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1.5m refugees flee Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban
Source: Agencies |
May 20, 2009, Wednesday
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PAKISTAN was yesterday racing to help refugees fleeing a military offensive against the Taliban in a northwestern valley - an exodus of some 1.5 million of a speed and size the United Nations said could rival the displacement caused by Rwanda's genocide.
The humanitarian challenge comes as the military said more than 30 militants and soldiers died as troops tried to re-conquer key towns in the Swat Valley and clashed with insurgents near the Afghan border.
Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, who leads a group tasked with dealing with the uprooted Pakistanis, said the government had enough flour and other food for the displaced but said it needed donations of fans and high energy biscuits.
He also said the refugees would get money and free transport when it was safe to return.
Ahmed said at least 22 relief camps were in operation.
The army said yesterday that its operation to clear Swat was "making headway as planned."
Troops were engaged in firefights in the towns of Matta and Kanju and near a strategic bridge as well as battling militants in the Piochar area, the stronghold of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, a military statement said.
Sixteen militants and four soldiers were killed, while 16 more troops were wounded, it said.
A separate statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said troops killed 13 more militants in the Mohmand frontier region. It said the dead included three Libyans and a Saudi.
Pakistan says more than 1,000 militants have been killed since the offensive began in late April.
But no figures for civilian casualties were given.
Whether Pakistan's will to take on militants entrenched across the northwest will falter could depend on the fate of the multitude of displaced citizens, many now stuck in the sweltering camps.
UN officials said on Monday that nearly 1.5 million people had fled their homes in Pakistan this month.
"It has been a long time since there has been a displacement this big," said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
In trying to recall a similar exodus, Redmond said: "It could go back to Rwanda" - a reference to the 1994 massacre of ethnic Tutsis. The genocide displaced some 2 million people.
The UN refugee agency says it has registered 130,950 people in the camps. Many others are staying with relatives, host families or in rented accommodation.
Redmond, speaking in Geneva, said failure to help the displaced and the many thousands of families hosting them could cause more political destabilization in the country.
The humanitarian challenge comes as the military said more than 30 militants and soldiers died as troops tried to re-conquer key towns in the Swat Valley and clashed with insurgents near the Afghan border.
Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, who leads a group tasked with dealing with the uprooted Pakistanis, said the government had enough flour and other food for the displaced but said it needed donations of fans and high energy biscuits.
He also said the refugees would get money and free transport when it was safe to return.
Ahmed said at least 22 relief camps were in operation.
The army said yesterday that its operation to clear Swat was "making headway as planned."
Troops were engaged in firefights in the towns of Matta and Kanju and near a strategic bridge as well as battling militants in the Piochar area, the stronghold of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah, a military statement said.
Sixteen militants and four soldiers were killed, while 16 more troops were wounded, it said.
A separate statement from the paramilitary Frontier Corps said troops killed 13 more militants in the Mohmand frontier region. It said the dead included three Libyans and a Saudi.
Pakistan says more than 1,000 militants have been killed since the offensive began in late April.
But no figures for civilian casualties were given.
Whether Pakistan's will to take on militants entrenched across the northwest will falter could depend on the fate of the multitude of displaced citizens, many now stuck in the sweltering camps.
UN officials said on Monday that nearly 1.5 million people had fled their homes in Pakistan this month.
"It has been a long time since there has been a displacement this big," said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency.
In trying to recall a similar exodus, Redmond said: "It could go back to Rwanda" - a reference to the 1994 massacre of ethnic Tutsis. The genocide displaced some 2 million people.
The UN refugee agency says it has registered 130,950 people in the camps. Many others are staying with relatives, host families or in rented accommodation.
Redmond, speaking in Geneva, said failure to help the displaced and the many thousands of families hosting them could cause more political destabilization in the country.
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