Enforced Displacement of Tribal People will Strengthen Militants

SouthAsiaNet Report

A large number of families in Pakistani tribal areas have been displaced from their native lands to settled areas of Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, and Bannu while some have migrated to far-flung Karachi. During the process of this enforced displacement, stirred by the security operations in Waziristan, four infants and two pregnant women have lost their lives. Records of the Relief Camps suggest that the number of displaced people form South Waziristan has exceeded 60,000.

State authorities established a relief camp near Kot Azam but it failed to provide any visible relief to the displaced people. Meanwhile ministry of defense announced an aid package of Rs 20 million for rehabilitation of the affected people. But the camps, so erected, lack relief facilities.

The camp administrators had demanded 5,000 tents but they got only 250. Food, medicines and quilts were not available in the camps at all. It means no appropriate measures were taken for provision of the basic needs and protection from the cold winter. In addition, gangs of militants had an open access to the camps, which prevented the people from receiving aid. No photographers were allowed to go inside and take the photographs of the inmates. State authorities and Taliban militants equally wanted that the miseries and sufferings of the people remain covered.

Some students belonging to Mehsud tribes established volunteer relief camps and started to register and settle the displaced persons but the religious parties, mentoring the militants, sabotaged this effort as well. This way these homeless families were deprived of the civil society support. In addition to this, the whole story is full of contradictions. New operation launched by the government in Waziristan led to the enforced displacement of more than 15,000 families including women, children and the old people.

But only after ten days an agreement with the militants was reached by the authorities. The question is why, then, they had launched a military operation, if they were seeking an agreement. It shows that social and economic destruction of the peaceful tribal people was intended in the name of military operation. By forcing them to displace, militants were provided an opportunity to capture their houses and resources. If it is so, it is a very painful game. Homes of the displaced people may now become militants’ sanctuaries.

Administration and the police fear that militants and suicide attackers, in a considerable number, have entered into Dera Ismail Khan along with the migrants. Like Swat, they may paralyze state institutions by taking control of the city in their hands. In the beginning of February this year, Dera police identified ten suicide attackers. Three out of those ten were arrested and suicide jackets were recovered from them. Five more were also identified and the police was searching for them.

It is also reported that there is no check on Waziristan’s entry and exit points. Anybody can move easily in and out of the area.

According to the district administration, about 1,500 to 2,000 families have arrived in the city of Dera Ismail Khan. Their total number is more than thirty thousand. But, nobody has their particulars. Initially, centers were established in Dera city’s Town Hall and Besakhi Ground for rehabilitation of the displaced people, but, when the locals protested, they were shifted near Gomal University.

Dera police have arrested dozens of suspected people over the last few weeks. On January 3, Cantt. police arrested 2 suicide bombers, ageing 12 and 13. Both of them belonged to Waziristan. They had come there after receiving complete suicide training.

They told that they were forced to become suicide bombers under threats. They worked as laborers at Karachi when they were informed that their sisters were being mistreated. They got back from their work. Militants threatened them to kill their families and forced them to become suicide bombers. According to the investigation officers, they were innocent and they were misguided by threatening and motivation for paradise.

On February 4, Dera police arrested a young suicide attacker, Hafiz Inayatullah, who informed the investigators of four other suicide attackers who had entered the city. Sixteen years old, Hafiz Inayatullah told that Habib-ur-Rehman Mehsud and Barkat Ullah Wazir are among the suiciders present in the city. Another Mehsud and a Baloch youth are also among them who will carry out attacks at different points.

On February 5, Cantt. police recovered two suicide jackets from Madina Colony. The jackets carried 12 mortar shells each weighing 1 kg. These reports show that militants are flocking to Dera Ismail Khan.

Undoubtedly, tribal people’s displacement, caused by the Waziristan operation, has led to many problems in the city of Dera Ismail Khan. The tribals’ arrival has deteriorated law and order situation. Differences are increasing between Seraiki speaking majority and tribal migrants. Protests from Seraiki nationalist parties and reservations on part of trade unions have alarmed the citizens.

This tense situation may lead to a major confrontation. The government should take measures to improve the situation and avoid such an outcome. Tribal migrants must be helped to get back to their homes.

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