Displaced people find jobs as guards

Lahore: The 350,000 or so people displaced from the tribal agency of South Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghan border are increasingly convinced they will be unable to return home for some time.

Winter descending in the north has brought temperatures consistently closer to freezing point and people forced to leave homes due to the fierce fighting between Taliban forces and State troops have in many cases set off for larger cities in search of work to sustain them over the months ahead.

Many, like Salimullah Mehsud say they have had to "leave almost everything we owned" at home, and now need money to make ends meet.

"My children need to go to school and I must earn to pay fees," he said.

Hoping to find employment, some have gone as far as Karachi, located over 1,000 kilometres south of Dera Ismail Khan, the district heading most internally displaced persons.

Discrimination

Others have moved in with relatives in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta or other cities. But while tribesmen from Waziristan have in some cases faced discrimination because of the perception that they may have links with militants, other things have worked in their favour.

"I thought it would be hard to get a job. But these days everyone is seeking security guards because they need protection against terrorists, and because many men from South Waziristan know how to use guns, we are being hired," said Azeem Khan, 30, now working as a guard at a bank.