"You'd be happy if you could die on your land, go back to your land and be there. That would be the best thing, the most important thing - but you can't!" An internally displaced person. When in February the ANP-led government in NWFP signed a deal with the chief of banned TNSM, Sufi Mohammad, to implement the Nizam-e-Adal in the Malakand region many were expressing doubts over Sufi Mohammad's capacity and capability to deliver.
Later it was proved that the cleric from Swat hardly had any influence over the militants who had some other designs. Not only were the armed militants patrolling the areas, they were advancing towards other areas even after the sighning of the deal, particularly the federal capital, Islamabad.
Despite enormous international pressure, the government had implemented the Nizam-e-Adal Regulation 2009. But this proved to be an exercise in futility as it was never accepted by the militants who have been vigorously pursuing some 'foreign agenda' aimed at destabilising Pakistan. A military operation was launched to restore the writ of the state in the volatile region because the need for deployment of regular troops to effectively combat this menace had never been more urgent.
This time round it was an all-out and a wider one offensive against militants. Residents were asked to leave the troubled region for safe places. A huge number of people men, women, children and elderly left their homes with very little belongings. A large number of them were on foot. The number of internally displaced persons or the IDPs is not final and is increasing.
According to ISPR, the figure is 1.3 million. It includes those who fled Bajaur during an operation in the agency last year. The Bajaur offensive began in August 2008. Officials acknowledge that many more have taken refuge with relatives without registering with the authorities. So, the exact number of the displaced persons is still unknown.
This is another daunting and huge challenge other than the military offensive to flush out militants from these areas. Leaving homes and staying in refugee camps is extremely difficult. It causes severe psychological stresses on such people.
Dignity disappears when your children are starving. Dozens of refugees jostled one another when a provincial minister distributed a few food packets from a truck. As soon as the cameramen had taken pictures, the driver drove the vehicle away with refugees running after it.
"We were chasing the truck like dogs to get some food," said Javed Iqbal, 35, from Mingora. "What have they turned us into?" Dilawar Khan - who fled Ambala village in Buner to Mardan with his wife, six children and ageing parents - complained of the hot weather, dirty lavatories and mosquitoes that don't allow his family to sleep at night.
Before the military operation was launched it was expected that such a huge number of IDPs will have to be settled in camps. This is said to be the second biggest displacement of people after the 1947 migration. According to the UN refugee agency, the fighting is producing one of the world's largest displacements of people. A senior emergency co-ordinator for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the situation was worse than that in Rwanda in 1994 when civil war forced about 700,000 people to flee their homes.
"It is not possible that the IDPs will return to their homes for at least two years under the present circumstances," he said. If no concrete and co-ordinated measures are adopted by the government, the situation would get worse with every passing day, he warned.
Planning for durable solutions must start soon after displacement occurs so as to facilitate the transition from humanitarian assistance to development through effective early recovery strategies. But here the government seems incapable of handling the task. Such a large displacement was imminent in the wake of operation but the government did not have any effective and meaningful strategy for it. Though after 2005 killer earthquake in northern parts of Pakistan, a body, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), to tackle such crisis was formed, it was nowhere to be working to reduce the plight of IDPs.
It is a national crisis and a nation-wide campaign is required like that of 2005 quake. These IDPs are battling the fight for the survival of the whole nation against the menace of extremism. Though this fight is being fought in mountains, it would be ultimately won in these camps. If these poor people are made to live in the absence of required care and attention they need the fall-out would be catastrophic.
The government did too little to help the residents flee the war zone. Many had to walk to safety because they couldn't find space in overloaded private buses and cattle trucks.
There is no such mobilisation from the civil society, media, political parties to galvanise support for the victims as we had seen after Kashmir and Ziarat quakes. Also the international community seems to be reluctant to come forward to help them. The United States, which has pressed Pakistan to go all-out against the militants, has announced a measly 49 million dollars for the displaced persons.
There was support for the government from among the opposition including a call for the crackdown to go far beyond Swat. But this lip service cannot address the human misery in the absence of concrete efforts. Only a few, including PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti have visited the camps. Not only that a number of top leaders of PML-N, PPP, PML-Q, ANP and MQM are away from the country. For example, a number of ANP leaders are visiting camps set up for the IDPs, but their chief Asfanyar Wali has "disappeared".