*Internally displaced men wait for food and supply rations at a UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) camp in Takht Bai, about 150 km northwest of Islamabad. –Reuters Photo/Faisal Mahmood
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ISLAMABAD: Aid agencies on Saturday warned that the massive displacement caused by the fighting between Taliban and the government forces in Swat, Buner and Lower Dir could continue for next six months and their numbers could top eight million.
‘We are anticipating new IDP influx figure of 800,000 from Swat, Buner and Lower Dir, which is approximately 25 per cent of the total population of these three districts,’ a senior United Nations official told Dawn.
According to the latest figures released by the UN and NWFP government 1,10,000 IDPs have so far registered with authorities in Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda and Kohat districts after heavy ground and air assaults against Taliban positions in the valley.
The IDPs have come from Buner, Lower Dir, Swat and Orakzai Agency. Thousands are awaiting registration, the aid agencies say and another about 300,000 are on the move.
According to Muslim Aid, a humanitarian agency: ‘Due to heavy fighting peoples’ movement is very limited because of life threat. People are fleeing from the areas only in curfew break.’
Additionally reports suggest that Taliban are not allowing many people to leave the conflict zone and are holding them as human shields.
The figures registered so far are just fraction of the people displaced because of the latest fighting as most people fleeing the conflict either live with their relatives or get a rented place instead of living in the camps because of cultural issues.
The planning by humanitarian agencies also reflects this situation. They assume that out of the 800,000 expected IDPs only 300,000 would come to the camps, while the rest would find alternative places.
These numbers are in addition to the 5,60,000 already in camps because of fighting in tribal areas.
The IDP crisis in Pakistan is poised to become the largest in Pakistan with cumulative figure of old case load from Fata and new displacements from the valley expected to touch 1.3 million.
In anticipation of the heavy influx of the IDPs the NWFP government has increased the number of registration points to 29 and has also announced simplification of the registration procedures.
Aid workers say the registration process is painstakingly slow and poorly coordinated.
‘The registration activity is very difficult and IDPs are suffering due to lack of coordination, some one thousand 1000 IDPs are registered in the slow moving registration,’ said a Muslim Aid report.
UN is in the process of reviewing its initial humanitarian response appeal of $129.8 million for the current year because of the sudden surge in the number of IDPs.
‘The current response plan requires substantial revision to facilitate a comprehensive and effective response to the current situation,’ said a UN official.
The revision would cater for the possibility of increased humanitarian needs later in the year relating to new areas of conflict.
Educate Pakistan (Tameer-e-Millat Foundation) is also doing great work all over Pakistan. They work in educational sector and provide free of cost education for needy children.
I will recommend to donate TMF, because in last earth quake they provide shelter to hundreds of children and now taking care of them too.
On side note, i give them monthly 10$ for one child education, and i trust them. Tameer-e-Millat Foundation
Another reliable source is Islamic Relief USA, who provided a lot of earthquake relief a few yrs back and have now launched an emergency appeal of $750,000 to provide immediate aid directly to those effected. For people in the United States who would like to help
In addition to the above, I personally know someone who is quite reliable and is going to go to Swabi with relief supplies. If anyone wishes to donate to his private endeavour please pm me.
Humanitarian Crisis of NWFP – Urgent Appeal
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Posted by Raza Rumi
Let us all us join hands to alleviate the sufferings of the people who need our help
Situation Background
North West Frontier of Pakistan faces an unprecedented humanitarian crisis as more than 1,200,000 displaced people flee the mountain districts of Swat, Buner, Shangla and Lower Dir as the war between insurgents and the government of Pakistan intensifies. As the army has moved into these to initiate military action to evict the area from the insurgents, the people of these areas are leaving their homes behind in hundreds to safer sanctuaries in other parts of the province. The displaced people are leaving in a hurry carrying barely anything from their homes to help them through this tribulation. About 10% of these are being accommodated in camps established by the government at fourteen locations. Another 90% are finding refuge with social networks of families, tribes, clans, schools etc in districts far removed from their homes. The main districts where the pressure is falling are those of Mardan, Swabi, Malakand, Nowshera, Upper and Lower Dir, Peshawar, Charsadda.
In the last few months Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) has partnered with UNHCR to provide support to 25,915 families comprising of 156,490 internally displaced persons (IDP) with Non Food Items in the districts of Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Peshawar and Kohat. Other UN agencies like World Food Programme are providing food etc at the same extended distribution points in a joint operation.
Transit Facilitation Centers
Internally Displaced People of NWFP. As the current wave hits us SRSP with the support of UNHCR and in coordination with the Government of NWFP has established established Transit Facilitation Centers TFCs (reception points) to facilitate the transition of the IDPs from conflict zones into Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera districts. These Five points, in coordination with the government of NWFP, have been established at:
Shogo Naka-Shergarh on Malakand-Mardan road in District Mardan (for Influx from Swat, Buner and Upper Dir)
Jlala on Swat-Mardan Road-had a massive influx on 10th May 2009 (for Influx from Swat, Buner and Upper Dir)
Ghundo Deray, Palay-Katlang road in District Mardan (for Influx of Buner)
Govt. Rest House, Hamza Kot, Rustm-Mardan Road, District Mardan (for Influx of Buner)
Salim Khan, Mardan-Swabi Road, District Swabi (for Influx of Buner)
Gango Deray, Buner-Swabi Road District Swabi (for Influx of Buner)
These TFCs are providing the following services:
Free transport facility for IDPs to their destinations in host communities, Camps or 13 schools designated by commissioner Mardan for IDPs
Information Provision to the IDPs regarding;
Registration points established in each district for them,
Extended distribution points established by UN
Addresses of available (functional) Government BHUs to their relevant destination areas for free health access
Information about camps location and contact persons
Information regarding the designated 13 Schools used for IDPs shelter
Basic waiting Sheds with Electricity, Fans, Energy drinks, energy biscuits, drinking water and latrines etc to facilitate their stopover.
We are also collecting information from the IDPs at these TFCs who are availing services for future programmes to support them after transition.
Camps for IDP
There are four large camps with capacity to accommodate influx from Buner, Dir & Swat are as following:
Jalala Camp is now full
Sheikh Shehzad Camp Mardan is now full
Yarhussein Camp in Swabi with a current capacity for 1000 families
Jalozai Camp in Peshawar with almost 8,000 existing families and its capacity is being enhanced for accommodation of 1500 additional families
SRSP has now been asked as of today by UNHCR to start NFIs distribution in the Yarhussain Camp in Swabi. Teams have been sent in to the camp and NFI distribution would be immediately started from a Rub-hall already installed by UNHCR inside the camp.
Needs And Requirements
Cash for basic needs
Water Coolers
Clothes for women and children
Plastic mats for straw mats( Chataii)
Kitchen utensils, Match box, basic crockery
Energizers, Milk for children
Gas cylinders
Mosquito nets
NFIs
Food items which are not provided by World Food Programme like Meat, Tea and Vegetables
Government Schools ordered to be used as Sub-Camps for IDPs in Mardan
The commissioner Mardan has ordered all government school to be used as sub camps for IDPs due to heavy influx and insufficient capacity of the camps. These Schools are on Mardan-Swabi Road, Mardan-Malakand Road and Mardan Katlang road. Most of the organization are working either in Camps or very few at reception points leaving behind these schools.
Currently the needs in the Government designated schools for IDPs in Mardan are as followed:
Food Ration (at the moment the community is providing meals for the IDPs so far but it would be available for few more days as the community could not feed the huge number of IDPs for too long)
Bedding (schools doesn’t provide proper beddings for the IDPs and the IDPs are demanding mattresses, blankets and Chitais especially for children, women and sick)
Cleanings (to avoid epidemics and stay clean the communities need a pair of Buckets, mug, soap and towels)
Laundry (females are facing hardships in laundry a pair of washing powders or soaps would fix the problem)
Health & Medicines (no doctor or medicines are available with the schools so far and the sickness rate is alarmingly growing fast especially in children)
Crockery (small kitchen kit when the meals coming from the community stops which is expected in few days)
Doctor (no male or lady doctor is visiting the schools so far and the sickness rate among the IDPs vary from 10 to 20 %)
Ambulance (standby ambulances for emergencies one ambulance per school)
Water purification points (most of the water available with the school tanks are contaminated and contributing in spread of epidemics)
Communication (IDPs have no communication systems so far to communicate among themselves or back at home, temporary telephone booths to be established in the schools to avoid panic)
Humanitarian Response Center
Apart from these Reception points SRSP and UNHCR has immediately established one Humanitarian Response Centre in Mardan to facilitate all the donors, philanthropists, charities etc. This Humanitarian Response center would be based at the Extended Distribution Point (EDP) Senge Marmar Kali on Swabi-Mardan Road and would be supported with a backup warehouse on Nowshera-Mardan Road opposite Khishko Chungi. To ensure Transparency, efficiency and effectiveness; adequate staff, labor and transport has been made available at the center. This center would be in the capacity to support the efforts of all the individuals, fund raisers and philanthropists, external organizations by providing them outreach and provide them with adequate information regarding the emerging needs to be addressed.
The Extent of the Calamity
There are many aspects to the unfolding humanitarian crisis. Those noted by us show that on Sunday 10th May 2009: According official sources present at Shugo Naka check point on the Mardan border, it was observed that more than 25,000 vehicles (trucks & Busses) crossed into Mardan loaded with Families & luggage. The situation got worst after 2 pm when the entire road was declared one way and three lanes of vehicles were pounded into Mardan district till 1am in the morning making it impossible to count them. People travelled for hours on their foot to reach a point to get access to transportation. Prople have manage with carts, Rikshaws, motorbikes, wgons, cars, buses, trucks, containers or anything they can get hold of. The transport Mafia got active and started exploiting the situation. The camps have reached to their maximum capacity, new camps are being planned but in meanwhile, commissioner Mardan has announced all the Schools officially closed and buildings to be used for IDPs as Sub-camps. THE SCHOOLS NEEDS IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE as currently only the local people are providing food etc from their charity sources, which would not last for long. Majority of IDPs are moving into host communities in Mardan, Swabi, Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar and Malakand.
This just one indicator of the kind of crisis which we face in this province. It will have many other humanitarian aspects emerging in the days ahead. In case you are interested in helping please contact SRSP to reach the suffering people.
Donations
Account Title Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP)
Account Number: (US Dollar Account) 05-7772777-90
Acount Number (Pak Rupee Account) 08-7759614-42
Bank Name Standard Chartered Bank Peshawar Branch.
Bank Address P.O Box # 18, 35 Sharah e Quaid-e-Azam, Peshawar, Pakistan
Zip/Post 25000
Swift Code SCBL PKKX
Telephone Number +92915275665
Fax Number +92915275367
Another internationally renowned and independently operated organization ‘Save the Children’ has launched a relief effort in Pakistan specifically focusing on separated children, women-headed households, families with children under 5, and families that include an injured or chronically ill family member. Please donate.
Kudos' to all the people who are supporting Swat refugees.
Situation Update:
1) Electricity has been provided to all the relief camps by laying emergency high-voltage wires & transformers by: National Disaster Management Authority & Peshawar Electric Supply company.
2) Army has given one-day pay, and providing daily food for 80,000 people from soldiers quote.
3) Sindh Government send 75 trucks of aid and sending 100 doctors team.
4) Punjab government has given one day pay of all of it's employees & one month pay of assembly.
5) Punjab government is sending 20 trucks of aid every day.
6) All of the educational dues of NWFP/FATA students in Punjab is forgiven (i hope other provincial governments will follow)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain asked President Asif Zardari in a press conference on Sunday to bring his offshore money into Pakistan to help the internally displaced persons (IDPs) instead of asking other countries for help.
Accompanied by Khursheed Kasuri and Amir Muqam, Shujaat criticised the Pakistan People’s Party-led government on its failure to anticipate the displacement ahead of the military operation against the Taliban in Malakand division.
He said the participation of the public was essential to providing relief goods to the IDPs, and that his party would participate in the relief and rehabilitation efforts the way it did after the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.
Shujaat said he had met the Imam of Kaaba in Saudi Arabia and that he had expressed his desire to visit Swat and meet the IDPs. Mushahid said law and order was worsening in Balochistan and that the problems in the province could only be resolved by following the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on Balochistan. The recommendations contained a ‘road map’ that included withdrawal of cases against Baloch leaders, he added.
“Balochistan requires a healing touch,” he said, adding that the government should talk to the Baloch whether they are in Kabul, Dubai or India.
PML-Q NWFP President Amir Muqam criticised the PPP and the Awami National Party over the handing of the issue of the IDPs, and said the top leaders of both the parties were not in Pakistan when the full-scale military operation was launched. He said the government should have made arrangements for the IDPs before launching the operation, and asked it to move the displaced people in government-owned buildings instead of camps. In response to a question, Muqam said the government should fully implement the recommendations of the All-Parties Conference (APC) if it wants to make the event meaningful.
This is now the biggest movement of people since partition. The government CANNOT manage this alone even if it were run by competent people. Please give to the charity of your choice or volunteer for them.
PAKISTAN: THE BATTLE WITHIN
Pakistan diary: Unity in adversity
Almost 1.5 million people have been displaced by this month’s fighting, the UN refugee agency says Imran Khan, Al Jazeera’s reporter in Pakistan, will be filing regular dispatches from the country as the army battles Taliban fighters in the North West Frontier Province.
Mirabadi Village, Wednesday, May 20, 07.40GMT
The vast majority of Pakistan’s almost 1.5 million refugees are living outside of the camps in private accommodation.
Mirabadi Village, which lies just outside of Islamabad, is a ‘slum village’ We visited some of these people to really see what their living conditions were like and to hear their stories. The term “private accommodation” conjures up images of families helping each other out, living in nice conditions with a homely atmosphere.
Whilst that might be true for some, for others the living conditions are as challenging as those in the camps.
Mirabadi Village - just outside of Islamabad - is a slum village. It’s dusty, with narrow cobbled streets, open sewers and poor house workers. The type, although not Pakistan’s poorest, that have little.
But even here amongst the heat and barefoot children are stories of incredible generosity.
Nazimuddin is a labourer, working whenever he can find a job carrying bricks in one of the capital’s many construction sites.
If he earns a dollar a day he considers himself lucky.
His house is basic, two rooms and toilet, with an outdoor cooking area.
Crucially, however, he has a basic house next door in his village which was empty.
UN warns of ‘disaster’ for Pakistan refugees
A Pakistani charity, FHRO, based in Swat asked him if he could house refugees.
He jumped at the chance to help.
“I have no television, radio, but the villagers her were talking about the fighting in Swat, I knew I had to help,” he says.
“It is my duty as a Muslim, as a Pakistani. I have very little.”
It has made a massive difference to Ahsanullah who lives in the house.
They have few facilities. Pakistan’s energy crisis means they are without electricity, they use gas to cook with, but even then the cost of gas means the have to use it sparingly.
Ahsanullah fled with his familiy and were placed here by the charity.
“This man has very little, but what he does have he shares with us,” he tells me.
Ahsanullah and Nazimuddin are now firm friends. As their children play together I can’t help but be struck by just how, in the face of a massive crisis, Pakistanis have united and continue to unite.
Islamabad, Tuesday, May 19, 13.13GMT
After careering around the North West Frontier Province for the past week or so, it feels good to be back in the relative calm of the capital Islamabad.
The government assault on pro-Taliban fighters has forced 1.5m to flee their homes [AFP] I say relative calm because, despite the fact that I was here just a few weeks ago, I have noticed a few changes. Huge concrete walls have gone up around some buildings. In other parts, black and yellow concrete safety barriers have turned open roads into go-kart courses.
The Marriott Hotel, subject to a massive bomb blast in September last year, is cocooned in a massive shell made out of blast walls and sandbags.
Armed guards, pump action shotguns draped casually over their shoulders, stand on every street.
This is Fortress Islamabad.
It’s been like this for a while now, but in last few months security the capital has gone into security overdrive.
Driving past the Parliament requires you to navigate several checkpoints and the route from one end of Islamabad to the other, which used to take 20 minutes, can now take an hour.
I contrast this with the Islamabad of my youth. My younger brother, sister and I used to come to the capital city on holiday as children.
In the 1980s it was nice place. Families would picnic in the hills that surround the city, you could go horse riding, every available space seemed to taken up by young men playing cricket and groups of girls would sit in cafes sharing ice cream and gossip.
The only security you would see was on the outskirts of the city. You would have never seen Pakistani army soldiers ensconced in sand bag posts.
That peaceful Islamabad seems to have gone.
Don’t get me wrong, Islamabad still continues in it’s own way, but as city it has changed irrevocably.
Fashion shows still happen here, there is a thriving arts scene, the markets are packed with every kind of Pakistani buying every kind of cloth and the cafes are still doing a brisk trade.
But it’s not the carefree atmosphere of my youth. People tend not to hang around as much as they used to, most entertaining now happens at home and Islamabad’s vast array of restaurants, though packed by day, remain emptier than ever at night.
Islamabad - they call it the beautiful city here. Carved out of the hills it’s definitely that, but it’s also nervy and tense.
Mardan, Monday, May 18, 12.03 GMT The streets are teeming, the noise is deafening.
At every corner, on every road, it seems someone is trying to raise money, ask for goods, or pray for Pakistan’s displaced.
**The outpouring of charitable aid has been ‘extraordinary’, says Imran Khan [AFP]
** Mixed in amongst it all is a small stall with a black and white flag gently fluttering away.
The flag is a surprise to me as it belongs to a group that was banned: Jamaat Ud Dawa.
The UN put them on a terrorist watch list after the Mumbai attacks last year.
The group then disappeared as it members were arrested. Now here they are, working alongside the UN.
The group seems to have risen from the ashes.
But there is a new name to describe it: Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which translates as the Humanitarian Welfare Organisation.
I asked the spokesman, a young bearded chap with and high visibility orange jacket on, if the name change was simply cosmetic. He was non-committal.
“We coordinate with Jamaat Ud Dawa, but we co-ordinate with several charities,” he said.
Inside the tent sat Yayha Mujahadin, a key member of Jamaat Ud Dawa. I asked him for an interview but he declined.
It seems whoever this particular group is, they are keeping a low profile.
For the people in the camp, though, it matters little who is supporting them, whether it’s groups with alleged links to jihadist organisations, the UN, or student organisations - the aid is important.
The vast majority of Pakistans estimated 1.5 million refugees live with family or friends but a significant chunk live in camps which are supplied by Pakistanis of every political hue.
It is extraordinary, the outpouring of generosity I have witnessed over the last week.
But what will stick with me is the sight of a member of a group the UN has put on terrorist watch list work alongside the UN when it comes to helping refugees.
** Peshawar, Sunday, May 17, 14:09 GMT **
It has been a very eerie day in Peshawar.
After Saturday’s bomb blasts - which killed at least 11 people and wounded several others - Pakistan has had time to digest the events.
Pakistani politicians seem to have taken a bullish stance. They want to get rid of the Taliban.
Pakistan is braced for what could be a decisive assault on the Swat town of Mingora [AFP] The chief minister of the North West Frontier Province says he wants the army to go after the Taliban in other areas of the country. He has some support for the idea, but others are fearful over any more military action.
With something like 1.5 million Pakistanis already displaced, any additional military action is likely to cause that figure to skyrocket. Pakistan is struggling to cope with the problem it has, never mind any more.
Also, ordinary Pakistanis are terrified of reprisal attacks. The Taliban are said to have several bases across Pakistan from which they can launch attacks.
It is a very tense situation.
The government, though, seems to be sensing victory.
Pakistan is braced for what could be a decisive assault on the main Swat town of Mingora.
The Taliban have said it’s victory or death.
Whatever the outcome, what is clear is that Swat valley is only the beginning of Pakistan’s fight.
The Taliban are unlikely to just give up Swat without attacking major cities.
The government may be confident of victory, but Pakistanis are terrified of at what cost it will come.