The NWFP government Saturday demanded of the federal, provincial governments, world community and donor organisations of the world for providing aid for relief and settlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) of turbulent districts of Swat, Buner and Dir Lower.
The provincial government in its drive has not only requested rich people of the province, but has also requested employees of federal and the four provincial governments beside the world community for assistance in providing relief to the displaced persons.
The campaign was kicked off through a press conference by NWFP Minister for Information, Mian Iftikhar Hussein, who was accompanied by Yunas Javed, Co-ordinator of the newly established Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
He said that about 0.5 million people have been displaced from districts of Swat, Buner and Dir Lower. 1,13,000 have settled in camps established in different parts of the province while 2,50,000 are living outside the camps with their relatives in hujras and mosques, informed the provincial minister, who is also official spokesman of the government.
Beside, the fresh influx of migration, 0.5 million people from Bajaur, Mohmand and other tribal areas are also living in camps. 15,000 displaced persons are living in camps while 38,000 are living with their relatives in different parts of the province. He said that the number of the IDPs was increasing and expressed the fear that 0.5 million more people could be displaced in the province.
With IDPs from tribal areas and fresh IDPs from Swat, Buner and Dir Lower, the number would rise to 1.5 million. This huge burden could not be borne by the provincial government only. The provincial government besides, the old camps of Afghan refugees has established seven more camps to accommodate the influx of IDPs. The new camps, he said have been established in Swabi, Mardan and Dargai (Malakand).
Furthermore, he said that Jalozai camp has the capacity to accommodate 1,000 more families. He said that the provincial government has established Chief Minister's Fund and all departments in the province have announced to donate two day's salaries of their employees to the fund. Mian Iftikhar, who holds the portfolio of three departments, including Information, transport and inter-provincial co-ordination, announced donation of two day's salaries of his departments' employees.
The province, he said was confronting a disaster like situation, and appealed to the people throughout the country to deposit their share in the relief fund. He said that a grant of Rs 500 million announced by the Prime Minister has been received by the provincial government. He said that the Prime Minister had approved another amount of Rs 1 billion for relief of the displaced persons.
He said that more than 400 Sikh families have migrated to Hasanabdal and are living at Panja Sahib. He said that the provincial government has distributed Rs 2.8 million among the displaced families of minorities. The minister said that the provincial government has also sought co-operation of provincial education dept for accommodating the displaced persons in schools and colleges of the province.
He said that provincial government held negotiations with militants, and is making sincere efforts to resolve the matter through peaceful means. But, he said their gesture was never reciprocal. He said that the provincial government enforced Nizam-i-Adl Regulation and took all possible measures including the appointments of Qazis and establishment of Darul Qaza.
But, the militants were not ready to surrender weapons and proved that their agenda was something else. The minister said that the govt did not use force in Buner, but in Dir Lower, militants kidnapped government servants and challenged the writ of the government through establishing parallel administration. "The operation would continue till complete restoration of the writ of government, peace and surrender of weapons by the militants," concluded the minister.
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