The Nation
Published Date: Jul 16, 2014
All out efforts to provide relief to IDPs
The Government of Pakistan is making all out efforts to provide relief
to people displaced as a result of military operation in the North
Waziristan Agency. Federal Government has started this operation and is
mindful of its duty to deliver for people who are getting displaced",
said General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch Federal Minister for SAFRON
during a seminar organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute
(SDPI) on "The worsening IDPs crisis-2014 and Role of Civil Society".
The Minister said that due to confidentiality and as part of security
strategy it was not possible to inform the KPK government about the
operation Zarb-e-Azab in advance. However, he emphasized that Chief
Minister KPK and Commissioner Bannu were on board about relief provision
initiatives.
Lamenting on poor state of coordination among
different agencies responsible for taking care of IDPs, Dr. Abid Suleri
Executive Director of SDPI said that it was not the first time that
Pakistan had to cope with the challenge of IDPs.
Pakistan has been
living with the crisis of IDPs since 1947. Lately the country took care
of IDPs of Earthquake, IDPs of Swat, IDPs of Floods, and IDPs of NW who
had been leaving their homes in anticipation of military action.
There
are number of institutions at Federal as well as at provincial level to
take care of these IDPs. Commenting on very few number of IDPs in IDP
camps, Dr. Suleri said that apart from the fact that the camps are
installed in security sensitive area (FR Bannu), those camps are also
weather unfriendly and don’t suit the socio-cultural values of the
IDPs.
In the end, the plight of IDPs reflect the state of governance
i.e., who is deciding what, for whom, in which manner, and through
which forum etc. Dr. Suleri also highlighted the issue of defunct and
banned organizations working as relief provider to IDPs and demanded a
strict scrutiny of fund raiser collecting donations for IDPs. He
demanded better access of think tanks and civil society organizations in
military operation affected areas so that they may guide government and
UN agencies on how to improve relief operations through independent
analysis. Dr. Suleri also emphasized that there were opportunities in
the IDP crisis for eradication of polio in NW through organized
vaccination of all registered IDPs.
Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/business/16-Jul-2014/all-out-efforts-to-provide-relief-to-idps