Pakistan: Discarded Jalozai IDPs

EDITORIAL: THE FRONTIER POST

One thought that at least the Peshawar High Court’s order would drill a bit of humanity in the stony hearts of the FATA officialdom and soften them up somewhat for the woebegone internally displaced tribal families, living miserably in the Jalozai camp amid official neglect and indifference. The venerable court had directed that electric fans must be provided to the IDPs in the Jalozai and other camps to alleviate their suffering in this severe summer heat. But according to the media reports, the Jalozai residents still stay bereft of this amenity. Indeed, not even power line has been laid for running the fans. Why really is the FATA hierarchy so callous to these unfortunate IDPs? What sin is it that they have committed that this hierarchy is so vengefully out to punish them so heartlessly? Or, is it that this hierarchy thinks they are the children of a lesser god, who need the treatment of perishable worms, not of human beings? Why indeed has it discarded them so shabbily and so cruelly? Has nobody in the hierarchy any time at all for them? Is the KP governor too preoccupied with receiving and giving protocols to take out some time for them, who in reality are his sole charge in every manner? Not once has he visited them, even for form’s sake. He in fact is still to imbibe that his primary job is not to grace prize-giving ceremonies but to be with his people in adversity. And his subordinate bureaucrats seem believing that their job is only to ride sleek SUVs and pass time in their plush air-conditioned offices and comfortably-fitted homes, not to visit the distressed IDPs. Indeed, they mince no words in proclaiming impudently that these grief-stricken human beings are none of their responsibility, as they are living in camps located not in the tribal territory but in settled area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Of course, they could get away with such loathsome baloney when their chief, the KP governor, himself is so unmindful of these literally discarded IDPs. But has any of those dudes an idea of how with their inhuman behaviour they are losing on potential ambassadors of goodwill in droves? For an effective fight against militancy and insurgency, a sympathetic public on the side of the state security forces is unarguably an indispensable must. But when these inhumanly-treated IDPs return to their homes, will they not be carrying with them sentiments of bitterness, hostility and scorn against the state? And will this poison they not inject in the minds and hearts of their kith and kin at home? Verily, this could only be the worst thing to happen at this point in time when the military is still engaged in the pacification operations in various parts of the tribal areas. The military has certainly cleared many an area of the militants. But remnants of militancy still persist even in the cleared areas and remain to be tackled to pacify the still-troubled spot, as also to bring security, peace and normality to the region. This entails that a favorable tribal public must be solidly on the side of the state security forces to take on the militant rumps triumphantly. For this, the FATA hierarchy should have been in the forefront in consolidating the military gains by launching into massive rehabilitation and development works in the cleared areas to win the local populace’s hearts and minds and thereby marginalise and isolate the militants. But this inept and incompetent hierarchy has taken a backseat on this count on the obscene excuse that the military has itself sidelined it from the rehabilitation and reconstruction effort. But which military is it that has stopped this stupid hierarchy from looking the IDPs of tribal areas in Jalozai and other camps in KP? Some heads must roll. But who will set the ball rolling when the KP governor himself is so indifferent to these distressed IDPs? Whatever it is, the FATA hierarchy from top to bottom is not playing truants to the IDPs alone, they are in effect playing with the nation’s solidarity and integrity. By the way, where is the FATA secretariat spending the billions of rupees that it has got in the budget for the development of the tribal areas and the progress and wellbeing of its residents?