Cycle of death

IDPs in Kurram Agency and Orakzai need humanitarian help.

The continued fighting between militants and troops in tribal areas may not always make the headlines, but it affects the people of these areas badly with heightened conflict breaking out periodically. At a press conference at Parachinar Press Club in Kurram Agency, tribal elders from the agency have said that at least 64 people, including women and children, died of hunger, natural calamities and accidents after fleeing their homes in central Kurram. According to the representatives of various tribes, 12,000 families were forced to leave their homes after militants from Orakzai and Khyber agencies entered and captured villages on May 7, with fierce battles erupting with armed forces personnel a few days later. The militants are understood to have retained control of some areas till now, destroying two schools in the Para Chamkani region and engaging in other acts of destruction.

For the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the situation remains too precarious to return to their homes. Most are said to have moved to lower parts of Kurram or neighbouring agencies, and according to tribal elders, have received little or no help. As a result, there has been death and disease. Representatives of tribes have demanded that basic needs, at the least, be met. They have also spoken of many cattle perishing, threatening future livelihoods even once people return. Attempts by the people of Kurram to draw attention to their plight have gone unnoticed.

These IDPs need humanitarian help. The government must work with local and international agencies to offer this. While resource constraints have been mentioned in the past, this cannot be a reason to allow people caught up in conflict to suffer in this manner. It is a tragedy that the situation of the Kurram IDPs has received virtually no media attention. We have a terrible human tragedy unfolding before us in the agency. It must not be ignored and efforts must be launched immediately to offer help to people forced out of homes and currently exposed to grave dangers and distress.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2013.