At last the tide ebbs

A cautious welcome must be given to the reports that the flood of internally displaced persons (IDP) created by Operation Zarb-e-Azb is finally turning, and over 200,000 families are returned to their homes in the five tribal agencies of Fata. This is a considerable achievement by the Fata Disaster Management Authority, which has achieved this without recourse to assistance from the international humanitarian community. By May 30, 2016, 221,966 IDP families had gone back to their homes – or what was left of them – and of these 132,703 had been verified by NADRA with 89,263 still to be so. There remain another 77,000 families yet to return home, mostly from the North Waziristan Agency, which was the last to be targeted by Operation Zarb-e-Azb and where the operation is said to be “in its final stages”. Hopes are being expressed that the entire process will be completed by December 31 this year, bringing to an end the misery of displacement.

Why our welcome is cautious rather than unqualified is that those families that have been displaced and now returned saw their lives and livelihoods upended in the most painful manner. It was to say the least undignified, a point made by many of those thrown out of their homes, and for many it was not just the indignity but the loss of livelihoods as well. The fighting has been intense in places, and entire villages and small towns have been razed, now nothing but rubble. That is going to win no hearts and minds and the governments, both federal and provincial, must now ensure that the pool of anger thus created is not allowed to become a festering swamp of resentment, home to extremists once again.

It must not be forgotten that those now repatriated were the sea in which extremists swam. Those communities may not have always been willing hosts but some were. ‘Build back better’ was the mantra after the 2005 earthquake and it would do well to be adopted in the current circumstance because nobody wants a repeat performance five or 10 years hence.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2016.

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