Bleeding them dry: Ailing IDPs forced to walk miles in search of shelter

Many facing difficulties as transport is scarce and expensive

PESHAWAR: Having walked for miles, three brothers headed to Sheikhan village are not only worried about being displaced from their homes, but also about the blood transfusions they need four times a month to battle Haemophilia.

Teenager Gul Yas from Melwat in Akka Khel area of Bara tehsil, Khyber Agency and his three brothers suffer from the rare disorder which doesn’t allow their blood to clot normally. Once at the village, the brothers and their sister will be lucky to find a one-room mud house for shelter.

Around 1,200 families from Bara were enlisted on Monday at Pishtakhara registration point. PHOTO: RIAZ AHMED/EXPRESS

“There has been mortar shelling in our area and we are not in good shape due to our medical condition,” says Yas. “However, we finally crossed into a settled area, leaving our home and belongings behind,” he tells The Express Tribune.  The patient says his brothers Abdul Khaliq and Najeebullah spend most of their time in treatment and now the state of homelessness has exacerbated their woes.

“It is not safe to stay in a place where a shell can hit the house at any time and leave you with little chance of survival,” he says. “We can’t go to school and are already a burden on our father who works on daily wages.”

Yas adds the family is looking forward to government help, but it seems little is coming their way.

Another displaced person, Yar Kamal, suffers from disability.

“I am a ‘special person’ and have a family of 31 people, including my sons, daughters, wife, grandchildren and nephews,” he says.

A resident of Speen Qabar in Sipah, Kamal recalls that locals were given 24 hours to evacuate and all the main roads were closed when the announcement was made. Belonging to the same Sipah clan as Lashkar-e-Islam leader Mangal Bagh, he says his family had to walk 15 kilometres on a longer but safer route before finding a pickup that would take them to Surizai. The journey cost a pocket-wrenching Rs3,500.



“We left everything, including our cattle, behind and barely managed to evacuate as jets pounded militant hideouts,” he says. He points out that innocent people are falling victim to this battle between security forces and the militants.

“When they drop a bomb, its impact can be felt up to a kilometre away, sending the women and children into a state of panic,” the displaced person states. “You will not see our children laughing and playing these days despite the fact they are now accustomed to firing and low intensity blasts.”

Like so many others, Kamal says there is little help from the authorities.

He adds transport is scarce and a pickup owner can charge up to Rs10,000 to transport a family and their household items to Jalozai, the largest camp for internally displaced persons (IPDs). He adds that Rs3,500 is charged to transport them to Pishtakhara, where there is an enlistment point. “Most of the people have left the area on foot.”

Kamal says only the Sipah clan had been asked to leave for IDP camps, but large numbers of others decided to abandon their homes on their own.

Also displaced from his home, Rafiq says he managed to get himself registered at the enlistment point at Pishtakahra Chowk on Ring Road with tremendous difficulty. He adds that thousands are still lying in wait.

“I own a pickup so it was not difficult for me to leave Melwat, but what does one do in Peshawar,” he wonders. He adds that rented houses are tough to come by and people do not want to go to Jalozai camp as the LI had warned them against it.

An official of the Fata Disaster Management Authority tells The Express Tribune that 1,200 families were enlisted on Monday and 2,200 on Sunday at the Pishtakhara registration point. He maintained other registration points have also been set up.

Hundreds of people arrive in Peshawar every day. Since some of them are already registered as IDPs, they are being enlisted to avoid duplication.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2014.