Adil Najam
These are two amazing pictures.
Both were taken today (June 30, 2009) but they tell two very different stories. Each story is equally true and each story is equally important. The stories are about the little girls in the pictures. But they are also stories about each one of us.
The first is a picture of hope. It depicts a child clinging to her mother and a bus window while on a bus that is returning to Buner, in district Mardan, as some IDPs start returning to their homes.
The second is a picture of displacement. The picture of another child – only a little older than the first one – at a UNHCR camp (Yar Hussain) in Swabi who is pushing a canister of water for her displaced family.
Our prayers are with both these little girls. May we all see more pictures like the first and less like the second. But it is more than just the return of IDPs to their homes that we must strive for. Not until the future of every child in Pakistan has been made safe and peaceful and secure can the future of any of us be safe and peaceful and secure.
Someone had asked about the numbers of IDPs and the status–this website has some details:
http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/pak istan
Also, with the military offensive in Waziristan the already struggling IDP camps are having to accommodate new families from what I hear. What is most disturbing is that millions of dollars are needed to deal with this crisis and roughly 30% has been raised. Every little dollar counts and the needs are so great — food, medicine, shelter education, you name it.
It just amazes me how easy it is for the same ‘killer elites’ who were condoning war (tank, gunships and missiles) in Swat are now all disturbed by the plight of the 3 million + IDP’s.
This is not a man made disaster, but a war on our own people by an Army that has been accused of genocide before . . . once the self congragulation is over, we will reap the new harvest of hate we have sown in that region.
It is great news that some IDPs are returning. But the story must not end there. We need to provide them with a safe environment and basic facilities when they are back. Otherwise the Taliban will again get to them with the same argument. Making Swat region a model of peace and development should be the biggest priority now.
& then we say, “Why?”
one of 100 reasons not to help IDPs
i don’t want to be a part of Zardari team !