Task force being set up to register IDPs

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the provincial government has set up relief camps in Hyderabad and Karachi, besides Kandhkot and Ubaro, for thousands of internally displaced persons arriving here from the federally administered tribal areas and Swat, Buner and other parts of Malakand division.

Mr Shah was talking to a three-member delegation from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which called on him at the Chief Minister’s House on Friday. They discussed at length issues related to the registration and care of the IDPs.

The chief minister informed the delegates that a task force comprising two ministers, members of the provincial assembly, five senior officers, representatives of a few non-governmental organisations, and officials of the National Database Registration Authority was being set up for IDPs’ registration. The task force would also ensure provision of food, water, medicines and other basic facilities at the relief camps, he said.

Mr Shah said that the government was not only establishing camps for the IDPs arriving here in huge numbers, but also sending food and relief goods to the NWFP on a daily basis.

UNHCR representative in Pakistan Guenet Guerr-Chiristos, who headed the delegation, along with deputy representative Michael Zwack, apprised the chief minister of their relief efforts for the IDPs in the NWFP.

She said that the UNCHR had received contributions from the governments of Australia, Japan, Sweden, the USA, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands, France and the European Union in response to the UN Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan for IDPs.

The meeting was also attended by Secretary to the Chief Minister Syed Sohail Akbar Shah, Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and Agriculture Secretary Agha Jan Akhtar.