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Pakistan mobilising for displaced
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-09 11:42 Authorities in Pakistan say they are mobilising to receive as many as half a million people displaced by fighting in the Swat Valley.
Pakistan's president has promised all-out war against militants in the area. The army said its "full-scale" assault had killed more than 170 militants in 24 hours, with the loss of 10 troops. It accused the Taleban of trying to stop civilians leaving the area. The government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law to be locally imposed. But in the face of territorial advances by emboldened Taleban forces, the strategy came under increasing fire from Washington, a key ally. As jets and helicopters pounded targets in the valley, the UN said it was threatening to become one of the world's biggest displacement crises. 'Complex situation' The Pakistani offensive against militants has already displaced some 200,000 people, while a further 300,000 are estimated to be on the move or about to flee, the UN says. Sitara Imran, minister for social welfare in North West Frontier Province, called the exodus "one of the huge displacements, internal displacements in the world". "We are preparing ourselves with the help of the federal government, we asked international donors," she said. She said all her department's doctors and social welfare staff had been mobilised and that holidays had been suspended as they worked to prepare for the influx. "The whole Swat is coming out from [the Swat Valley] so, naturally, it is a very difficult and complex situation," she said. Despite now abandoned attempts to secure a peace deal in and around Swat, the area - close to the border with Afghanistan - has long been riven by tensions. Some 550,000 people had already been displaced by fighting since August, before the current crisis, the UN refugee agency said. Those displaced over recent days have been forced to flee with very little preparation, aid workers say, with families often separated, and doctors in displaced camps report widespread psychological trauma. |
