Our Own IDP's

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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There was a time when we were hosting 3 million Afghan refugees, now due to the war in FATA we have more than 1 million of our own people living as IDP’s. With a generation of children growing up without schooling, and a uncertain future. What should we as a nation expect from these people when they grow up?

Conflict in FATA forces 1m to leave homes: Seminar

Peshawar—T**he ongoing conflict in FATA has forced one million population to leave the area and even now after a decade long severe unrest in the federally administered tribal areas the local people have preferred to live as IDP‘s than going back to their homes. **The civilian life has been brutally damaged by external forces who have come to fought their wars from within the vicinity of tribal areas, said speakers and analysts at the one day round table discussion on Impact of conflicts on civilians in FATA.

They said, conflict has hindered the process of development thereby damaging the local economy, social values and institutions of FATA and although weapons have been part of the tribal culture, but the last thirty years has witnessed unprecedented weaponization of the tribal society manifolds. The event was jointly organized by community appraisal and motivation programme (CAMP) and University of Peshawar on Monday.

The people who are engaged in war against the military are not terrorists, in fact they are our countrymen who have different ideas to that of the state and its policies, said former Political Agent and keynote speaker of the day, Mr. Khalid Aziz. He said, tribal elders have good influence within FATA, which should be used for diminishing any negative sentiments among the local population against the state.

He said that cost of conflict is many time more than the cost of preventing it through reforms and much attention needs to be given to it. Reforms like developmental projects and extension of bank loans should be extended to FATA for strengthening the micro finance and SME‘s over there, he added. Acting Vice Chancellor University of Peshawar Prof. Dr. Qibla Ayaz said, FATA shares borders with the neighboring Afghanistan and any conflict over there has a direct impact on the people of FATA. He told the organizers to make a draft of the recommendations of the discussion so that it can be put forth to the policy makers.

Chief Executive of CAMP, Mr. Naveed Ahmed Shinwari, urged the need for security, health and employment opportunities in FATA to redress civilian’s grievances in FATA. He said that youth of the federally administered tribal areas have been used in the conflict while the lack of accessibility for the humanitarian assistance agencies and media has lead to heinous crimes in FATA. Chairman Department of International Relations Prof. Dr. Ijaz Khan described poor literacy rate and lack of education venues as main factor for the poor socio economic condition of the people of FATA.

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Re: Our Own IDP’s

100,000 flee Khyber amid fighting: Report | Saach TV

Geneva: Over 100,000 people have fled Pakistan’s restive Khyber Agency amidst fierce fighting between security personnel and militants since January 20, the UN refugee agency says.

“An estimated 101,160 people, mostly women and children, have become displaced since January 20 when government troops began security operations against militant groups in the Khyber” tribal district, said the UNHCR in a statement Friday.

The agency warned that a recent increase in the intensity of combat was pushing even larger numbers of families to flee the region to Jalozai camp, located close to the western Pakistan city of Peshawar.

An average of 2,000 families has been arriving daily at the camp since March 17, said the UNHCR.

“New arrivals say that they have left their homes because of the proximity of fighting and due to instructions by the authorities to evacuate the area,” it added.

This is not the first time that the people of Khyber district have suffered from clashes between the army and militants.

In October last year, at least 18,000 people were reported to have fled their homes in Khyber, fearing a similar onslaught of fighting between the army and militants.

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Re: Our Own IDP's

KP, along with FATA and Afganisan, are travelling in reverse gear. And looks like there aren't far from the their destination — the Stone Age.

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Do you remember what Musharraf had stated before entering the war, that he wanted to save Pakistan from going into stone age, where are we now after 10 years?

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I think we aren't in stone age, we have already crossed it. I guess we are somewhere in pre-stone age :D

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Its really sad but the other day I was researching on the olden civilizations that have been present in the area forming Pakistan, and the oldest of them all is Mehrgarh (older than Indus Valley civilization) which is over 7000 BC and was located in Balochistan. In many areas of the province sadly the situation of the people would be almost the same to those prehistoric times.

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We need to worry about our MDPs(Mentally displaced politicians), once we fix this problem rest will be easy.

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Use Of Force: Ten IDPs injured in Jalozai baton-charge – The Express Tribune

At least 10 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were injured when cops baton charged panicked IDPs to force them to follow queue. The IDPs belonged to the Zakha Khel tribe of Khyber Agency.

This incident took place at a registration point in Jalozai camp in the limits of Nowshera district. Sources told The Express Tribune that the registration of Zakha Khel tribe of Khyber Agency was in progress at one of the registration points when suddenly some of the IDPs started creating panic and jumping ahead of others in their queues; upon which authorities asked them to wait for their turn.

The sources said that police force was called who ordered the IDPs not to panic; However, failing to restore order, they resorted to baton charge in which about 10 IDPs sustained injuries. The injured were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where medics said two of the injured were in critical condition.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10[SUP]th[/SUP], 2012.

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Re: Our Own IDP’s

The ongoing operation has pushed 181000 people to camps in recent times.
Over 181,000 have fled recent NW Pakistan fighting | DAWN.COM

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Pakistan fighting uproots hundreds of thousands | DAWN.COM

**PESHAWAR: Nearly half a million Pakistanis are estimated to have fled fighting between soldiers and militia on the Afghan border with more than 264,000 registered for aid, officials said Monday.
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Authorities say increasing numbers of women and children are fleeing Khyber, one of the seven districts that make up Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, which is considered a stronghold of al Qaeda and Taliban.

More than 500 families are arriving on a daily basis at Jalozai camp, near the northwestern city of Peshawar, camp administrator Noor Akbar told AFP.

“We have registered 56,842 families or 264,253 individuals so far since the offensive was launched in January,” Akbar said.

“We expect more will flee as the fighting continues.”

**Save the Children said it estimated that 63,000 families, or nearly half a million people, have already been displaced from Khyber.
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A spokesman said the charity’s estimate was much higher than the number registered because most people chose to live outside the camp and because new arrivals were mostly women and children put off by long registration queues.

**“Save the Children estimates that over 600,000 in total will be displaced if military operations continue – among which over 300,000 are expected to be children,” the charity said in a report.
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Last month, the UN refugee agency said more than 181,000 people had fled the fighting and that 85 per cent of those registered chose not live in Jalozai.

The fighting started on January 20 when government troops attacked militant groups in the Khyber.

Officials say the fighting is concentrated in a large area, home to scores of settlements, between Tirah valley and Bara town on the outskirts of Peshawar.

Government troops have struggled since 2009 to defeat Mangal Bagh, a former bus conductor who founded Lashkar-e-Islam, a militia known for kidnapping and extortion, and locked in a turf war with local Taliban.

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:nahi: I’m worried about our MDVs (Mentally Displaced Voters).
Allah unhain kuch aqal mat day :smack2:

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Aap mairi nazar say daikhain sub kuch theek lagay ga :cobra:

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Very important to compensate the affected tribals sue to the war going on in FATA.
No money to compensate militancy-hit tribesmen - DAWN.COM

**PESHAWAR: Although the scourge of militancy has resulted in the destruction of 58,312 houses in three tribal agencies of Fata, yet the question about compensation to the affected families is still unanswered.
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**A baseline survey conducted by Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in South Waziristan, Orakzai and Kurram agencies shows that reconstruction of the damaged private houses requires approximately Rs17 billion. The FDMA has conducted door-to-door survey to assess damage in the militancy-stricken areas of the three agencies.
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An official said that FDMA had approached the federal government and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide funds for the housing compensation project in three tribal agencies.

“The authority has yet to receive an affirmative response from any of them,” the official said, adding that request about release of funds for damaged houses had been pending with the centre for the last two months.

If the funds were released, the authority would pay Rs400,000 for completely damaged house and Rs160,000 for partially damaged house.

The federal government, USAID and other foreign donor agencies had paid compensation for the damaged houses in Swat, Bajaur Agency and parts of Mohmand Agency at the rate of Rs400,000 for fully damaged and Rs160,000 for partially damaged house. “Like Swat, Bajaur and Mohmand, the government is bound to pay housing compensation to the people in these three agencies,” said another senior official. He added that internally displaced persons had made makeshift arrangements for shelter after returning to their areas.

IDPs from Malakand division including Swat district were sent back to their area within three months after completion of military operation in May 2009 and the returning people were compensated. Unlike Malakand, officials said, displacement from South Waziristan and Orakzai agencies started in 2008 and even after lapse of five years they had yet to return to their homes. Displacement from central subdivision of Kurram was initiated in 2011.

Militancy and subsequent military operations to flush out militants and establish state’s writ caused widespread damaged to public and private properties in Fata.

Officials said that total 391,627 families had displaced from Fata during the course of action of which 151,287 families had returned to different tribal agencies since government de-notify those areas as conflict zones.

The survey has declared that 31,902 are completely damaged and 26,410 are partially damaged in South Waziristan, Orakzai and Kurram agencies.

Officials said that 39,902 displaced families, who had returned to the de-notified areas in those three tribal agencies, needed compensation. They said that one of the major factors in the slow return of IDPs was non-payment of compensation money.

The area dominated by Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan where security forces had launched operation against banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan in mid-2009 is the most affected area where number of damaged houses is 27,107 followed by Orakzai with 22,965 damaged houses.

In Kurram Agency, the survey was conducted only in central subdivision where total 8,240 houses had been declared completely or partially damaged. The upper and lower subdivisions of Kurram, which witnessed the worst sectarian clashes between 2007 and 2008, had not been included in the baseline survey.

The government had confirmed involvement of various militant outfits including TTP in the violence escalated in Kurram valley. According to official statistics, over 3,000 houses had been destroyed completely in sectarian clashes in upper and lower Kurram.

The survey also reported that 1,917 residential compounds had been declared either fully or partially damaged in parts of Mohmand Agency and affected families had not been compensated so far.

**Similarly damage need assessment survey in militants-infested Khyber Agency has not been conducted.
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The National Database and Registration Authority’s verified data shows that 82,907 families were displaced from Khyber Agency. It is the highest number of IDPs from a tribal region in the entire Fata.