Thousands displaced in Lower Dir, says AI

PESHAWAR: The Amnesty International (AI) reported on Monday that thousands of civilians had abandoned their homes to escape clashes between security forces and Taliban in Lower Dir district.

The report says that eyewitnesses from Maidan in Lower Dir told AI that bodies were lying on the streets and fields because people were too afraid to move them. At least five civilians were confirmed dead at the district hospital in Timergara, including two women and a girl.

Several villages in Maidan, including Islamdara, Kankot, Maidan Khas and Lal Qila, seem to have been targeted by government artillery and helicopter gunship helicopters after Taliban forces fired on security forces from residential areas.

Eyewitnesses could see at least 10 houses completely destroyed while another 40 to 50 with partial damage.“Neither the Taliban nor the government forces seem to care about the well being of the residents of Lower Dir,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director.

“The Taliban show no compunction about using civilian areas as combat zones, even knowing that the military will respond with indiscriminate long-distance shelling and aerial bombardment.”

The report further mentions that observers in Timergara told the AI that thousands of civilians had abandoned their homes in Maidan and moved towards neighbouring areas in Chakdara, Mardan and Charsadda.

An eyewitness in Maidan said civilians were moving through the fields to escape the firing on the main roads.A local non-governmental organisation working in Lower Dir, al-Khidmat (affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami) told AI that it had registered at least 33,000 displaced persons in the last two days.

The civilians fleeing Lower Dir would join more than half a million people already displaced by the fighting, according to the most recent figures from the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

“Pakistan is now facing a serious displacement crisis, as hundreds of thousands have been forced out of their homes, including tens of thousands now living in camps formerly used to house Afghan refugees,” Zarifi said.

“While the politicians in Islamabad and Washington talk about geopolitics, people in these quiet villages have their lives shattered. It’s about time for the world to turn its attention to the people of NWFP, who are facing severe problems right now.”

The fighting in Lower Dir began when the Taliban fired at a convoy of security forces moving towards the town of Lal Qala.The report further states the local government sources told AI that eight government troops and 47 Taliban fighters had been killed, including Qari Shahid, the Taliban’s commander in the region.

However, the AI admits that it could not independently confirm the numbers of the fatalities due to the intensity of the fighting. According to local military officials, the Taliban in Lower Dir are now led by two new commanders, Hafizullah and Mullah Mansoor.