400000, mostly women and children, flee Bajaur fighting for safety

uploaded by Barry ORegan August 17, 2008 at 06:20 am
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400000, mostly women and children, flee Bajaur fighting for safety by Barry ORegan

PESHAWAR: Fearing carpet bombing by the army jets and gunship helicopters, exodus from the restive Bajaur Agency is gaining momentum and about 400,000 people have reportedly landed in safe places in the Bajaur's adjoining Mohmand Agency and settled parts of NWFP in state of complete helplessness.

The migrants include women and children in highest ratio as compared to men. The government though has widely disseminated the warning pamphlets in the entire Bajaur Agency which has resulted in surge of migration but on the other hand the administration is invisible as far as providing shelter to homeless people is concerned.

While standing at an exit point and watching the influx from the bleeding Bajaur Agency, one really gets hurt to see the frightened faces of the refugees who may never have thought to leave their hometown in such a miserable way. To see these gullible people one is caught by the feelings as if an enemy country has given deadline to leave the area of get ready to die.

The influx is high at Dir Lower district due to its proximity with Bajaur while people in thousands are fleeing their area and are settling into Mohmand Agency, Shabqadar, Charsada, Mardan, Nowshera and Peshawar districts.

Worth seeing was a scene at Michni area the other day when an elderly woman who was holding a young boy of about 22 was coming on foot from Bajaur Agency. The woman was being offered water and Rotti by some volunteers but her concentration was focused on the youth.

When enquired, the elderly woman replied that the youth was her grandson and lunatic but the woman has no destination in mind. "I don't know anything about my destination. I am not concerned about anything except my grandson who has no one else in the world other than me. Allah would definitely destroy those who have uprooted us from our houses," the elderly woman told the volunteers while shedding tears.

It is said that when misfortune comes, it catches one from all directions and this is exactly what is being done with the displaced people of troubled Bajaur Agency, bordering Afghanistan. On one hand they are compelled to leave their houses in despair while on the other hand they are being fleeced by the transporters, who are charging them double and triple than the usual fare.

"We are being forced to review our ties with Pakistan," said Gul Rehman, a local of Mamoond Tehsil. He said no country so far might have bombed its own citizens but an Islamic army was busy showering bombs on its own brothers just to appease America.

Wali said the way warning pamphlets were being thrown through helicopters was usually done when an enemy force decides to go for ethnic cleansing of a tribe or a nation. "I just curse this army and the rulers," he said and added in this way they would never be able to exterminate the Taliban.

Welfare bodies like Al-Khidmat Foundation and Jamaat-ut-Dawa have set up camps all along the route from Bajaur to Dir and Malakand on one side and Bajaur to Peshawar via Mohmand Agency on the other side. Al-Khidmat Foundation of Jamaat-e-Islami are taking lead by having established two major camps, one each in Munda in Dir and Mayar in Mardan.

The JI former MNA Shabir Ahmad Khan in a news conference here Saturday revealed that Al-Khidmat Foundation had deputed 1,500 volunteers, 1,200 male and 300 female, to help the displaced people by providing them shelter, food, drinking water and medicines.

He claimed to have spent Rs 9 million during 10 days on the rehabilitation of the dislodged people of which Rs 5.5 million had been spent on arranging food for refugees, Rs1.5 million on transportation and Rs3 on providing healthcare to the affectees of Bajaur. We have provided shelter to 50,000 people in our camps in Munda, he said and added that Al-Khidmat Foundation had approached to government to allow them set up shelter houses in government schools and colleges.

He said that the JI leadership was launching "Jhooli Phelao Mohem" to collect funds for the rehabilitation of the refugees. In the wake of exodus from Bajaur and influx into provincial capital, an unprecedented increase in the rent of houses is being observed while burden on local hospitals has also increased as a result of the arrival of refugees in large number.

Most of the refugees are of the view that government should stop the ongoing operation so that they could go back their houses. Some of them are of the view that both government and Taliban were wrong as both of them are playing in the hands of enemies. However, a vast majority were found having sympathies with the Taliban as they say that Taliban were no other but their own brothers.

Tags: terrorism, World, Pakistan, US, Tribal Areas

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Title: 400000, mostly women and children, flee Bajaur fighting for safety

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Created: Sun, 08/17/2008 - 6:20am

Modified: Sun, 08/17/2008 - 6:24am

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