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Islamabad: Over 25 lakh internally displaced
people continue to “suffer from shock,” they are “afraid
of returning home” because they feel that some Taliban
presence still exists in those areas, Church-based
relief group said.
Two and a half months into the offensive against
Taliban, Pakistan said on 8 June that the military
operation against the militants in northwestern
Pakistan's Swat and Buner districts completed, clearing
out militants and making the area safe for return of the
displaced local population, Xinhua news reported.
Earlier local media also reported that Pakistan's Prime
Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the displaced
populations could start returning home by 13 July.
However, an emergency relief group Action by Churches
Together (ACT) International said the internally
displaced peoples (IDPs) have spoken to the
Communication Officer of its local partner Church World
Service Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS-P/A) and shared their
concerns over the lingering uncertainty and the
government's claim that it is safe for them to return
home.
“The majority of displaced people continue to suffer
from shock, they are afraid of returning back because
they feel that some Taliban presence still exists in
those areas,” one IDP said. The relief group said, with
the completion of the rapid response phase, humanitarian
agencies are still struggling to implement a
comprehensive initiative focusing on education, food
security, health, and protection of the displaced
people. The delay in funding was yet another challenge
for all involved, and large numbers of humanitarian
organizations are still on hold.
Also, the health problems faced by the IDPs are worsened
by a combination of lack of funds, a lack of women
doctors, and cultural constraints which dictate that it
is not appropriate for male doctors to tend to women or
girls.
The aid agency said, a large number of women are very
reluctant to seek medical advice from male doctors for
their children including both boys and girls and have
shared their fears on protection issues.
The WHO recently reported that within a few weeks, its
medicine supplies will be depleted. With the onset of
the monsoon season, health problems including malaria
and cholera will increase. Without proper medical
attention and without sufficient supplies of medicine,
many IDPs could suffer severe health problem or even
face death.
Meanwhile, ACT International members Church World
Service-Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS-P/A) and Norwegian
Church Aid (NCA) continue to respond to the humanitarian
crisis in the country where, according to the North West
Frontier Province (NWFP) government Emergency Response
Unit, 3.5 million people have been uprooted by the
conflict between the government and militants.
UN refugee agency and Pakistani officials had said that
over two million people were displaced as the result of
fighting between the Taliban militants and the security
forces in parts of Pakistan's northwest. About 10
percent, or 200,000 of them are in camps. The other 90
percent are staying with family and friends.
The Church-based aid agency has a target of 5.9 million
U.S. dollar for its local partners, which will be used
to aid the vast majority who are living with host
families or friends or in ad hoc shelters and rented
accommodation. The strain on host communities is
massive, it said. The CWS-P/A and NCA 12-month projects
in NWFP include relief and recovery assistance to
conflict IDPs residing primarily in host communities,
rather than camps.
CWS P/A, working with five partner organisations, is
operational in Swabi and Mardan Districts. NCA, working
with four partners, is operational in the districts of
Swabi, Mardan, Malakand, Abbottabad and Haripur.
Proposed assistance includes Food and Non-food relief
items, emergency health services, and recovery support
in the areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH),
Livelihoods, Education, Health, and Advocacy, it said.
Though Pakistan has achieve a relative success in
defeating Taliban from Swat and Buner districts, it is
facing a huge challenge from Baitullah Mehsud, the top
commander of Pakistan's Taliban who has ties to al-Qaida.
Mehsud has a command of over 10,000 fighters in South
Waziristan, a mountainous region of Northwest Pakistan,
bordering Afghanistan.
Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, a
global alliance of churches and related agencies working
to save lives and support communities in emergencies
worldwide have been actively working in Pakistan with
its local members ever since the humanitarian crisis
started two months ago.
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