Pakistan: IDPs in the crossfire

With famine in Tharparkar, floods causing mass displacement and daily butchery of minorities, somehow Pakistan has managed to touch a new low in the treatment of its citizens. On Thursday a scuffle broke out at a food distribution point in Bannu when IDPs from North Waziristan (NW) began protesting the lack of foodstuffs and distribution facilities. They eventually “stormed the distribution points, looting all the goods available”. Police and military personnel present began “aerial firing” to disperse the crowd, injuring 11 people and killing two. Officials say that 17 police personnel were also injured during the clash. On Friday, more protests erupted and after a police baton-charge, 92 IDPs were arrested and thrown into Bannu prison. Parliamentarian Marvi Memon held a ten-hour sit-in outside the prison to demand their release, which was eventually ordered by the judicial magistrate. Some 95,000 families from NW are living in refugee camps after fleeing the military operation Zarb-e-Azb that began in the Agency this summer. Many other families displaced by past fighting in Bajaur and Khyber have already been in camps for as long as six years. Others are living with relatives and friends in safer areas.

Is it any wonder that people in Pakistan turn to militancy? When the state itself is responsible for the most atrocious human rights violations and deaths, can people be blamed for drifting towards extremist groups that promise a better future? These lessons have apparently not been learnt. Institutional malaise that reflects a deep lack of concern for the people has become the standard modus operandi of the departments dealing with humanitarian problems. Some institutions bear a greater degree of culpability. The army began its campaign in NW after assuring the government that it would take responsibility for the IDPs and refusing international aid, which would have been forthcoming because of the goodwill earned by finally carrying out the much-needed NW operation. The federal government has been hampered by political problems as well as beset by crises ranging from power to polio, but could have paid better attention to the problems unfolding in the IDP camps. The National Disaster Management Authority is once again conspicuous by its absence. The greatest culpability lies with the completely absent provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government has focused on trying to unseat the federal government through protests while ignoring the desperate situation of almost a million people living in appalling conditions in KP. Its only practical action was to make limited cash distributions to IDPs in August this year. The PTI’s refusal to coordinate or even interact with the federal government because of its political ambitions is not only morally reprehensible it practically undermines the foundations of the fight against terrorism, which is premised on providing a counter-narrative to the terrorist ideology. Persecution and neglect cannot be the coins we use to repay Pakistanis who have implicitly rejected the terrorist ideology and put their trust in the country.