PAKISTAN: More relief supplies head to camps for the thousands who have fled fighing between government troops and the Taliban

Record ID: 607652

  • Title: PAKISTAN: More relief supplies head to camps for the thousands who have fled fighing between government troops and the Taliban
  • Date: 18th May 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) BISHOP DR. AKBAR KHOKHAR, SAYING: "We will be carrying with us relief goods to help the displaced people. We will provide them with shelters, eatables, clothes and all other things."
  • Embargoed: 2nd June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA76AW7UX8G0FV00UI42I1CIZ5U
  • Story Text: Relief supplies were being sent to camps for tens of thousands of people who have been forced to leave their homes due to fighting between government troops and Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan.
    On Sunday (May 17) at the Faisal Air Base in the southern city of Karachi, a C-130 aircrart was loaded with food, water coolers and other essential supplies to be sent to the camps.
    "This is the third batch in a series of aid dispatches which 'Five Corps Karachi' had started four or five days ago. Today we are sending five truckloads of goods. It will first reach Risalpur where the army support centre will take it over and distribute in camps," said Corps Logistics Commander Brigadier Arshad Mehmood.
    The army has announced it would donate one-day's pay and part of their rations to help set up medical facilities for the displaced. Pakistan Railways has been operating special trains to help deliver the goods.
    Private donations are also pouring into the northwest and rows of truck laden with supplies were seen heading towards the tent cities.
    The Falah-E-Insaniat Foundation, a charity group in the eastern city of Lahore, some 400 km southeast of Swat Valley, is one of them. The organization is said to be a new name for the Lashkar-e-Toiba militant group.
    "We have the biggest arrangement of food at our camps. At Katlang, Rustam, Swabi and Charsadda we are providing cooked rice. By the grace of Allah, we are distributing this meal among twenty thousand people daily. We are giving free transport and we have medical camps over there.
    Also, we are accommodating people in our houses," said Hafiz Abdul Rauf who is in charge of relief dispatches at the foundation.
    The army launched a strike in the Swat valley, northwest of Islamabad, last week to stop the spread of Taliban influence, which had alarmed the United States and other Western allies of nuclear-armed Pakistan.
    The offensive in the one-time tourist valley of Swat, has forced more than 900,000 people to flee from their homes and the United Nations has warned of a humanitarian tragedy unless Pakistan gets massive help.
    Residents began fleeing late last month when the army attacked the Taliban in two districts near Swat which they had occupied in violation of a February peace pact aimed at ending violence in the valley.
    On Saturday, dozens of people from Pakistan's tiny Christian minority community in Lahore lit candles on Saturday (May 16) to pray for the displaced people.
    The demonstration commended the efforts of Pakistan military.
    "We salute to greatness of Pakistan armed forces", said a banner.
    The demonstrators chanted "Long live Pakistan" while waving Pakistani national flags.
    "We will be carrying with us relief goods to help the displaced people. We will provide them with shelters, eatables, clothes and all other things," said Bishop Akbar Khokar.
    Christian minority accounts for less than three percent of majority Muslim Pakistan.
    Most political parties and the public support the offensive, despite scepticism about an alliance with the United States in its campaign against militancy. But opposition will grow if many civilians are killed or if the displaced are seen to be enduring undue hardship.
    Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has surged over the past two years, raising fears for its stability and alarming the United States, which needs Pakistani action to help defeat al Qaeda and bring stability to neighbouring Afghanistan.
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