Displaced residents: IDPs continue to enter Sindh, mostly unchecked

No thorough checks for trains while police let travellers through at check posts.

SUKKUR: Dozens of people from Waziristan, displaced by the ongoing Zarb-e-Azb army operation, have started making their way towards Sindh.

While the Sindh government has taken a u-turn on its stance on internally displaced persons (IDPs), claiming that it will now welcome IDPs as compared to its initial refusal to accommodate them, it has failed to take appropriate measures to keep out militants disguised as IDPs.

Free to enter

The IDPs have been entering Sindh mainly at the Dera Morr near Kashmore and Kamoon Shaheed near Ubauro. Law enforcers have established check points to check incoming vehicles at Dera Morr, where a National Database and Registry Authority counter has also been set up to check all passengers and vehicles entering Sindh.



However, the police accept bribes to allow people to go through, while no trains from Peshawar to Karachi are being checked; leading to the rail becoming a more preferable mode of transport for IDPs as compared to the road. However, the Kashmore SSP, Younis Chandio, was unavailable to confirm these reports.

The situation is similar at the other popular crossing point; the Kamoon Shaheed area that connects Punjab and Sindh. A check post has been established there but the police are accepting both cash and valuables to let the IDPs through. Reports claim that these check posts are only manned during the day and are vacant during the night.

However, Ghotki SSP Abrar Hussain told The Express Tribune that eight officials are posted at the check post at all times. “Between 350 and 400 IDPs have entered Sindh at the Kamoon Shaheed, out of which 30 suspicious persons were detained to verify their identity,” he said. “The police are collecting finger prints and other relevant records, and are only allowing IDPs through after thorough verification of their identity.”

Out of the 30 detained IDPs, he added, seven have been released after their identities were verified, while the remaining have been kept at the Kambhra and Ubauro police stations. Hussain admitted that some policemen may be accepting bribes from the IDPs but assured that the security arrangements have not been compromised, since according to him, militants are not using this route to enter into Sindh. “Militants are going to Shikarpur via Dera Morr and then to Larkana, Jamshoro and Karachi from there.”

Hussain said that most IDPs prefer to travel in trains, because most of the trains do not stop in Ghotki, going directly to the Rohri Railway Station. “Since it is very difficult for the police to check 2,000 to 3,000 train passengers, it is the safest way to travel for militants since they have a larger chance of going undetected,” he added. “Had the Sindh government established enough camps at the border, then this issue wouldn’t have arisen in the first place.”

However, the Sukkur SSP, Tanveer Hussain Tunio, refuted claims that the IDPs prefer to travel by train, as compared to buses and coaches. “IDPs from North Waziristan have easier access to buses and coaches than to trains,” he said. “These buses travel through Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan; and from there to other parts of the country.”

He also said reports that claim that trains are not being checked are false since the railway police travel with every train and check all suspicious persons. “A police picket has also been established at the Rohri and Sukkur railway stations.”

However, Tunio conceded that checking every train thoroughly is not possible since it is time consuming and passengers tend to get impatient. “We cannot stop IDPs from moving within the country as they are Pakistani nationals. We also cannot stop a train for long as they follow a schedule and passengers quickly get impatient when we delay their trains.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2014.