Background
Pakistan Army launched an anti-terror operation in North Waziristan around June 15. This led to displacement of hundreds of thousands of local residents who found themselves caught between the military and the fleeing militants. The aerial bombardment and the consequent ground action were largely concentrated in three districts: Mir Ali, Miranshah and Boya where local and foreign terrorists networks were hiding.
Keeping in view the unusually stressful situation that Bannu faces because of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) held a round-table (July 17) at Bannu with more than a dozen representatives of the IDPs, civil society, educationists and officials from the region. The objective was to assess the extent of crisis and the problems associated with internal displacement.
Officials have so far registered nearly a million IDPs from North Waziristan, a figure disputed by many (population of North Waziristan, according to 1998 census, was close to half a million). In order to facilitate the IDPs, the government and the army set up four distribution and registration points. It also initiated cash compensation schemes and dispatched mobile registration units to provide electronic national identity cards to those male and female IDPs who did not possess one.
Bannu Bears the Brunt
Bannu is one of the twenty-four districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The district’s main city is Bannu. The inhabitants of Bannu are known as Bannuchi and speak specific dialect of Pashto language.
The total area of the district is 1,227 sq km with a population of 677,346. Bannu is approximately 192 km south of Peshawar. It borders North Waziristan to the northwest, Karak to the northeast, Lakki Marwat to the southeast and South Waziristan to the southwest.
This southern district is already stressed, backward, restive and poorly-equipped with health and education infrastructure. For almost one million people today, there are only about three major hospitals – all of them under-equipped to deal with a population that has officially doubled up with the influx of the IDPs.
The Round Table
During the discussion, Abdul Khalil, Chairman, and Nisar Ali Khan, the president of the Committee of the Affectees (Anjuman-e-Mutaasireen North Waziristan), conceded that the number of people registered was bloated due to multiple registrations.
Many participants agreed that despite the military operation being currently confined to three sub-districts (Mir Ali, Miranshah and Boya, the most populous centres) people from six other sub-districts of North Waziristan have also flocked Bannu for registration.
Khan and Khalil admitted that even those residents of North Waziristan, who had left the region long ago and settled in other parts of Pakistan such as Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad, have also rushed to Bannu for getting themselves enrolled as IDPs.
The biggest incentive, it seems, is the cash compensation that the provincial (KPK), federal and the Punjab governments have announced for the IDPs. They are receiving Rs 8,000 from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, about Rs 7,000 from the Punjab government while the federal government has announced a total of Rs 37,000 (this includes a special Ramadan package too that would be valid only until the end of the fasting month). These payments are being made through mobile phones after verification of the IDPs through the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA). NADRA uses the national identity card to electronically verify the existence of the IDP.
This verification is also causing delays in food and cash delivery.
Abdul Samad, Preseident Teachers’ Association, confirmed having met people as IDPs who still live in NW but have flocked for registration in anticipation of getting cash and food. “We have seen people from villages next to Bannu and even those from Karachi and Islamabad who have come here to get registered,” he said.
Additional incentive is the 80 kg of wheat/per family plus other items such as edible oil, sugar and rice being distributed by the World Food Programme. Other UN-affiliated agencies are also active, though other national and international NGOs have so far not been allowed to get involved in the relief work altogether.
Liaqat Ali, an IDP from North Waziristan, agrees that multiple registrations had distorted the real number of the IDPs. He maintained that a lot of people may have done so because the Army had urged that all those who belonged to North Waziristan should get registered.
He argued that because of unpreparedness, confused approach and uncoordinated cash compensation from multiple sources (federal, provincial, fata, and Army) have prompted many from North Waziristan to line up for cash and food. This, he said, deprived the deserving people of the help.
Most Recurring Issues
Some of the most recurring issues and complaints could be listed as follows:
# Lack of coordination among government agencies
# Multiple registrations: The adult members of a family have separately registered their family members with one national identity card
# Delays and irregularities in cash payments, particularly by private cellular company outlets
# Cash payments are being made through mobile phones. This is confusing for the IDPs, who are not familiar with the technology, as Army, federal and provincial governments are separately making these payments.
# Ration distribution at the Bannu Sports Complex
# Inadequate shelter for IDPs, particularly women who have opted to take shelter with friendly families rather than living in camps
# Disease (diarrhea, sun-stroke, dehydration etc) among the IDPs, in children in particular because of sweltering heat
# Education: the military operation is preventing a number of senior students to complete their exams. Tens of thousands others, who were about to enroll themselves in colleges, had to move out of North Waziristan and are now waiting for education opportunities.
Implications for Education
As a whole, students of several hundred boys and girls schools have been affected by the military offensive.
Officials and school teachers told the CRSS round-table about the existence of about 1,200 schools and colleges in North Waziristan. The region also has one girls college and two boys colleges.
Displacement, said Professor Fazal Rehman, is an extremely serious setback to education in North Waziristan. All students need to resume their studies as soon as possible, he said.
Presence of Taliban and frequent curfews in the last few years have already had a disruptive impact on education, Abdul Samad, a local teacher pointed out.
Participants urged the authorities to instantly make arrangements for sending boys and girls back to schools and colleges.
As a whole, the stakeholders, including the federal and provincial governments and the Army, have gone an extra mile to help the IDPs but lack of coordination, which the local people and the critics say is because of point-scoring, has created multiple problems and difficulties for the IDPs.