IDPs relief, rehab: Zardari urges government to speed up relief work

Former president says neglecting IDPs is a callous act.

ISLAMABAD:

Former President Asif Ali Zardari has called upon the government to expedite the relief and rehabilitation work for the internally-displaced persons (IDPs) from North Waziristan Agency stranded in camps in Bannu.

“The IDPs are our national heroes in the war against terror and neglecting them in this hour of trial is a criminal and callous act that will not be condoned under any circumstances,” Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar quoted the former President as saying in a statement on Monday.

Zardari said that their neglect by the government on the one hand and the reports that some charity organisations of defunct militant groups are secretly engaged in indoctrinating the vulnerable displaced people using the cover of philanthropy is a sure recipe to turn the IDPs into sympathizers of militants and extremists.

“This is a grim prospect Pakistan can ill-afford,” the former president warned.

Recalling the IDP crisis faced by the PPP coalition government in 2009 as a result of action against militants in Swat and the way the crisis was handled and the refugees safely rehabilitated in their homes in a matter of few months the former President said there is no reason why the challenge posed by the displacement of people from NWA cannot be handled.

Zardari said that in the wake of horrendous floods and huge displacements caused by it in 2010 the PPP government had invited UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who launched a global appeal to help the flood victims.

He said that war against terror is a global fight and if the international community is supposed to assist Pakistan in it there is no reason why the international community must not be asked to help in the rehabilitation of the IDPs in accordance with the recognized principles of such assistance. The government should shed its ego and invite the civil society, the NGOs and indeed mobilise the entire nation to assist in the relief and rehabilitation of IDPs, he said.

Special attention must be paid to the vulnerable groups among the IDPs including women and children, prevention of epidemic and trauma rehabilitation, he said.

Zardari also reiterated his call to the party rank and file to reach out to the displaced families and provide them relief, the spokesperson said.

Relief goods

Meanwhile the PPP on Monday dispatched two truckloads of relief goods to Bannu for the displaced families from Waziristan.

Two former prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf sent the relief goods from PPP Islamabad Secretariat for the Waziristan affected people.

Addressing the media on the occasion, Gilani said on the direction of the party chairperson Bilalwal Bhutto-Zardari, the relief goods are being sent to Bannu for the displaced families from Waziristan.

“We will not leave the people of Waziristan alone in this difficult moment”.

He recalled that during his government 2.2 million displaced during Swat operation were not only provided relief but they were also rehabilitated within 90 days.

It is a test cases for the present government how it handles 800,000 displaced people from Waziristan.

Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majid announced to collect funds from expatriate Kashmiris for the IDPs.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2014.