IDPs continue to avoid FR Bannu camp for want of facilities
Talking to The News by phone from Bannu on Sunday, Muhammad Iqbal Dawar, who reached Bannu on foot from Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan, said he immediately left his home as the authorities in Mir Ali directed them to leave the area after relaxing the curfew for a short period even though no transport was available at the time.
He said, “I could not bring my family members along with me and left them at home and reached Saidgi checkpost on foot after going through a lot of hardships.”
He said nobody would want to stay in the camp in the scorching heat in tents due to lack of facilities though the local authorities claimed to have provided all facilities including drinking water, electricity, food, medicines, tents and non-food items.
“Hundreds of thousands of people, including women, children, ailing and the elderly had abandoned their homes bare-footed, but the authorities didn’t bother to serve them with a single glass of water,” Iqbal Dawar complained.
He said the transporters were fleecing the poor people as the truckers were demanding Rs60,000-70,000 instead of Rs10,000 fare from the affectees to shift their belongings to Bannu while the owners of the houses were demanding Rs30,000 instead of Rs5,000 as rent. He said, “The government failed to provide the required facilities to the IDPs.”
“The government should seek assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as the displacement of the tribespeople was not a local or regional but an international issue,” he argued.
The government, divisional authorities and even the local people due to their limited resources would be unable to keep up with the influx of the IDPs streaming out of North Waziristan, he said. Expressing thanks to the residents of Bannu district, he said they had set a precedent in extending their wholehearted generosity and sharing their brotherly feelings with the IDPs.
A local journalist, Ghulam Akbar, said the arrangements made by the local administration for the IDPs in the camp were insufficient. He added that it looked like a transit camp where the IDPs could stay for short intervals.
“Just imagine that we cannot stay in our rooms during the loadshedding hours so how could you expect the IDPs to stay in the tents having no protection from the sunlight and scorching heat,” he added.
On the other hand, the locals were found busy serving the affectees with cold drinks, meals and other food items at various points in Bannu city. An official, pleading anonymity, told The News that the Fata Secretariat had recommended to the government to set up the relief camp near the Kashoo Bridge on the Bannu Link Road for the IDPs, but the security forces didn’t approve the site.
He said that the site was more feasible and comfortable for both officials and IDPs as there was a mosque, water channel and tube-well available nearby and could be easily provided electricity. Besides, it was approachable for the national and international organisations.
It may be added here that the administration of the Bannu division has been trying rather unsuccessfully to convince the IDPs, who fled the North Waziristan operation that began on June 15, to shift to the camp in Bakkakhel. If the authorities had learnt their lesson, they should have known that the relief camp set up for the affectees of the South Waziristan operation in 2009 at Narsaz area in Tank district is still deserted as the tribal people refused to live in the camp.
An official of the administration of Tank district told The News that the IDPs from the South Waziristan didn’t want to stay in the Narsaz camp because of the lack of facilities. The same was the case at the Bakkakhel camp for the IDPs from North Waziristan as they were reluctant to stay there due to militants’ threats and lack of facilities.
He said that the number of the displaced Mehsud tribespeople from Ladha and Sarwakai sub-divisions following the South Waziristan operation codenamed ‘Rah-e-Nijaat’ was over 36,000. He said they were still living in Gomal, Jandola and Narsaz areas rather than in the camp. “About 6,000 of these IDPs returned home after the end of the operation. Others left for Dera Ismail Khan and other areas instead of staying in the relief camp in Narsaz,” he added.
IDPs continue to avoid FR Bannu camp for want of facilities - thenews.com.pk
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