Pakistan facing displacement crisis

Pakistan faces two critical issues: counter-insurgency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and now in Swat, Buner and Malakand; and the consequent increasing influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) moving into the adjacent areas of the North West Frontier Province.

Conditions have led to the displacement of some 553,929 people last year. Since Tuesday, another 107,719 have been displaced, according to official figures up to Friday. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and World Food Programme (WFP) project that there will soon be one million IDPs.

Some officials claim that this is alarmist, but given the population of Swat and the inception of the counter-insurgency operations, this is a prudent approximation, which may be exceeded.

Pakistan is in any case faced with an IDP crisis. There is an urgent need for a more coordinated governmental response and to internationalise this issue. The president and prime minister of Pakistan have appealed for international assistance.

A very strong case for assistance can be made. If fighting terrorism is not just Pakistan's responsibility but a shared global concern, then mitigating its side effects is also a global responsibility. The rise of extremism, militancy and the Taliban are reactions to the 'war on terror' and the eight-year occupation of Afghanistan. The resulting disequilibrium of Pakistani society has as its latest consequence the increase of IDPs. If timely and generous international assistance for relief and then for rehabilitation, return and development is not provided, these people are likely to become future Taliban.

The earthquake disaster of 2005 led to a steep learning curve. The lessons learned constitute a model for the existing situation, which is likely to accelerate as counter-insurgency operations continue. The sustainable success of the counter-insurgency strategy partially hinges on meeting the present IDP challenge and then on creating conditions for return. The chief of army staff has emphasised this campaign requires a fully supportive and coordinated national effort.

Soon after the earthquake, an ad hoc mechanism in the Prime Minister's Secretariat was set up under Major General Farooq Ahmad Khan. He supervised an implementation process through an inter-ministerial group, including the Pakistan army, the main operational infrastructure for disaster response. The UN agencies were co-opted and, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Emergency Coordination Cell, emergency assistance was successfully generated from the international community. This was followed up by a UN appeal and a Donors' Conference in Islamabad for relief and rehabilitation that raised $5.8 billion (Dh21.3 billion).

Subsequently, to institutionalise a response capability, a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) - fortunately, given the lack of institutional memory in developing countries, still under the dynamic Farooq - and provincial PDMA branches were set up. This decentralisation however, from the NDMA to the PDMA and from the Inter-Ministerial level to the NDMA, has the drawback that the national strategic planning capability has become fragmented and less focused than it was after the earthquake.

This is not to say that the federal and provincial authorities that work mostly with the resources of the UN agencies have not been addressing the IDP issue. As of Tuesday, 11 camps housing 91,017 individuals were set up in the NWFP, with a further 462,912 IDPs outside the camps. For the fresh influx since Wednesday, another eight camps have been set up for 22,106 individuals, with another 85,613 IDPs outside the camps.

All of these IDPs, according to the NDMA, are being provided essential basic necessities through the resources of the federal government, UNHCR, WFP, United Nations Children's Fund, Pakistan Red Crescent Society, International Committee of the Red Cross and the UAE's Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Charity Foundation.

A number of steps are urgently required. The government should immediately set up an inter-ministerial committee headed by the chairman of the NDMA to assess short, medium and long-term requirements.

Since Western countries have been pressing Pakistan to intensify counter-insurgency efforts - which Pakistan had been pursuing at its own pace and according to its own strategy - they should provide the much needed assistance for the IDPs' relief and subsequent rehabilitation.

It is necessary, however, for the government to draw up a concrete plan for present and emerging needs before this takes place. An international appeal for assistance through the United Nations must be mounted. The IDPs present a multidimensional set of problems. Basic provisions for food, clean drinking water, fuel for cooking, medical facilities, special needs for women and children - including uninterrupted education - and care for orphans and the elderly are all required. A sufficient supply of tents capable of coping with the cold of winter should be ordered now. Immediately after the earthquake, there was a scramble to secure such supplies and many of the tents ordered were not winterised.

Apart from setting up a single fund for relief, the NDMA should publicise the exact material requirements, including the locations where they are to be sent.

As the IDP humanitarian crisis expands and attracts further media coverage, addressing it effectively, transparently and consistently is a major challenge for the government. This will impact on its image worldwide, which is more important than its credibility at home, and, most important of all, on the amelioration of the victims themselves, without whose support the counter-insurgency campaign cannot succeed.

Tariq Osman Hyder, a former ambassador, headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Emergency Coordination Cell during the 2005/2006 Earthquake response.