When the Govt of NWFP (I will not say Pakhtunkhawa) crying of descrimination at the hand of Panjab and Establishment, then why they are doing the same thing to there own Pashtun Brothers..
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: After fleeing Pakistan’s latest war zone, grandfather Haji Abdullah had hoped for a warmer welcome when he reached safety.
‘When they realise you’re a Mehsud, they treat you like a suicide bomber who’s wearing an explosive jacket,’ said Abdullah, one of 120,000 people to have fled an anti-Taliban army offensive in the South Waziristan tribal belt.
‘It’s simply humiliating,’ added the 67-year-old, who travelled from his home in Makin, a Taliban redoubt, with five sons and seven grandchildren.
Like many of those fearing for their lives, Abdullah made his way to the city of Dera Ismail Khan where he soon encountered hostility as a member of the same tribe as Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.
Such is the wariness of locals in a town which has endured a history of militant attacks, Abdullah’s family says he was only able to find somewhere to stay three days after one of his relatives put up guarantees.
‘No landlord was willing to rent out his house to me,’ he added.
But locals say they have every reason to suspect the uninvited new-arrivals from Waziristan, which lies outside direct government control, and believe many are active Taliban followers who are masquerading as innocent victims.
‘These people are a security risk as most of them belong to the Mehsud tribe and have strong Taliban sympathies,’ said Adeel Shahzad, a shoe shop salesman.
‘The situation has become very tense in our city because of the arrival of these people,’ Shahzad said, accusing them of triggering an increase in crime.
A local police commander said his men had received strict orders from the provincial government to keep a close eye out for trouble.
‘We have clear orders from the government to keep an eye on the displaced persons as the situation may further deteriorate with their arrival,’ district police chief Gul Afzal Afridi told AFP.
‘We have intelligence reports that many of these displaced persons were strong supporters of Taliban,’ he said, adding that dozens of new police checkposts have been set up across the city.
Police and army personnel can be seen patrolling the streets round the clock in the city, which has a history of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence as well as Taliban attacks.
Hospitals and hotels have shut their gates and only people with valid identity documents can enter these places.
‘We have shut our gates and nobody without proper identification papers can enter,’ said Haji Munawar Khan, who works as a manager in a local hotel.
The International Crisis Group says the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Waziristan* are being neglected in a climate of animosity between Pashtuns from the tribal belt and those from the settled areas*.
‘Few efforts, local or international, have been made to identify their needs or to help them rebuild their homes, schools, shops and places of work once they return,’ it said in a policy report published last week.
‘Most FATA (tribal belt) IDPs have not received adequate assistance or any compensation for the destruction of their properties and livelihoods.’ The think-tank accused the military of not allowing camps for Waziristan IDPs on the ‘unjustifiable grounds that they would offer jihadi groups pools of easy recruits,’ forcing Mehsuds to seek accommodation in private homes.
‘Host families have frequently faced harassment by the security agencies, including the military, paramilitary and police,’ said the report.
Cleaning the barrel of his gun with a handkerchief, Ghazanfar Ali, a private security guard, blamed lawlessness in his city on Afghans and the Taliban.
‘The Afghan refugees who migrated to Pakistan in 1980s started the law and order problems in our city and now it’s the Taliban,’ Ali said, accusing the Taliban for all the attacks to have rocked the flashpoint city in recent years.
Such attitudes infuriate Merajuddin Mehsud, who insists there is no reason for him to be tarred by association with the Islamist hardliners.
‘I found a house after roaming around for days but still the landlord wanted my national identity card and educational certificates of my son as a guarantee,’ said the 45-year-old, who has four children.
‘We were fed up with the attitude of Taliban in South Waziristan and here it is police and the local population who are creating problems for us.’— AFP
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