PAKISTAN: Refugees from fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley flock to camps

Record ID: 345287

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Refugees from fighting in Pakistan's Swat Valley flock to camps
  • Date: 11th May 2009
  • Summary: MARDAN, PAKISTAN (MAY 10, 2009) (REUTERS) SHEIKH SHAHZAD CAMP TWO YOUNG GIRLS CARRYING THEIR BELONGINGS INTO CAMP A GIRL CARRYING HER YOUNG SIBLING VARIOUS OF FAMILIES ARRIVING AT CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) GUL REHMAN, WHO HAS FLED FROM BUNER, SAYING: "The situation was bad there. Helicopters kept hovering and shelling. We have fled because of the shelling. I was worried t
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVAA8TS5YIWN2K39IH8ZNTRU2U00
  • Story Text: About 200,000 people were believed to have fled Pakistan's Swat region by Sunday (May 10) and in all around 500,000 are expected to flee because of an intensifying military offensive against Taliban militants.
    Pakistan's military ordered people out of parts of the Swat valley, temporarily relaxing a curfew to enable civilians to flee from the conflict zone.
    The army went on a full-scale offensive on Thursday after the government ordered troops to flush out militants from the Taliban stronghold.
    Helicopters and warplanes targeted militant hideouts in Mingora and other areas in Swat and Shangla on Sunday, the military said. Two soldiers had died, it said.
    In the Mardan district's Sheikh Shahzad camp for displaced people, 45-year-old Gul Rehman, who had fled from Buner with 10 family members, said: "The situation was bad there. Helicopters kept hovering and shelling. We have fled because of the shelling. I was worried that something could happen to the women and the children. That would have been terrible."
    Up to 200 militants had been killed in Swat and the neighbouring Shangla district in 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday, the military said.
    The figure could not be independently confirmed.
    Fighting had intensified two days before the offensive was launched, triggering a civilian exodus as a February peace pact collapsed, but concern has been growing for those trapped and unable to move because of the curfew.
    The army ordered civilians out of four districts to clear the way for attacks on militants and lifted a curfew for nine hours from 6 a.m. (0000 GMT). Residents said transport was scarce because the military was not letting vehicles into the valley.
    Vehicles had been stopped coming in to the valley because the military feared the militants might try to send in reinforcements.
    Life is not easy for those displaced.
    The World Vision aid group said high temperatures, insufficient toilets and a lack of electricity made conditions in camps "intolerable", despite the efforts of the authorities and volunteer agencies.
    Displaced people in Sheikh Shehzad camp in Mardan agreed.

    "Believe me, my small children have got rashes because of the heat here. We are from Swat and not used to this heat. We should be given fans. To hell with lights; all we want is a fan," said Haider Ali.
    The exodus puts an extra burden on an economy propped up by a 7.6 billion U.S. International Monetary Fund loan, while the fighting has unnerved investors in Pakistani stocks.
    The chairman of the government disaster authority, Farooq Ahmed Khan, said facilities would be provided quickly.
    Khan said 185,000 displaced people from the Swat area had been registered, with 37,000 in camps and the remainder staying with relatives, friends or in rented accommodation.
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