This past Thursday, Prime Minister Gilani announced that a “phased return home” for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Malakand Province will begin today, July 13. According to Dawn,
Speaking at a news conference at the PM house (his third in as many days) Mr. Gilani said the government had achieved the targets of military operation started some four weeks back in the restive Swat valley and other troubled areas Malakand division, and the IDPs will now start returning under a plan to be chalked out by Special Services Group (SSG).
Gilani’s announcement was echoed in statements by other political and military officials, including Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira and head of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, who stated that security forces “successfully completed military operations in Swat and Buner, clearing out militants and making the area safe for return…”
According to media outlets, the return will take place in three phases. Dawn on Monday reported, “Under the first phase of the three-stage repatriation plan, the displaced people from 11 officially designated camps will return to the [Swat] valley from July 13 to July 20.” The news agency added, “This would be followed by the return of off-camp IDPs, which would continue for about 10 days.” Ultimately, a total of 23,040 families are slated to return home from camps in Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera and Charsadda. According to Abbas, the provincial government has restored services like electricity, gas, petrol stations and banks. Moreover, noted the BBC, General Nadeem Ahmad, who is coordinating the operation, “said every family leaving the camps would receive cash support from the government.”
While this appears to be positive news, some have warned the shift is premature, suggesting the IDPs may not be the only ones returning. According to CNN’s Nic Robertson, the Pakistani military has claimed they have killed more than 1600 Taliban militants, “but many more had fled the fight and may now be filtering back home.” In a BBC News piece, correspondent Syed Shoaib Hasan reported that some militants managed to escape the military aircraft and artillery fire during the Swat offensive by, “using passages they had dug connecting the mines to wells inside the nearby houses.” He added, “The passages were built to take take away the emeralds safely, but ended up providing an unlikely escape route for the Taliban…Subsequently, the army was able to quickly oust the militants, who did not put up much of a fight.”
BBC News reporter Zubeida Malik spoke to Jamal Nasir Khan, the district nazim of Swat, who said many displaced were wary of returning home because neither the leaders nor the secondary level of commanders have been “taken care of.” He noted that many residents feel these leaders, like Beitullah Mehsud, Muslim Khan, and Sufi Muhammad need to be arrested or killed or they will “come up again after two months.” A Mingora resident told the BBC, “The army may have seized the region, but it still does not control all of it. The Taliban…are still very strong…After all that has happened, this is our greatest fear – the Taliban can still return.”
It is not that the millions displaced do not want to return home. In fact, many have expressed their desire to travel back to their towns as soon as possible. Their caution, therefore, seems to be based on a lack of trust in the government to ensure services and security, as well as an overall fatigue from living with host families or in camps. In fact, noted the BBC’s Zubeida Malik, of the two million people displaced by the current conflict, only 280,000 actually reside in the camps. The rest are living in schools or with families. And, while many IDPs in camps receive aid from NGOs and international agencies, those residing with hosts are for the most part unregistered, relying mainly on the goodwill of local citizens. Many of those “off-camp” IDPs have already returned home to Buner, but, noted the Daily Times, received no government support.
If the government can ensure safe travel and basic services for the returnees of Swat Valley in this upcoming shift, great. But their responsibility does not end there. The Swat economy is based largely on agriculture and tourism. Given that the first crop has already been lost, and there is not a single tourist to stay in the 600 Swat hotels, the issue of long-term survival must be addressed. How can these citizens maintain a livelihood within this vacuum so that, even after their return, they are no longer dependent on hand-outs?
Ultimately, the government needs to strike the balance of ensuring not just a safe but also a sustainable return home. Pakistan is a nation fatigued by conflict, and while the offensive has placed a tremendous strain on the nation’s infrastructure and people, it should not be sped up just to capitalize on the public’s support for the war. It should not be put on turbo speed just because Ramazan [the Muslim month of fasting] is fast-approaching, or because the 3,700 schools currently occupied by IDPs need to be re-opened for the upcoming school year. The displaced people deserve far more than false hope or a repeat of past operations. And, frankly, we all do.
Note: This piece was just republished in the Huffington Post! Very exciting!
For CHUP’s past posts on the IDP situation in Pakistan, click here.
Map, courtesy BBC News
[...] of Return", url: "http://teabreak.pk/the-question-of-return-42/22415/" }); Read more at: CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan athar, charsadda, cnn, federal minister, gilani, inter services, kaira, military officials, [...]
Good related news from Alertnet (@Reuters today): http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/e1c998d446350fdea060efe9a7347015.htm
Although many IDPs are excited to return home, IRIN reported: “I have heard that many houses have been destroyed, as well as shops and fields. My brother, who stayed on in Swat, says there are acute food shortages because government deliveries are too slow, and we wonder how we will rebuild our home, because much of it is damaged,” Mohammad Suleiman, 25, who is hoping to return as soon as he can find transport, told IRIN.
Now that IDPs are returning home, repatriation and resettlement into these areas are key. The Brookings-Bern Program on Displacement advises that the IDPs themselves be involved in the process of rebuilding their lives/towns. Also, the United Nations has asserted that the IDP return MUST be voluntary [hence even the term 'return']. The NY Times cited an IDP who told them, “To be honest, people in the camps wanted to go back for a long time,” he said when asked about the mood of the displaced people living in the camps. “The government is not forcing them. The refugees have signed a declaration that they are not being forcibly returned.”
Ultimately though, the question I still have is “Are they ready to return?” What do you think?
This post was really interesting. It will be a challenge for Pakistan’s government to provide fair compensation to the returning IDPs. The government needs to undertake the significant responsibility of developing its own task force to ensure the safe and permanent return of IDPS.
The question is: What will they return home to? We have already witnessed the sloppiness of the Pakistan governments’ initial operation in the area, as well as how badly unprepared they were for the influx of refugees- what guarantee is the there that any of these peoples’ destroyed villages, livelihoods, etc, will be replaced by our government? Civil society has certainly done its part in helping them survive while here, but providing regular supplies up in the high North in similar quantities is impossible for us.
Then there’s also the fact that our sovereignty continues to be violated by U.S. drones- these bomb the area indiscriminately and will put all who return at risk.
Lastly, I think we are making the same mistake that the Americans have made consistently when fighting guerilla groups (in Afghanistan, Vietnam, etc): We assume that simply carpet bombing the area will do the job and do not understand that ideologies and groups such as these simply cannot be bombed out of existence.
I’m frankly worried about what will happen when this government cover and security goes away. Will the militants return and will we see a repeat of this situation?
[This part is from my comment on the Huff Post]:Ultimately, the government and the military is doing everything that is required of them – providing protection for returnees, restoring basic services, even giving monetary compensation for returning families. From reports I’ve read, the displaced are returning out of choice, which is the primary reason behind designating them as “returnees” [in that they are returning "with dignity."] However, maybe what also should be probed is not what they ARE doing but what they are not doing. Many of the families who are not in the camps were never registered – therefore, many of them are not receiving government support – how can the state be held accountable for ensuring their survival? Moreover, what will happen when the Army goes away and are not manning the towns? Will the militants return as some news agencies and reports have indicated? Ultimately, we don’t know.
Fascinating piece. If ever there’s a place where the battle for “hearts and minds,” a trite phrase it may be, needs to be won, it’s in the Swat Valley.
Anyone who was registered is receiving $300 per family and this is where the age old tradition of “scheming” is in full effect. But that is what is Pakistan. We have our problems and in the forefront is “corruption” at each and every level. Hopefully, the IDPs can return to their homes and receive everything that was promised to them: money, security and safety. The Pak Govt has failed miserably on so many accounts. Maybe this might be the wake up call.
I hope so. But from my conversations with people on the ground (working with the IDP camps), they are pessimistic about the longevity of this return.
[...] Lakhani at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan provides an in depth analysis: It is not that the millions displaced do not want to return home. [...]
[...] Lakhani at CHUP! – Changing Up Pakistan provides an in depth analysis: It is not that the millions displaced do not want to return [...]