Accommodating the IDPs

After much ado, the Pakistan Army has finally launched an operation in North Waziristan against terrorists. The immediate effect of this was a huge influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Bannu and other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Since the operation has started, over 500,000 IDPs have been registered at various check posts established by the Pakistan Army to get registered. Needless to say, this figure of the migrants would increase as the army extends its operation to other parts of Fata. On a daily basis, about 25,000 to 30,000 IDPs are being registered.

This is a time to accommodate the migrants of Fata uniformly across the country. Restricting this large human migration solely in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa would render undue burden for a province which is already lacking in health and housing services. To avoid a human disaster of epic proportions, other provinces will have to come forward.

But unfortunately, although the other provinces have not openly refused, they seem reluctant to accommodate the IDPs. In doing so, they are forgetting the sufferings of the people from North Waziristan. We, as a people, fail to realise that the IDPs, being Pakistanis, deserve the right to go wherever they feel comfortable. No province can stop them on legal grounds.  Secondly, check posts have already been set up at all entry points and IDPs are being given polio vaccines before their entry into other parts of the country. The ones who are refusing polio drops are being sent back to their native towns. So there seems to be no point in banning the entry of migrants who have gone past the check posts.

Accommodating this large influx of migrants is a test case for provincial authorities as well as the federal government. Before taking any decision regarding IDPs, authorities must look at the larger picture, which reveals that the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Fata are fighting a war to protect ‘national’ security and so, accommodating people from the tribal areas is our responsibility.

This is a time when all provinces should collectively chalk out the possible ways to deal with the potential fallout instead of imposing restrictions on IDPs and creating mistrust.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2014.