Managing the IDPs

Whatever the final outcome of the fight for North Waziristan, it will be the 600,000 IDPs that pay the highest price.

It is predicted that the number of people displaced by the Operation Zarb-e-Azb is going to cross the 600,000 mark, and with the officially registered count as of July 4 at 572,295 it may be under a week before that number is reached. Much has been said about the unintended bonus that this massive human movement has produced in terms of bringing tens of thousands of children into the vaccination envelope; but relatively little about how the operation to care for this cohort is progressing. The influx of IDPs was not unexpected and some provision has been made. However, it is insufficient and many displaced people are fending for themselves. It does appear that there are strenuous efforts being made to ease the pain of the IDPs’ circumstances, and there is no load-shedding in the camps. Cash disbursal is getting into gear as well and will be made via mobile cash transfers from July 8 onwards. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that once the operation is over the ‘displaced tribesmen will be rehabilitated with honour’ — a highly pertinent statement given the codes and customs that prevail in tribal society.



Quite apart from the human cost of such a displacement, there is a substantial financial penalty. The Economic Coordination Committee has approved the release of 60,000 tons of wheat and Eid packages are being distributed from July 5, 2014. So far, Rs338 million has been disbursed to 28,167 families and that figure will increase the longer the IDPs are living outside their ancestral lands. Tensions within the camps are on the rise. Two men were killed in Bannu on July 4 in a dispute at a ration depot, and there are numerous reports of fights and arguments — which is hardly surprising given the dire straits these people now find themselves in. This situation is not going to improve with time. There is no end yet in sight to the operation and consequently, no return-by date for people who have, in effect, lost everything in the space of a few days. Whatever the final outcome of the fight for North Waziristan, it will be the 600,000 that pay the highest price.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2014.

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