Dignity left by the roadside for a line to an IDP camp

Bannu has taken on about 700,000 people and is bursting at the seams and struggling.

BANNU:

In groups of four to five, they take refuge under a chador as no tents have been set up to provide them shade. This is the first of the misery to encounter on the five long hours driving from Islamabad to Bannu. These are the people who have fled the military operation in North Waziristan and now their life consists mainly of standing in line to register with the government in the merciless heat on the roads of Bannu city.

“This does not need any word—it is insulting simply. This is not the way to assist these displaced people,” commented cricket star Younas Khan, who paid a visit to the city on behalf of the Shahid Khan Afridi Foundation and Umair Sana Foundation.

Khan’s focus was the children for whom he came bearing gifts. One of them was Hazrat Anas, a class eight student from Khisu Khel of North Waziristan, who beamed proudly as he held up his new cricket bat.



As Younas Khan’s vehicle stopped outside a government school, a number of people surrounded it, waving their hands to say hello. An organiser at the foundation told The Express Tribune that whenever they invited a celebrity, people felt comfort and satisfaction to see national heroes come to show solidarity. The arrival of Shahid Afridi, Younas Khan and Shoaib Akhtar also brought smiles to their faces, he said.

The temporary distraction is welcome as the process of leaving their homes has been treacherous and fraught with dangers—some of which follow them into the refugee camp.

Many of the families are not on good terms with each other because of tribal rivalries. This recrimination stretches back decades. So now when they find themselves face-to-face, squeezed into line, the hackles rise. Many of them don’t bother to register. “I have disguised myself to hide my identity,” said one 35-year old.

Professor Ghulam Mustafa of Peshawar University said that many people from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas who have been settled for a long time in K-P were also claiming to be displaced people, which was making it doubly difficult for the government to properly register genuinely affected folks.

The whole town is hosting people from North Waziristan, who are now estimated to be around 700,000. Only 37 families of around 1,200 people are living in the camps set up by the government. But media and NGOs are not allowed inside. Non-profits such as the Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, Umair Sana Foundation and Al-Khidmat Foundation, have been working in the area.

To add to these tensions, is the mortification of being treated badly. Many of the displaced people said that they were finding it hard to deal with the lack of respect. They have been treated badly while they are standing in line to register or receive rations. It is not easy for a fiercely independent tribesman, respected on his own turf, to take orders from a fresh-faced sipahi from the law-enforcement agencies who are there for crowd control.

The general chaos adds to their exhaustion. For 19-year-old Mohammad Roshan from Miranshah it was overwhelming to try to figure out where he should go to get help. He can hardly be blamed; hospitals are overstretched, doctors and medicines are running short and the threat of epidemics is looming large.

Administrative difficulties

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak told The Express Tribune that the sudden influx of people was to blame for the incoherent aid work. He said that his government has already asked the federal government for meaningful cooperation but to no avail.

Even though the provincial government has given the district administration money, the staff has yet to be paid and as a result they have gone on strike for the last three days.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Khan criticised what he said was the federal government’s refusal to aid the K-P government in the crisis. An estimated 900,000 displaced people have registered in Bannu after fleeing the military operation in North Waziristan Agency.

“We keep hearing the federal government is releasing money for the displaced people but where is it going?” he asked. “It is certainly not being given to the K-P government which is bearing the brunt alone, especially since international aid agencies and NGOs are not being permitted to assist it in its relief efforts.”

This has put a strain on the province’s resources which were already limited. But despite calls for more coordination between the centre and the province, the federal government’s focal person was nowhere to be found on the ground in Bannu.

Imran Khan was also critical of the load-shedding which he said indicated that the federal government didn’t care at all. He claimed that the federal government has cut off electricity to 30 villages around Bannu.

The situation has turned K-P into a calamity-hit area but the federal government is refusing to declare the province as such. The pleas of the CM have gone unheard by the centre at a time when K-P is undergoing a severe humanitarian crisis. “Now one hears that the prime minister is off for a week to Saudi Arabia at a time when he should be devoting his resources and time to steering the country out of the crisis by giving visible leadership.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2014.