According to Pakistani authorities and UNHCR, 3 million Internally Displaced People [IDPs] have now been registered as a result of the ongoing operations in Swat, Buner, and Lower Dir districts. As the military offensive enters its sixth week, the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, partly due to host family fatigue and an easing of government-enforced curfew restrictions in the conflict areas. According to Relief Web, on June 8, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that IDP camps received approximately 1,800 new families between June 5 and 7 alone. As I [and many others] have emphasized [see past CHUP posts on the IDP situation], we need to continue to raise awareness about this issue and increase support, [visit The Swat Plea to find ways you can help].
Film and photography are incredibly powerful mediums in raising awareness and humanizing social and political issues, and I found this Boston Globe series of images entitled, “Children of Pakistan,” to be especially moving. Thanks to my friend who passed on the piece, which focuses on the children impacted by Pakistan’s humanitarian crisis. [You can view the series in its entirety here.] Below are what I found to be some of the most poignant and striking photographs:
![Children wait in line for food for hours at a camp in Swabi [Getty Images]](http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/pakistan_06_10/p02_19217737.jpg)
Children wait for food at a camp in Swabi, Getty
![A young girl peers over part of a makeshift tent in Swabi [AP Image]](http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/pakistan_06_10/p08_19076351.jpg)
A young girl peers over part of a makeshift tent in Swabi
![Displaced children memorize the Quran at a madrassa in a camp [AP Image]](http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/pakistan_06_10/p33_19315209.jpg)
Children memorize the Quran in a madrassa at a camp, AP
A girl collects water at an IDP camp
A young girl waits for food at a camp in Mardan, AP
These are the most UNBELIEVABLE pictures I’ve ever seen. I highly recommend that everyone goes to the Boston Globe site that Kalsoom posted to see the larger versions of the pics. Thanks for bringing this to our attention Kalsoom.
I agree, the smaller images that I managed to fit on here in no way do these photos justice. Please check out all the photographs on the Boston Globe site!
A picture truly is worth a thousand words. A friend of mine visited the IDP camps recently and said that it was heart wrenching to see how these children had been affected. Most of them were scared to open up to anyone and those that were more interactive only spoke of guns and bombs. The picture of that little girl is haunting..
Yeah it reminded me of a news piece I once saw about the impact of the war in Darfur on children. When psychologists asked the children to draw something, they were only drawing images and pictures of guns and the Janjaweed on horseback, etc. The impact of conflict on children is truly a tragedy because we have a new generation that has witnessed death and warfare first hand.
Some other things I wanted to share:
Huma Yusuf’s piece in Dawn on The Dictator’s Wife, an hour-long dramatic monologue written by Mohammed Hanif, will debut in Karachi June 6 and 7 at the PACC auditorium. The play will raise money for IDP relief efforts:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/entertainment/02-a-womans-perspective-02
Also, a fellow twitterer shared a link to UNHCR’s Flickr album which also has some powerful on-the-ground photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/page1/
My only criticism of the Children In Pakistan series is that, while the photos are technically decent pics, they are pretty cliched, don’t you think? I can just imagine the picture editor now….. “Kids gazing into the distance? Check. Kids begging? Check. Kids having fun despite the hardships? Check. Kids covered in layer of dust/dirt/grime? Check. Cute kid staring into the camera? Check…..”
That said, they do the job of tugging at heart strings and creating awareness so I can’t really fault them.
For photo geeks out there:
The Boston Globe’s Big Picture series, in general, is truly awesome. The recent Tiananmen Square series was pretty good.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/06/remembering_tiananmen_20_years.html
I also like the NYT’s Lens Blog:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com
Haha,
Well I guess you can say that about most newsworthy pics right? If the purpose of the images is to strike a chord with people in the West and raise awareness, then I guess that’s why these were highlighted. I actually really liked the photo of the boys with the shalwars bunched up about to bathe in the canal. It was really aesthetically striking.
I also chose to highlight the image of the kids reading the Quran above to showcase what I’ve been talking about for the past few weeks – how many Islamist groups and Taliban sympathizers provide services within this vacuum, and it can be very dangerous.
Also love the Tiananmen Square photos = esp. the image of Mao behind a red wall.
[...] Photography", url: "http://teabreak.pk/the-power-of-photography-42/21368/" }); Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan boston globe, buner, conflict areas, cup of tea, getty, host family, humanitarian affairs, [...]
First of all I been really busy to come by the site and read or post anything new so my apologize to you all. I recently came across some pictures of the Pakistani ministers whom were here here in US visiting or should I say begging for money. The pictures made me realize that honestly how lucky we are not to be living in pakistan and under the rule of idiots who claim to win the vote of general public when clearly they dont give a you know what about them. When there is a internal displacement in your country, you are out begging people to give them money so they can assist these people who i feel really bad for but these ministers are spending $16,000 a night on some dancer? Mr Zardari and his puppy (son) had rooms booked at a high end hotel costing pakistani government close to $5,000 a night and you are begging people for money? You r renting limo’s to go around that cost around $500.00 a night and these people are asking me to donate? How in the world do I know that what we are sending, 10 percent or should I say 100 percent is not going in the pockets of Mr. Zardari or his songs partying in london. Seriously I think these two need to go and we need some educated people who also care about their country to come and lead it.
These photos are incredible – it really moves you in a very different way to see photos that show you the personalities of the IDPs. Nothing can compare to being able to look directly into a child’s eyes and seeing everything they’ve had to endure. What I find amazing is the fact that although they have gone through more in their young lives than we ever could, they still play and swim and laugh. It just blows me away everytime.
When something is wrong, if you do not condemn it in time, sure you are going to pay for it; either you are an individual or a state.
The great silent majority of Pakistan, which was vociferous about “few useless caricatures”, could not and can not come out and protest the real reflections.
Time and again history is proving Pakistan is a conglomerate of few territories and not a state.
In general, the Big Picture feature by the Boston Globe is amazing. It is by far one of my favourite websites. I strongly recommend everyone to subscribe to its rss feed, as every week they do an equally powerful photofeature.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
Sohaib
These pictures are amazing. Most of them are done by Emilio, right? His work is brilliant and he has covered Afghanistan, Iraq, and other conflict areas as well in the past really capturing the moments.
Yeah the AP photos are all done by Emilio! Really brilliant photos.