Struggling to survive: In Karachi, IDPs are no longer welcome

Nationalist pressure has forced displaced families into hiding

KARACHI:

Young Karam Khan and his two siblings sit outside a wedding hall on the outskirts of Karachi. As the guests feast within, the three children patiently await the crumbs from the banquet.

"We are here for the leftovers," Karam, the eldest of the three, explains. "This is how we get food to eat every day."

Karam's family migrated to Karachi after Operation Zarb-e-Azb began in North Waziristan in June. The difficulties they have faced since then have taught the children tough lessons - such as how to control their hunger.



"We are not beggars," insists the boy, in a dishevelled shalwar kameez. "We are only asking people for help because our father has no job."

Karam and his siblings are not alone. Dozens of Pakhtun families travelled to the metropolis this summer to escape the battle between the army and the militants. They hoped to receive a warm reception, as other internally displaced persons (IDPs) did in 2008 when they fled from the Swat Valley. This time, however, they are not welcome guests.

Seventy-year-old Loi Khan, Karam's father, left behind his own house and cattle for a slum neighbourhood in Karachi. "We did not go to the IDP camps because they do not have even basic facilities," he says, explaining why he chose to travel hundreds of miles with his two wives and seven children instead.

As IDPs started arriving in the metropolis, nationalist groups staged widespread protests to keep them away, arguing that militants fleeing from the army could take refuge among the displaced families. Under increasing pressure from these groups, the Sindh government tightened security at the city's entry points, tasking the police with ensuring that the undesired IDPs did not enter.

The strict vigilance has forced Loi and others like him, who managed to enter the city, into hiding. "I cannot leave the slum in search of a job because I fear that the law enforcers will falsely connect me to the Taliban and extort money from me."

Advocate Muhammad Wali Mehsud, a social activist, is unhappy with the way they are being treated. "There are families living in constant fear of being arrested and sent back under duress," he told The Express Tribune. "It is the constitutional right of every citizen to go and live wherever they please."

Mehsud argues that not every displaced person coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) can be labelled a militant. "If a disaster was to hit Sindh and the residents had to move away for safety, would they like being treated the same way?"

Families like Loi's, however, are unable to even travel to the KP to receive this government assistance. Instead, they struggle to survive in the slums of Karachi.

"A man gave me this money to buy food for my family today," says Loi, holding up two Rs20 notes. "I would never have accepted alms before I came here, but no one is ready to give me a job."

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2014.