Eid in distress

For the internally displaced Pakistanis, this Eid will fall short of a lot of things.

As the nation prepared for the familiar Eid festivities this year, the internally displaced people (IDPs) observed from unfamiliar surroundings. They were too preoccupied scrambling to register themselves and securing rations to worry about finding the right outfit and matching accessories.

For the IDPs who fled their homes after the launch of the military operation Zarb-e-Azb, on June 15, in the North Waziristan agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) the toughest challenge right now is to cope with the unknown. Although several efforts have been made by UN agencies and other NGOs to provide relief efforts, it is only the beginning of a long struggle for the one million registered IDPs to slowly rebuild their lives. And with more tough choices on the horizon, the banalities of Eid were not a concern for the IDPs this year.

Dilaira Dubash is a senior subeditor on The Express Tribune magazine desk. She tweets @DilairaM

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, August 3^rd,  2014.