The ignored IDPs

Losing hearts and minds

With the government badly involved in the fight for survival, the problems of over 900,000 IDPs continue to multiply. It is ironic that while government officials claim that the IDPs have rendered great sacrifices for the country by leaving their hearths and homes, they allow the problems faced by the IDPs to increase.

The migration became a harrowing experience for the IDPS when the orderly evacuation promised to them turned into chaos. There was a lack of coordination between various state agencies which continued for a long time. Their early problems included delayed registrations, mismanagement in distribution of rations which at times led to rioting and injuries at ration centers. Many children who were vulnerable to stress were traumatised and needed treatment and counseling, which was inadequate. The conflict put the future of 86,323 students from NW at stake.

There are new problems now. The IDPs have taken shelter in the buildings of 1,400 government schools in KP. They are being asked to vacate schools because the students would start arriving after September 1 at the end of the summer vacation. In Bannu there are complaints that the administration has yet to allot land to IDPs to bury their dead. The government has not allowed the bodies to be taken to y North Waziristan since the military operation began. While the CM KP was supposed to focus on the IDPs mostly settled in the province, he is in Islamabad to make the PTI sit-in successful. SAFRON Minister Abdul Qader Baloch too is in Islamabad busy negotiating with the PTI and PAT.

Has anybody thought whether by the time the operation ends North Waziristan would be habitable, or will the IDPs return to find it in ruins? We are told that the victory in the Waziristan operation is predicated on winning the hearts and minds of the IDPs. Would it be possible to do the job with the level of attention the leadership is paying them?