Suffering refugees in northwest Pakistan

Since returning from Pakistan in mid-April, I've been trying to keep up with, and spread the news about, the appalling situation of the nearly three million people who have been displaced from their homes in northwest Pakistan by fighting between the Pakistan army and the Taliban. I have not been on the ground in that area (Swat/Buner/Mardan), so I've sought out people who have. Here are a few quotes, taken from articles I've written since May, with links to the full articles below:

"'The humanitarian angle is really intertwined with the political angle,' insists my friend Dr Shahnaz Khan, who is both a Pakistani and an American. 'You could go purely humanitarian, but that would be skirting the issue.' Shahnaz is concerned that public pressure from the US for the Pakistani state to move against the Taliban alienates the Pakistani public. She also points out, as many others do, that US pressure or action violates Pakistani sovereignty: 'That’s something that people need to understand.'

"'We’re hoping that the Pakistan Army will get it done quickly,' says Shahnaz. 'To have two million people in camps is not going to be sustainable for more than a couple of weeks.'

"More pointedly, on a day trip out of Karachi in early April, a young Pakistani named Abdullah Zaidi told me: 'Pakistanis laugh when you attack us with drones, and then your senators talk about establishing a relationship with the people of Pakistan and not with the government.'

"Also in Karachi I met a 15-year-old boy from Waziristan, who told me through a translator: 'I’ve been in Karachi ever since the drone attacks have taken place, but I know a lot about it through my family there. Most of these drone attacks kill innocent people. They ask our government to tell the people that all of the people who are killed are foreigners. But that is not the case; most of them are innocent people …

"'Every person has now become a victim of the US, from these drone attacks. What the US is doing by these drone attacks is creating more problems for themselves, rather than solving problems. Every person now that did not want to carry weapons, now wants to carry a weapon because his children have died in these US attacks. They’re just making it worse for themselves.'"

Full article: "Easier said than done" by Ethan Casey, Books & Authors section of Dawn, 31 May 2009

Here's an excerpt from a briefing that Todd Shea of CDRS Pakistan gave at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC on June 18:

"Shea said that while approximately 3 million Pakistanis have been displaced, only about 300,000 are in IDP camps. The other 2.7 million have been absorbed by host communities, with the majority based in Mardan, a district near Swat and Buner. Shea lambasted large relief agencies for overlooking these 2.7 million IDPs and the 'internally affected persons' who are serving as hosts. The host communities, most of them impoverished and struggling to secure basic resources even before the arrival of the IDPs, are now stretched to the limit. Many homes in Mardan have taken in as many as 40 IDPs, and schools have been closed to accommodate the influx of refugees.

"As for the IDPs themselves, Shea did not mince words. Supplies are running out, and the threat of disease is high. According to Shea, 60,000-70,000 displaced women are expected to give birth in the next month."

Todd Shea: Briefing on Internal Displacement and Relief Efforts in Northwest Pakistan, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC, 18 June 2009

And here are some comments Todd gave me when he and I traveled together for several days in Northern California in early July, meeting Pakistani community leaders and speaking at the annual APPNA convention in San Francisco:

"'It’s not good,' he said. 'The monsoon rain season, people are not going back to their homes, they’ve been living in people’s homes for upwards of six-seven weeks, and in camps, and these places are not getting medical services.

"When they get back, their crops are going to be destroyed by the fighting. We’re finding places that we’re the first to give them medical supplies, and we’re only a small team. Obviously, there should be a coordinated effort. There are places that haven’t gotten any help, medically at least, and it’s ridiculous and it’s a shame and it’s a travesty.'"

Full article: "'Give them hope, for God's sake'" by Ethan Casey, Books & Authors section of Dawn, 12 July 2009

All of these articles are linked from my blog, Alive and Well in Pakistan. Much of this material will also be featured in the new book I'm working on.