is still a need to do much more to offer succour to people who face a nightmarish reality in which they have been driven from homes and forced into an inhospitable situation.
The End
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