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Handling IDPs crisis successfully
Saturday, November 14, 2009
By Shehryar Saif
As is just but natural with every military operation, the South Waziristan operation too has, attached to it, the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which should be renamed as Terrorism-Affected Persons (TAPs) in line with the actual facts.
But both the PPP-led government and the armed forces, especially the Special Support Group, have made it a point to apply their experiences gained from Swat to the Waiziristans human dislocation and displacement matter.
Those who have observed the civil and military authorities handling this issue have expressed hope and confidence. Thank God, the Gilani administration and the armed forces have accepted this challenge with courage in the face of innumerable difficulties caused by the inadequacy of material and monetary resources. Even the periodically harsh criticism unleashed by some media persons has not deterred President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani from pursuing this uphill goal.
The results speak for themselves. As many as 3,248 students, both boys and girls, who got displaced from South Waziristan, have resumed their studies in schools in DI Khan and Tank districts, where these educational institutions had been advised by the Armys Special Support Group to immediately start second shifts. And 10,434 blankets, accompanied with other winter-use items, have been donated by armed services personnel who also cut their ration allocations under the directives of COAS General Kayani, to protect the IDPs from starvation. And although as much as 71.7 tons of food was supplied in this context, more cuts are being made to supply even greater quantity of food items to the suffering people from the SWA. In all, the food items distributed through the Army amount to 713 tonnes in quantum.
The best part of these relief and rehabilitation operations is that everything is being done with transparency and in a most organised and scientific manner with the coordination of highly experienced foreign organisations with a humanitarian agenda. The World Food Programme (WFP) is in the limelight on account of consistent supply of foodstuff while other agencies are carrying out their work with equal diligence and concern.
According to the data available, the WFP has distributed 6,433.23 tonnes of food through PEACE. As for non-food items, 26,293 families have benefited so far. Due attention is also being given to health care as, by now, 6,919 patients have been treated and 6,781 hygiene kits distributed among the IDPs and two water tanks installed in Tank district.
And, as already discussed, education is also being taken care of. The Unicef has helped establish 17 makeshift schools, each for 80 students with second shifts having already started in other local schools. The studies have resumed. The strategy adopted is a very fine one as stress is being laid on skill development in addition to formal education. The number of persons registered for skill development is 2,845. This encouraging and warm response of the IDPs of the SWA proves one thing that their bond with their government and its departments has strengthened with the mutual trust growing yet stronger.
Other items of the relief package are also very good. These include family food basket for two months, cash for food programme, IDPs being paid Rs 5,000 per month per family for six months, water scarcity issues at DI Khan being addressed, 250 tonnes of Army ration being built up in DI Khan for IDPs, donations from different Army formations flowing in regularly.
People are also happy with the prompt and proper verification of IDPs data. It is being done by the state-of-the-art Nadra counters that have so far, done the verification of 64 per cent of the IDPs registered previously and of 79 per cent registered afresh. Thus far, 54,884 individuals registration has been done whereas fresh data of 8,081 families of IDPs was forwarded to Nadra on November 6, 2009.
And sincere, prompt efforts are being made to bring the feeling of normalcy within the lives of IDPs. Focused attention is being given to giving cash and credit or ATM cards facilities to these people. Till the 10th of November, 18,638 accounts were opened by IDPs and cards distributed among 10,621 individuals, who are based in DI Khan and Tank while cards have been activated for 6,781 people in this category that brings the percentage of the people having the activated card facility, to 36 per cent. By now, Rs19.337 million have been withdrawn by the victims from ATMs and from post offices, Rs 10.765 million. And one bank of national standing has been released an amount of Rs 1.83 billion for this relief and rehabilitation work.
Isnt this account quite amazing? Of course, it is. But while it is amazing, it also carries the element of surprise, especially for the foreigners. The foreigners, which include watchdog and monitoring and surveillance organisations, were not expecting the Pakistani IDPs crisis to be handled so well and so early. They were rather anticipating a calamity-like situation in our troubled tribal areas as a good few people from amongst these foreign organisations had a different perception of the Pakistani civil-military combined operations as well as about the people. This skeptical opinion was, however, based on past narrow observations although things have changed on our political (and thus social) landscape as the days of autocrats are long over, leaving no room for any bungling or mishandling of foreign assistance.
The fact is that the sincerity of the Gilani government and the Pakistan Peoples Partys top leadership has prevailed in the end over all the suspicions as well as difficulties. Resultantly, funds from abroad too have started pouring in again although still lot more is needed as also stated by President Zardari in his repeated statements given during the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meetings and during his visits abroad. Very recently too, President Zardari has urged the world to do more for peace and for the development of people affected by militancy and terrorism. Evaluate this statement on any litmus test. It will prove to be not merely a demand or rhetoric but a hard, undeniable reality that the world community just cant afford to ignore.
President Zardari in particular has not relaxed for a while in raising this most genuine, humanitarian demand, seizing every opportunity that comes his way. Rather, he turns ever calamity into an opportunity, an art in which he has started excelling to the advantage of the people of Pakistan.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
By Shehryar Saif
As is just but natural with every military operation, the South Waziristan operation too has, attached to it, the problem of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which should be renamed as Terrorism-Affected Persons (TAPs) in line with the actual facts.
But both the PPP-led government and the armed forces, especially the Special Support Group, have made it a point to apply their experiences gained from Swat to the Waiziristans human dislocation and displacement matter.
Those who have observed the civil and military authorities handling this issue have expressed hope and confidence. Thank God, the Gilani administration and the armed forces have accepted this challenge with courage in the face of innumerable difficulties caused by the inadequacy of material and monetary resources. Even the periodically harsh criticism unleashed by some media persons has not deterred President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani from pursuing this uphill goal.
The results speak for themselves. As many as 3,248 students, both boys and girls, who got displaced from South Waziristan, have resumed their studies in schools in DI Khan and Tank districts, where these educational institutions had been advised by the Armys Special Support Group to immediately start second shifts. And 10,434 blankets, accompanied with other winter-use items, have been donated by armed services personnel who also cut their ration allocations under the directives of COAS General Kayani, to protect the IDPs from starvation. And although as much as 71.7 tons of food was supplied in this context, more cuts are being made to supply even greater quantity of food items to the suffering people from the SWA. In all, the food items distributed through the Army amount to 713 tonnes in quantum.
The best part of these relief and rehabilitation operations is that everything is being done with transparency and in a most organised and scientific manner with the coordination of highly experienced foreign organisations with a humanitarian agenda. The World Food Programme (WFP) is in the limelight on account of consistent supply of foodstuff while other agencies are carrying out their work with equal diligence and concern.
According to the data available, the WFP has distributed 6,433.23 tonnes of food through PEACE. As for non-food items, 26,293 families have benefited so far. Due attention is also being given to health care as, by now, 6,919 patients have been treated and 6,781 hygiene kits distributed among the IDPs and two water tanks installed in Tank district.
And, as already discussed, education is also being taken care of. The Unicef has helped establish 17 makeshift schools, each for 80 students with second shifts having already started in other local schools. The studies have resumed. The strategy adopted is a very fine one as stress is being laid on skill development in addition to formal education. The number of persons registered for skill development is 2,845. This encouraging and warm response of the IDPs of the SWA proves one thing that their bond with their government and its departments has strengthened with the mutual trust growing yet stronger.
Other items of the relief package are also very good. These include family food basket for two months, cash for food programme, IDPs being paid Rs 5,000 per month per family for six months, water scarcity issues at DI Khan being addressed, 250 tonnes of Army ration being built up in DI Khan for IDPs, donations from different Army formations flowing in regularly.
People are also happy with the prompt and proper verification of IDPs data. It is being done by the state-of-the-art Nadra counters that have so far, done the verification of 64 per cent of the IDPs registered previously and of 79 per cent registered afresh. Thus far, 54,884 individuals registration has been done whereas fresh data of 8,081 families of IDPs was forwarded to Nadra on November 6, 2009.
And sincere, prompt efforts are being made to bring the feeling of normalcy within the lives of IDPs. Focused attention is being given to giving cash and credit or ATM cards facilities to these people. Till the 10th of November, 18,638 accounts were opened by IDPs and cards distributed among 10,621 individuals, who are based in DI Khan and Tank while cards have been activated for 6,781 people in this category that brings the percentage of the people having the activated card facility, to 36 per cent. By now, Rs19.337 million have been withdrawn by the victims from ATMs and from post offices, Rs 10.765 million. And one bank of national standing has been released an amount of Rs 1.83 billion for this relief and rehabilitation work.
Isnt this account quite amazing? Of course, it is. But while it is amazing, it also carries the element of surprise, especially for the foreigners. The foreigners, which include watchdog and monitoring and surveillance organisations, were not expecting the Pakistani IDPs crisis to be handled so well and so early. They were rather anticipating a calamity-like situation in our troubled tribal areas as a good few people from amongst these foreign organisations had a different perception of the Pakistani civil-military combined operations as well as about the people. This skeptical opinion was, however, based on past narrow observations although things have changed on our political (and thus social) landscape as the days of autocrats are long over, leaving no room for any bungling or mishandling of foreign assistance.
The fact is that the sincerity of the Gilani government and the Pakistan Peoples Partys top leadership has prevailed in the end over all the suspicions as well as difficulties. Resultantly, funds from abroad too have started pouring in again although still lot more is needed as also stated by President Zardari in his repeated statements given during the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meetings and during his visits abroad. Very recently too, President Zardari has urged the world to do more for peace and for the development of people affected by militancy and terrorism. Evaluate this statement on any litmus test. It will prove to be not merely a demand or rhetoric but a hard, undeniable reality that the world community just cant afford to ignore.
President Zardari in particular has not relaxed for a while in raising this most genuine, humanitarian demand, seizing every opportunity that comes his way. Rather, he turns ever calamity into an opportunity, an art in which he has started excelling to the advantage of the people of Pakistan.
