Pakistan's Wazirstani refugees in Afghanistan

[ArsalanKhan21]

The thick skulled short sighted Pakistani Generals and security services ignored for years the presence Talibans and foreign militants in both North and South Waziristan. Then Pakistan Army launched military actions against them which has made tens of thousands of innocent civilians refugees in their own country and many of them migrated and became refugees in Afghanistan. It is about time with the improved relations to bring back these Pakistani refugees from Afghanistan and settle them in the safe areas in Pakistan. Hamid Karzai wants these refugees to settle permanently in Afghanistan which will cause problems for Pakistan in the long run.

Karzai rejects Ghani’s remarks for calling Waziristan residents ‘Pakistanis’ - Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency

Karzai rejects Ghani’s remarks for calling Waziristan residents ‘Pakistanis’
By Khaama Press - Thu Dec 10 2015, 2:13 pm

The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has rejected the remarks by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani for calling the residents of Waziristan tribal regions ‘Pakistanis’.

The office of the Former President issued a statement following President Ghani’s remarks he delivered during the Heart of Asia summit in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan.

The statement further added that the Former President has expressed hopes that President Ghani’s visit to Pakistan will result to peace and stability in the region and lead to strengthening ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, Karzai said he strongly rejects President Ghani’s remarks for calling the residents of Waziristan ‘Pakistanis’, insisting that the Durand Line was imposed and drawn on the chest of Afghanistan during the British colonial government and therefore will never be accepted by the people of Afghanistan.

Karzai also added that the residents of Waziristan were forced to shift on this side of Durand Line after losing their homes in airstrikes and military raids, insisting that they have only shifted from one home to another home.

He said the residents of Waziristan are therefore not refugees of Pakistan and have equal and complete right similar as the Afghan people.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Living in a minefield: the refugee camp where Pakistanis are a step from death | World news | The Guardian

Living in a minefield: the refugee camp where Pakistanis are a step from death
Gulan refugee camp, home to Pakistanis fleeing North Waziristan, is on the site of an Afghan battlefield

Some of the 24,000 refugees at the Gulan camp in Khost province, Afghanistan, queue for aid supplies. Photograph: Andrew Quilty/Oculi
May Jeong in Gulan

Thursday 29 January 2015 17.30 GMT Last modified on Friday 30 January 2015 09.50 GMT

When Niazullah left his home in the tribal areas of Pakistan in June, he figured he would be gone for five days, a week at most. The army had given a three-day warning before an offensive against Islamist militants in North Waziristan and had banned vehicle travel, so many families left in a hurry with just the clothes they were wearing.

Niazullah, 23, and his wife carried their two daughters and son through the mountain passes into Afghanistan, where they settled in a refugee camp in a flat and dry desert than 10 miles from the border. It wasn’t arable, but the land was vast and empty. A stream and craggy hills provided a natural defence.

There was only one problem. It was also a minefield. Had Niazullah asked the locals, they might have explained why the area had gone unclaimed. They would have told him that many shepherds had taken their sheep grazing there, and some had never returned.

Gulan refugee camp in Khost province is located on a former battlefield where the mujahideen resistance mounted its last defence against the advancing Soviet army in the late 1980s. To protect their supply routes, the mujahideen planted anti-tank mines, the size of large dinner plates, across an area of 100,000 square metres.

This was an effective deterrent against Soviet tanks but, decades later, it has made the clearance work “an absolute nightmare”, in the words of Farid Homayoun, Afghan programme manager for the Halo Trust, an NGO leading efforts to remove the mines.



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A class held in a tent at the Norwegian Refugee Council funded school at Gulan refugee camp. Photograph: Andrew Quilty/Oculi
But Niazullah and his family had nowhere else to go, and so they decided to carefully pick through the dirt so as not to disturb the mines, and settle in among the groups of displaced tribes and families.

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The fact that none of the 24,000 refugees in the camp has died is “fortunate and surprising”, said Tom Griffiths of Halo Trust.

At first, many newly arrived refugees did not believe the mines existed. “They would ask us, ‘Why are you bothering us? There is nothing here,’” Homayoun recalled. They were only convinced when the clearance teams began unearthing mines, 14 in total, and “their eyes just became wide open”.

Now they are aware of the threat, but regulating their behaviour is not easy, according to Homayoun. The rule was easy enough: cAlthough cars should travel only on designated tracks cleared by the experts, the rule is often broken.

Noor al-Huda, one of the mine clearers, pointed at a rutted track. “The path we are standing on right now hasn’t been cleared of mines. It is not meant for cars, only foot traffic. But as you can see, cars have driven on them, including yours. We see motorcycles and donkeys roaming around, and we worry. But there is nothing we can do. They are stubborn. It is hard to convince them to listen to us.”

Mir Fatteh Khan, a burly man of 40, worries about his 10 children, many of whom have taken to wandering the foothills in search of firewood. “We tell them not to, but they don’t listen. Children will just be children,” he said.



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A sheet dividing boys from girls at the Norwegian Refugee Council school in Gulan refugee camp. Photograph: Andrew Quilty/Oculi
Huda and his team of 253 men hope to clear Gulan camp of mines soon. Until then, the residents will continue to lead a precarious existence. “We are just waiting for a disaster to strike. Every minute there is a possibility,” Homayoun said.

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Over the past three decades of war, nearly three million Afghans have fled to Pakistan, where they share a language, religion and culture. Now the migration is being reversed.

The offensive that drove the refugees out of Pakistan was in response to an attack by Tehreek-i-Taliban on Karachi airport, and was meant to quell the Islamist militants who use North Waziristan as their base. The Pakistani military claims more than 1,000 militants have been killed since the assault began in June, a number that cannot be verified because of the government’s ban on reporters entering the area. In the process, 1.5 million people have been displaced, and as the military offensive enters its sixth month, more refugees are streaming across the border.

Among them are Niazullah’s cousins, who fled air strikes in Datta Khel, a district in North Waziristan. They brought stories of destruction that put an end to any idle thoughts of returning home, Niazullah said.

While the days are still blisteringly hot, at night the temperature can drop below freezing. Niazullah wore a set of traditional clothes, his only outfit. “We will be back in three months, or we will stay here for three years. There is no knowing what will happen,” he said.

At first glance, Gulan refugee camp appears chaotic. But in truth there is order: the refugees have recreated the system of tribal leadership from back home. Thirty members of a council of elders govern the camp, advocating for collective rights and punishing perpetrators of petty crime.

Despite earlier concerns, the elders say, there are no insurgent activities in the camp. The refugees are allowed to keep small arms, says Bo Schack, head of the UN’s refugee agency in Afghanistan, because “trying to make a community weapons-free where every man with respect for himself has to have a Kalashnikov is not possible”.

For children, who make up two-thirds of the population, life there consists of daily classes and making their own entertainment. A bit of plastic and string make for an ersatz kite. A brother pulls a sister down a hill on a homemade toboggan fashioned out of a discarded plastic pail. A boy has taken to collecting sticks near a cairn of rocks to build a model mosque.

 

[haviZsultan]

This exposes the dilemna of the Afghan leadership. Keen to maintain their warped vision of the durand line but unable to feed its population-despite this they continue to host a hostile attitude towards Pakistan. If they were so into protecting the rights of Pashtuns they should have proposed or accepted the proposed union by Chaudhry Ahmed Syed Khan.

I want to be a pashtun but that does not mean I will ever confirm to these Afghansimposed hostile vision for Afghan Pakistan rivalry. The Afghan nationals should respect our Pakistani citizenship-nothing-no vision of our unity comes at the cost of Pakistan

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

North Waziristan refugees in Afghanistan: MSF provides humanitarian aid in Gulan refugee camp | Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International

North Waziristan refugees in Afghanistan: MSF provides humanitarian aid in Gulan refugee camp
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31 July 2014
Tens of thousands of people fleeing major military operations in the Pakistani region of North Waziristan have crossed the border into Afghanistan over the past months, seeking refuge in Khost, Paktia and Paktika provinces. In response, teams from the international medical organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) are providing medical and humanitarian aid in Gulan refugee camp, Khost province.

Celine Leto/MSF
Gulan camp in Khost Province, eastern Afghanistan. The refugee camp is now the temporary home of thousands of people fleeing a military offensive in North Waziristan, on the other side of the border in Pakistan
KABUL 31 July 2014 -Most of the refugees in Khost province are being hosted by the local community, but an estimated 1,770 families have settled in Gulan refugee camp, a vast stretch of land some 19 kilometres from the Pakistani border. Since 5 July, MSF teams have been running a clinic, set up just outside the camp, and working to improve poor sanitation within the camp.
North Waziristan, from where the refugees fled, has very low vaccination coverage, so MSF teams have prioritised vaccinating children between six months and 15 years old against measles, a deadly disease that can spread rapidly within camps. So far, MSF teams have vaccinated 2,965 children – or an estimated 87 percent of all children in the camp – against measles, at vaccination points set up in the camp. They will continue to provide vaccinations in the clinic for new arrivals and for children who have slipped through the net. Meanwhile, teams of MSF health promoters have been going from tent to tent to encourage families to bring their children to be vaccinated.

“We saw two children with measles when we first opened our clinic: we knew we had to act quickly,” says Anthony Pedsizay, MSF medical referent in Gulan refugee camp. “We sat with the tribal elders to discuss the importance of vaccinations and they have been fully supportive of the campaign.”

“We sat with the tribal elders to discuss the importance of vaccinations and they have been fully supportive of the campaign.”

Anthony Pedsizay, MSF medical referent in Gulan refugee camp

Spread out over a rocky, dust-filled plain, the refugees in the camp have settled in groups that reflect their family ties, tribal affiliation and place of origin, with up to 30 tents set up in a circle. The existing tribal structure has been maintained, with the elders of the four main tribes heading each community.

At MSF’s clinic, the medical team is treating an average of 100 patients each day. “We are seeing a large number of patients with chest infections, but the most worrying issue is the risk of diarrheal and skin diseases due to the poor sanitation conditions in the camp,” says Pedsizay.

The hot and humid weather, with temperatures reaching 35 degrees, increases the risk of diseases spreading if appropriate sanitation measures are not put in place. MSF teams have constructed two water bladders and are chlorinating a third water bladder provided by the local community. MSF teams have also dug 178 latrines, although the process has been slowed by the presence of unexploded mines, a legacy of decades of war in the area. After a specialist demining organisation has finished clearing the area, MSF plans to increase the number of latrines, according to the further needs.

For most of the families in Gulan refugee camp, who were living just on the other side of the border, crossing into Afghanistan was a better option than travelling greater distances to other parts of Pakistan.

Celine Leto/MSF
MSF teams of mobilizers go tent to tent to encourage families to bring their children to be vaccinated against measles
Some people were able to prepare for their journey, and arrived at the camp with many belongings, including goats, donkeys, cows, mattresses and cooking utensils. They travelled in their own cars or in rented trucks, weaving through the mountainous border region to reach Khost. While those with cars are sometimes able to travel to Khost city, some 18 kilometres away, to buy supplies, the prohibitive price of fuel makes this journey a rare event. Since they arrived in Afghanistan, many refugees have had to sell what few belongings they own in order to make a little money. Other families were taken by surprise by the shelling, and were forced to leave everything behind before crossing the border on foot.
It is now six weeks since refugees first began arriving in Gulan camp, and it seems likely that they will not be able to return home before winter. With living conditions in the camp far from adequate, MSF’s teams will concentrate their efforts on expanding sanitary facilities, including latrines and showers, and continuing to address the medical needs of the refugees.

MSF has been working in Khost city since 2012, running a maternity hospital where more than 1,100 women are helped to give birth safely each month. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, MSF runs a trauma centre in Kunduz, in the north, and works alongside the Ministry of Public Health in Ahmad Shah Baba district hospital, in eastern Kabul, and Boost provincial hospital, in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province. In all locations, MSF provides medical care free of charge and the hospitals strictly observe a no-weapons policy. MSF relies only on private funding for its work in Afghanistan and does not accept money from any government.

 

[pakdefender]

The thick skulled short sighted Pakistani Generals and security services ignored for years the presence Talibans and foreign militants in both North and South Waziristan. Then Pakistan Army launched military actions against them which has made tens of thousands of innocent civilians refugees in their own country and many of them migrated and became refugees in Afghanistan. It is about time with the improved relations to bring back these Pakistani refugees from Afghanistan and settle them in the safe areas in Pakistan. Hamid Karzai wants these refugees to settle permanently in Afghanistan which will cause problems for Pakistan in the long run.

Absolute rubbish , since independence the stupid narratives propagated about FATA , by its own residents and their kinsmen , is responsible for the situation that arose over the last decade

Had it not been for the Pakistan Army , Pakistan would have ended up like Syria or Iraq.

Establishment of a properly demarcated and policed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is what is needed.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Pakistan Refugees Prepare for Winter in Afghanistan - WSJ

Pakistan Refugees Prepare for Winter in Afghanistan
Thousands Have Fled Westward to Avoid Military Offensive in North Waziristan

ENLARGE
Men from North Waziristan wait for aid supplies at Gulan refugee camp in Khost Province, Afghanistan. Andrew Quilty/Oculi
By
Nathan Hodge
Nov. 20, 2014 5:51 p.m. ET
1 COMMENTS
GULAN CAMP, Afghanistan—This summer, Paidad Khan fled here with his wife and six children to escape fighting in Datta Khel, his hometown in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan.

Now, ahead of winter, Mr. Khan and thousands of other refugees from the region are putting down roots in Khost and neighboring Paktika province. On a recent morning, Mr. Khan laid a modest foundation of bricks to provide better shelter for his family in Gulan refugee camp, a tent city that is home to around 4,500 families around 11 miles from the Pakistani border.

“I’m building a home for the winter,” he said.

Families like his fled across the border into Afghanistan to escape the summer government offensive in North Waziristan. The Pakistani military didn’t say publicly how long the offensive might last, but officials set expectations at the outset it would take around two months to clear out militant strongholds.

Months later, refugee families from Waziristan are digging in for the long haul.

ENLARGE
A young girl runs in Gulan refugee camp, where earthmovers are still at work uncovering antitank mines. Andrew Quilty/Oculi
The influx of a large number of Pakistani refugees into Afghanistan reverses a historic trend. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and the ruinous civil war that followed, millions of Afghans sought shelter in Pakistan and Iran. Millions of Afghans still make their homes and raise their families in Pakistan’s border areas as well as in cities such as Karachi.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, approximately 35,000 families have fled into the eastern Afghan provinces of Khost and Paktika from Pakistan—a total of around 200,000 people.

Aid groups say they are providing winter supplies for around 10,000 families in Khost and planning for an additional 6,000 in Paktika. The supplies include tool kits, tarpaulins, warm clothing and wood-burning stoves. In Gulan camp, they are distributing firewood and blankets.

It’s unclear how long the recent Pakistani arrivals may stay in Afghanistan, but aid agencies are now planning to maintain assistance to them until mid-2015 at least.

Hazrat Mir, a refugee from Miram Shah, the administrative capital of North Waziristan, has been working to provide better winter insulation for his tent, and said he intended to install one of the camp stoves being distributed by aid agencies.

Asked when he planned to go back to Pakistan, Mr. Mir said: “I don’t know. Not until peace returns.”

Most refugees, aid officials say, have sought shelter with local families, further increasing the strain on local government services in these already impoverished provinces.

ENLARGE
A young boy and men from North Waziristan line up for aid supplies Gulan refugee camp in Khost Province, Afghanistan. Andrew Quilty/Oculi
“The government has done its best to assist the displaced families,” said Mohammad Akbar Zadran, the governor of Gurbaz district, where Gulan camp is located. “We have created four schools for them. We have provided them with drinking-water facilities and have established some clinics for them.”

Angela Moore, the acting head of the UNHCR operations in the Khost area, said the refugee agency had seen a trickle of new refugees in recent weeks from North Waziristan due to aerial bombardment. The approach of winter, she said, was a new concern.

“It’s becoming quite critical,” she said. “Since I’ve been here, the weather is changing quite dramatically.”

Video Clips from Gulan Refugee Camp

• Refugee girls from Pakistan practice the Pashto alphabet.
• De-miners probe for unexploded ordnance.
• Water is distributed for Pakistani refugees.

But refugees face hazards beyond poor weather. The area around Gulan camp remains littered with ordnance left over from Afghanistan’s decades of conflict. De-miners probing the ground around the camp have recently unearthed antitank mines and other unexploded shells.

Gulan camp has none of the neat rows and straight lines often seen in organized refugee camps. Tents are circled together in improvised compounds, where extended family groups can stay together and maintain a modicum of privacy.

Refugee agencies say they hope to avoid a situation where tent camps become more permanent, creating a situation of dependence for refugees. Adding to the problem, aid groups say that a shortfall of funding means there is not enough to provide a tent for each refugee family.

“There is simply not enough for a tent for each,” said Bo Schack, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan. “We are certainly not fully funded.”

Aid groups say they hope the refugees will be able to return next year, but it remains unclear when, exactly, that could happen.

“We certainly hope that return will take place,” said Mr. Schack. “But right now, if you ask people there they simply say no, they are not going to return anytime soon. Destruction in the areas of return is too significant.”

—Habib Khan Totakhil contributed to this article.

Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com

 

[salarsikander]

Shamless Afghanis trying bare hard not to accept their own people by calling them Pakistanis

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Absolute rubbish , since independence the stupid narratives propagated about FATA , by its own residents and their kinsmen , is responsible for the situation that arose over the last decade Had it not been for the Pakistan Army , Pakistan would have ended up like Syria or Iraq. Establishment of a properly demarcated and policed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan is what is needed.

The bottom line is that the innocent Pakistani citizens are living in refugee camps in Afghanistan. Pakistan must bring back these refugees and settle them in safe areas with full compensation.

Shamless Afghanis trying bare hard not to accept their own people by calling them Pakistanis

These are Pakistani citizens that escaped from the ruthless Pakistan Army action that did not distinguish between innocent civilians and the militants. First Pakistan Army ignores these militants for years then take action against them while innocent Pakistani civilians were made refugees in a foreign country.

 

[salarsikander]

The bottom line is that the innocent Pakistani citizens are living in refugee camps in Afghanistan. Pakistan must bring back these refugees and settle them in safe areas with full compensation.



These are Pakistani citizens that escaped from the ruthless Pakistan Army action that did not distinguish between innocent civilians and the militants. First Pakistan Army ignores these militants for years then take action against them while innocent Pakistani civilians were made refugees in a foreign country.

Hi,
Says the who ran away to Canada ! Leaving his nawaris behind.
If same WSJ posts stuff about US invasion on afghan you will never buy it.

That's your selective pick and choose argument without any substance as always

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Hi, Says the who ran away to Canada ! Leaving his nawaris behind. If same WSJ posts stuff about US invasion on afghan you will never buy it.That's your selective pick and choose argument without any substance as always

You should frame your own replies. They seems to be worth their weight in diamonds ! Idiot !

 

[pakdefender]

The bottom line is that the innocent Pakistani citizens are living in refugee camps in Afghanistan. Pakistan must bring back these refugees and settle them in safe areas with full compensation.



These are Pakistani citizens that escaped from the ruthless Pakistan Army action that did not distinguish between innocent civilians and the militants. First Pakistan Army ignores these militants for years then take action against them while innocent Pakistani civilians were made refugees in a foreign country.

All these years Pakistan Army kept a hands off approach with FATA because of being true to the cause of the federation , unlike some snakes who wear their treachery , in the name times by gone , as a badge of honour and who held the federation hostage all these years until they forced the hands of the military to kick in their teeth , that's the bitter pill of reality that you can't swallow it seems


See here , your favourite characters from Animal Planet

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

See here , your favourite characters from Animal Planet

You are an idiot ! Assassination is better than army action that caused so many innocent civilians becoming refugees in their own country. No wonder Pakistani actions are so convoluted.

 

[pakdefender]

And some more characters from Animal Planet

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

And some more characters from Animal Planet

Same sex attraction ? Seems that you like to collect the pictures of handsome men.

 

[haviZsultan]

Let everyone have their say people. This forum is a nascent version of the principles of democracy. Many people displaced have similar views as @ArsalanKhan21. Lets not abuse him. Every person has the right and ability to advocate what he or she believes in. Keeping in line with forum rules and regs, that is.

No one is supporting muslim khan, abdullah maseed, Baitullah Hakimullah and Fazlullah. They are talking about the operations though which could have been a little less aggressive and more concerned of civilians.

I am distrustful if not hostile towards Afghanistan because they are to us but I agree that these peoples protection and lives are the concern of the Pakistani government. It should step in to help these refugees displaced from North/South Waziristan and other parts of FATA. There is no question here. And lets not blame the people of FATA. Most of them are patriots caught in a bad situation.