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31 December 2009
North-west Pakistan saw the biggest and fastest conflict-induced internal displacement in the world in 2009. At least three million people fled fighting between insurgents and security forces. Many were able to return after hostilities ended but at least 1.2 million remained displaced at the end of the year.
Since 2002 the, Pakistani Taliban has combined a radical theological agenda with anti-NATO rhetoric to threaten tribal institutions and state authorities in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and later North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). After the breakdown of a peace deal between the Pakistani Taliban and the government, the army moved into the Swat Valley in NWFP in May 2009. Encouraged by the security forces, more than two million people fled towards the Peshawar Valley, and by late June, 2.1 million IDPs had been registered by the government, of which 85 per cent were staying with host families.
In July, the government and the UN signed a return policy framework, following which 1.6 million IDPs were encouraged to return. Some returnees were then displaced again as they found the areas were still unsafe, and their property and means of livelihoods destroyed. By December 2009, at least 370,000 people remained displaced.
During the second half of the year, the security forces re-launched operations against the Pakistani Taliban-led tribal militias in FATA. Some 190,000 people were displaced from Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber and Orakzai Agencies, adding to 550,000 people who remained displaced after fleeing sectarian violence, Taliban abuses and military operations there in 2008. Out of all these groups, an estimated 450,000 people were still displaced in FATA at the end of the year, the vast majority staying with host families or in rented accommodation.
Finally, during October and November, up to 430,000 civilians fled another army offensive in South Waziristan in FATA, over half the population of that province. Fighting, roadblocks, and their lack of resources prevented other civilians from leaving the areas of conflict. At least 290,000 people remained displaced in the neighbouring districts of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank at the end of 2009.
Restrictions on humanitarian and media access made it hard to evaluate the difficulties facing returnees; meanwhile the prospects for effective local integration seemed slim.
The national response was significant. The National Database and Registration Authority registered the IDPs and issued them with national identity cards. However, the process was not universally applied: many IDPs who had been displaced from areas which the government did not recognise as conflict areas, or from tribes associated with militant groups, were excluded from this process. Some women-headed households also struggled to obtain an identity card, but a considerable number of displaced women did obtain one for the first time.
Initial assessments indicated that the IDPs, who were mostly in an urban environment where they relied on savings and support from relatives, primarily needed cash to pay for food, rent and utilities. Registered IDPs in NWFP were thus equipped with cash cards credited with $300 per family. Many of those displaced in FATA similarly received cash cards but with only $60 per family. In addition, UN-led agencies provided food assistance to 4.3 million people and health services to several hundred thousand IDPs.
Specific groups had particular protection needs. A higher proportion of internally displaced women than men had difficulties in accessing basic services, and were forced to move or return against their will. They also more frequently experienced family separation and intra-family violence. Internally displaced men were more concerned about replacing lost identity cards and the looting of livestock and property during displacement.
The military offensive resulted in widespread destruction of infrastructure and the loss of livelihoods for pastoral and farming communities. 77 hospitals were destroyed or damaged, and many of the 4,500 schools used as shelter for IDPs were not reopened by the end of the year. In an attempt to address this, the government initiated a post-crisis needs assessment exercise supported by the World Bank, the UN, the Asian Development Bank and the European Commission, to build consensus on recovery and peacebuilding strategies.
The limited information on displacement in Balochistan Province indicated that clashes between the army and Baloch separatists displaced up to 60,000 people in Bugti district in 2009. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani recognised the difficult situation of the IDPs in a speech to parliament in December and offered $12 million for their rehabilitation and settlement as part of the Balochistan Support Package. However, despite the acknowledgement of the displacement, the Package was rejected by nationalists.
26 August 2010: Floods stop families displaced by conflict rebuilding their lives
In Pakistan people continue to flee the rising flood waters. According to a UNHCR report of 23 August, the government then estimated that around 1.1 million people had fled their homes in Sindh and Balochistan. They have mostly sought shelter in Nasirabad, Jaffarabad and Jacobabad districts, where armed conflict and sectarian violence has raged for years. UNHCR predicted that
it would take months for the stagnant waters to recede and that food, clean drinking water, and shelter were urgently needed.
Meanwhile, little is known about the situation in remote areas of the north-west. 800,000 people are only
accessible by air, according to the UN. The
return to Mohmand and Bajaur agencies of people displaced by conflict has been stopped. Some returnees have been
displaced again by the flood, although the majority has remained
close to their homes.
In the Swat Valley, around 135,000 people were displaced by the floods; 20 per cent returned within the first three weeks.
UN assessments reveal that up to 70 per cent of standing crops are
destroyed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leading to a hike in
food prices. Immediate supplies of food and clean water remain a top
priority in the province. According to a 23 August update by the government and the World Health Organization, the threat of epidemics had been largely
controlled: the rate of acute diarrhoea had not exceeded the level during the conflict-related displacement of early 2009.
13 August 2010: Conflict IDPs among millions displaced by flooding
Pakistan’s most severe monsoon floods in 80 years have
displaced more than four million people in north-western and central Pakistan, including 1.6 million in Punjab. Many people already displaced by conflict in the region have been forced to flee again. The floods now threaten Balochistan and Sindh, where more than 500,000 people have been evacuated to safer areas. The flooding has caused food prices to
soar, while 39 per cent of houses have been destroyed or
damaged.
Communities and relief charities have distributed food, clean water and shelter to the victims. The government has also deployed some 50,000 troops and used army helicopters to
rescue stranded families. However, the response remains limited as damaged roads and bridges have
hindered aid workers from accessing affected communities. According to the UN, $200 million is needed to
cover the relief effort.
The floods have also hit communities already displaced by the 2009 north-western conflict, making them more
vulnerable as they are struggling to reestablish their livelihoods. Some of the 2.7 million people who had been internally displaced by the conflict had just resumed farming activities when the floods destroyed their land. Jalozai camp, with a population of over 100,000 IDPs, was
cut off for three days after a bridge was
destroyed, while food airlifts to people in conflict-affected Upper Swat were
prevented by the bad weather. Some aid workers have reported concerns that
assistance of people affected by floods might come at the expense of support to people displaced by the conflict, particularly those who fled the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where the flooding has had less impact.
13 August 2010: Up to 100,000 displaced by violence and armed conflict in Balochistan
Meanwhile, the government of Pakistan has reported that up to
100,000 settlers have been
displaced by Baloch nationalist groups and Islamic sectarian violence in Balochistan since January 2010, and more than 250 killed in
targeted attacks. The Pakistani government and Baloch tribal militants have been
engaged in armed conflict over control of land and natural resources for several years: the army has carried out operations against six nationalist guerrilla groups and the region has also witnessed Sunni-Shia sectarian violence and Taliban attacks against NATO supplies. Many of the settlers are Punjabis encouraged to move to the province by the government. Little is known about the conditions for civilians, or the possible displacement of Baloch groups since the government has denied journalists and humanitarian workers access to large parts of the province.
11 February 2010: At least 100,000 IDPs flee operations in border areas; one million more cannot return
The Pakistani Army’s offensive in the Orakzai and Bajaur Agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where it has
clashed with Pakistani insurgents, has recently displaced hundreds of thousands civilians.
135,000 of them have been registered in IDP camps while others have preferred to stay with relatives or other hosts.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has called for more than $500 million in humanitarian
aid to assist the million Pakistanis still
displaced by fighting last year. Most are expected to
remain displaced as their homes have been destroyed, and the new wave of conflict has convinced
many that there is little
hope of a quick return. Meanwhile, the UN has
called for the government to give consent for its response plan to avoid disruption of humanitarian operations.
10 December 2009: Displaced children in urgent need of shelter and schools as winter approaches
At least 130,000 Pakistani children have been
forced from their homes in South Waziristan since October 2009, according to OCHA. In recent weeks, renewed military operations in Bajaur and Khyber agencies have
added to their numbers. Altogether, more than 500,000 children are thought to be displaced with their families in Pakistan.
As winter approaches, they may find it harder and harder to find warm shelter and adequate schooling. Hundreds of thousands of children have
missed up to a year of school. Almost 5,000 school buildings have been occupied by IDPs in hosting districts, and as of mid-November, less than half of them had been
refurbished ready for school to start again. In addition, hundreds of schools in the area of fighting have been
targeted and destroyed, a disproportionate number of them schools for girls. With winter setting in, humanitarian agencies
anticipate it will be even harder for families to return home, and recognise the need to provide warm shelter for families, and to reinstitute school programming so that children can access education in their place of refuge.
Children displaced within Pakistan face difficulties in accessing school and risk being exploited, according to a new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
Since August 2008, more than two million children have been forced from their homes in north-western regions of the country by fighting between government forces and militants of the Pakistani Taliban. Around 800,000 children are still displaced in mid-2010. Over a million have returned to their home areas, but they still face hardship because of the extensive destruction of homes, schools and other infrastructure, and risk being forced into early marriage or child labour as their families face destitution. (...)
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