Neglecting IDPs

Both government and media should focus on their plight

Such is the electronic media’ fascination with the sensational that Tahirul Qadri gets more prime time coverage than the IDPs of North Waziristan. The people of the Agency are being required to pay for the sins of the Musharraf establishment which allowed militants to set up strongholds in the area. Subsequently the Agency became a special target for drone attacks. The tribesmen are making a great sacrifice by leaving their homes to help the troops rid the area of the terrorists who have been conducting attacks all over the country. Unlike the Swat IDPs in 2008, who elicited far greater public sympathy due to TV coverage, the electronic media’s neglect of the North Waziristan IDPs has led to public apathy towards the latter’s plight.

The way these IDPs are being treated is not conducive to creating goodwill. To start with, the administration failed to provide them transport which was promised at the initiation of the aerial strikes. At the end of the three-day long shoot-at-sight curfew, the entire non-combatant population left their towns and villages in panic for fear of starvation. Some could not even take their belongings with them. Those who could afford to hire private transport, had to pay extraordinarily inflated fares. Those who couldn’t had to walk for 60 plus kilometres on foot.

Rents in Bannu have doubled as everyone is out to make a fast buck. Not all IDPs have relatives in Pakistan to provide them shelter. Sindh and Balochistan have expressed unwillingness to host the new IDPs. With temperatures sometimes touching 47 degrees, many have been forced to seek shelter in camps which lack electricity and running water. The least one expects is that the IDPs are treated with respect and their needs looked after in the camps. The recurrent reports of mismanagement leading to violent protests by the IDPs, need, therefore, to be looked into. To keep the militants permanently out of NW, there is a need to win the hearts and minds of the IDPs.