 Photo: Abdul Majeed Goraya/IRIN  |
| IDPs on the move in northwestern Pakistan |
MANSEHRA, – Fresh civilian displacements in northwestern Pakistan due to fighting between the Taliban and government troops is likely to place further strains both on those already displaced and on available aid resources, according to aid workers.
There are reports of residents fleeing Kala Dhaka in Mansehra District, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), for Mansehra town, and fighting has also reportedly intensified in Orakzai Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), also in northwestern Pakistan.
“It is better for us to go now, while it is safe. The roads here are poor and I have heard terrible stories of how people were trapped in Swat once fighting began,” said Afsar Khan, 40, who has brought his family of eight from Kala Dhaka to his brother’s home in Mansehra.
“Things have been getting tense at home and there are reports the Taliban have set up hide-outs in various places,” Khan said.
NWFP police chief Malik Naveed Khan said: “There are reports Kala Dhaka has become the new base for the Swat Taliban.”
Pakistan’s interior minister has said civilians would not be affected by any operations in the area, but people are not convinced.
“We have heard such promises before. If there are bombing raids, how can people be safe,” Ashfaque Yusufzai told IRIN. He said he had come to Mansehra to check on rental rates, and was planning to move his family “so the children at least are safe”.
“There is a huge sense of fear. People know the Taliban are among us, and as a result we will face bullets and grenades,” said Yusufzai. He said he was lucky to be able to move his family, adding: “Worse off are the very poor who cannot even think of leaving.”
Funding fears
 Photo: Reliefweb  |
According to a 2 April Pakistan Humanitarian Update by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there were 35,185 families (close to 200,000 individuals) registered as IDPs in Hangu and Kohat districts of NWFP, with 71 percent of them from Orakzai and 29 percent from Kurram Agency in FATA.
The threat of fresh displacements is raising fears over humanitarian funding. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja, told journalists in Islamabad on 12 April they may have to suspend some aid projects.
A US$537 million appeal to feed and assist more than one million people displaced by conflict in northwestern Pakistan was launched in February, but so far only $106 million has been received from the donors.
“The response by the international community to this appeal is inadequate,” Mogwanja said. “Humanitarian actors responding to the needs of the people are concerned that some of the projects may have to be suspended because of lack of finances.”
While most of the displaced are living with host families, their plight is in many cases dire. “We are dependent on charity; the people who keep us in their homes are also suffering because of the problem of feeding and keeping us, but where are we to go?” said Mobeen Khan, from Bajaur in FATA. His house there had been “completely destroyed” and he was currently living with a cousin in Mansehra.
“Our hosts have been good and generous,” Khan said, adding that the influx of new IDPs will put an additional strain on everyone.
kh/at/cb source.irinnews
