Last August, while visiting a skill-building center in Pirwadhai (outside of Rawalpindi), I met a group of women from Swat Valley. Following the Pakistan military’s operation against the Taliban in Swat, these women and their families had been displaced from their homes, choosing to live with host families rather than in relief camps, falling through the aid cracks as a result.
Prior to the operations, there were numerous stories detailing the deteriorating situation in Swat Valley, from the bombings of girls’ schools to the rising influence of the Taliban. The women I met last year mirrored the fear encapsulated in those pieces. One mother told me how her 16 year old daughter had not been to school in the past two years because of the bombings. Another woman related her fear that someone – militant or soldier – would bang on her door in the middle of the night. These women, bound by their collective plight, were also connected by another fear – they were all afraid to go home.
It’s been over a year since I met those women on that dusty afternoon in Pirwadhai, and although Swat has since slipped from the news headlines, I felt it was worth updating readers on the current situation in the region. Last month, the NY Times‘ Adam Ellick, who has done several pieces on the situation [chronicling one girl’s journey in Swat to the camps and back home], noted that people felt a surge of optimism after the military declared last year that they had cleared the area of the Taliban. However, he noted, “more than a year after millions of residents returned home, the absence of virtually any government follow-through has turned that hope into despair.” The government has yet to rebuild any of the 150 schools destroyed by the Taliban. Ellick reported,
Running water, electricity and school supplies are widely absent. The floods that ravaged the country this summer, and hit Swat especially hard, have only compounded the hardships and diverted money and attention away from reconstructing war-torn areas.
The government, he argued, may have cleared this area of the Taliban, but their lack attention in rebuilding this area means “they are losing a bigger battle” – with Swat’s youth and schoolchildren. Jamaluddin, a 17 year old student, told the NYT, “Our youth will end up as Taliban. Our Pakistan will not progress because of lack of education…I don’t have any more faith to become a doctor. I don’t even believe I’ll become a bus conductor.”
The government, for their part, have defended this lack of progress, “saying that hiring engineers and architects to ensure that schools would be safe from earthquakes was a time-consuming process that was delayed two months by the floods.”
In its coverage, the Associated Press spoke with Saira Bibi, who was publicly flogged by the Taliban last year [see this past post for more about another woman whose public flogging was caught on cell phone], and echoed much of Ellick’s reporting. Although life is “starting to resemble normal in Swat,” the AP noted,
But not everything is as it was. Soldiers now stand on street corners and at checkpoints. The jagged mountain trail leading to Bibi’s village of Ashar Band is strewn with the rubble of damaged buildings. Some 300 schools the Taliban burned in the region have not yet been rebuilt. Occasional attacks — a raid on a checkpoint last month wounded one soldier — remind residents that militancy is still a threat.
One positive is that people like Saira Bibi are coming forward with their stories, sharing the brutality they suffered under Taliban control in Swat. These stories are significant because they provide a humanized perspective of life under the Taliban, a painful reminder of what women, children, and families endured, and what could occur again if we do not pay closer attention. Regardless of whether Swat is a headline tomorrow, or the region is a distant cry from Pakistan’s major cities, these stories show how important it is to restore dignity and honestly help rebuild lives.
Great post! That video is so moving. Its overwhelming to see how much work needs to be done. Is TCF involved in rebuilding schools in Swat? They do great work and are a very reliable org to donate to.
I’m not sure if TCF or DIL were involved in Swat schools before the situation got bad, but I agree – two very good organizations working on the ground. TCF from what I know are working near Mansehra and Nowshera, and DIL is working in Dir, but no one is in Swat yet – probably because it’s still considered so volatile.
Its like an unstoppable machine, or disease like a plague – this oppression against women, hatred and fear of them.
tnx for posting!– hadn’t seen this. a dear friend who’s just back from 3 mos. in Pakistan helping flood victims has a terrific idea for “philanthropic contracting.” he has lots of in-country ties, believes it can be done, and we’re planning on making this franchise an integral part of how http://www.miworld.com/ works.
i’ll absolutely forward to him…
tnx again
Thanks Susan!
What do you mean by “Philanthropic contracting”? I ask because I work in philanthropy and am developing my own venture for next year. Would be great to learn more!
Great post!
We have a family friend from Swat and whose parents still lived there till the offensive. They and his siblings are now in Rawalpindi and refuse to go back–mainly because there is nothing to go back to. They’re house was already damaged and have their savings in the bank had been stolen before the offensive. Though this is just one story, I’m sure there are countless more.
The more I read, the more I feel that roads need to be built, water and electricity needs to be supplied properly, and a reliable supply of food needs to be established. Schools are important too and ideally this would all be done simultaneously, but lack of funds is a major problem. So maybe the funds should focus on those things first than schools?
I agree – we are working via Relief4Pakistan on flood recovery in a cluster of villages destroyed by the recent disaster, and you realize really quickly when faced the enormity of the destruction, how you have to focus on rebuilding basic infrastructure. This means restarting the economy (we received gifts in kind of wheat seeds to restore 3400 acres of crop), working on dykes to promote irrigation & prevent future flooding, and looking at options for sustainable housing. We are in talks with DIL to help rebuild the schools in the area, but that is, as you mentioned a long-term projection.
I think in Swat though, it’s a matter of making sure these things actually come to pass and that it doesn’t just get left behind. Ellick talks about govt officials in his piece:
A top education official in Mingora confirmed that local politicians spent at least three months haggling over school contracts. He charged that they colluded to raise the bids and then split the profits.
“It’s an open secret,” said Fazle Maula Zahid, the coordinator of the Global Peace Council, an independent watchdog group based in Mingora, Swat’s main city. “These people, for their petty commissions, have destroyed our future, have destroyed our youth.”
The comment by Dr. Farrukh in this post is by some imposter, please remove it.