SWAT - PAKISTAN: Thousands of Families on Move, Displaced and Afraid

Various Views of the Current Crises:

SWAT VALLEY DOT ORG BLOG here and more from SWAT VALLEY DOT ORG here (oneheart blogger's note: the #'s of militants reported killed varies greatly)

Another Local link showing the area particularly involved - VALLEY SWAT here

Doctors Without Borders? Who will replace the rare hospital/ambulance service they provided in SWAT since they have had to leave due to violence against their own? These links may be difficult to access but related items can be easily found for searching Pakistan Doctors Without borders or here or here (if none work, do your own search easily).

International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent here

Our World. Your Move. Campaign and Statement International Committee of the Red Cross/Red Crescent here From The world’s largest humanitarian network

This one raises lots of unexpected questions?
here

Pakistan Facing Biggest Human Flood Since 1947? here

Peace First Provides Relief Goods here

From The Guardian UK yesterday here

MORE Wire Reports here

Bomber kills 10 in Pakistan as army battles Taliban
here

PAKISTAN: IDP children out of school, obliged to work - Recent Human Rights Report
here

ONE HEART BLOGGER'S NOTE
Various news and OpEd about the recent crisis/crises below. My disclaimer - I've become quite aware over the years of US occupation in Iraq and questionable, horrific actions have taken place. Likewise, I've followed over these same 7 years or so the unquestioned US military support for Israel in their desolation and crippling of the Palestinian people and land.

News and reports from and to the West are frequently shown later to have many missing facts and distortions.

While there are many places needing global attention today - I am especially wanting to follow the present situation in Pakistan and to note the complications from the outset of this most recent crisis and military intervention in Swat Valley.

I want to watch and relay the way civilians (as well as others) are once again caught in the violent cross-fires. I want to note how the US may sometimes help while other times might be undermining and endangering Pakistan's democracy. I want to find out more about the leadership for democracy and non-violent means for the Pakistan's healing which may not be readily in view to other countries nor given the support it needs to show an alternate way toward peace.

We in the US have proven over and over again in our history and world-leadership a propensity for too often seeking our own nation's interests without considering the current and ultimate interests of other peoples.

As limited as my own understanding and education has been, I have learned sobering facts from watching the events and reading related books and articles during the last seven years. I am convinced from these years that the US Congress and other leadership - which made and make grave decisions affecting millions elsewhere - have been all too weak in understanding the interplay of history, regional, tribal and sociological dynamics among the peoples of other nations. Arguably - or perhaps without argument - is a rampant tendency to ignore consequences at nearly every turn.

As a US citizen, I am one of thousands of global reporters, journalists and bloggers as well who find we must chronicle mistaken support, the use of unmanned weapons of war, cluster bombing/use of white phosphorus - and many other means of horrific disregard for fleeing residents. We must report for those who are not likely to do so - more underlying stories about provocation of so-called "enemies" - and related groups who fuel their anger with violent means. For example, often those who are now called "enemies" were once "used" by the West to fight former "enemies" and now the rage of the forsaken is coming back to haunt not only the US but also hurting all who still seek to cooperate with American means and leadership. (This history is quite easy to corroborate and research for any who care to do so.)

Of course, this is sometimes simply repeats of patterns with changing names and places. Yet sometimes also complicated in terms of ignored regional dynamics and long-standing history.

I am only capable of posting the work of others here - for the most part. I am learning as I go. However, what I see is not without some related background - having followed many of the stories through various contacts - personally known and not known - over the years the US occupation of Iraq. I've also watched quite a bit of what has been happening through US' largely unquestioned support of Israel's often wanton military/economic disregard for Palestinians (via people who've made decades of trips to Palestine/Israel). Thus, I am quite concerned about what's happening in Pakistan as well and want to learn and do what little I can here to be a bridge for peace.

In closing this blogger's note - We need to do more stories about real people - the citizens who only want to live a quiet life. Who are they? Why must their lives be ripped about? there are so many about whom we don't really want to know because then our own lives here in the US might become more demanding in terms of our own life-styles, decisions and activism.

Who are these Taliban really? Have they always been Taliban? Were they militants in training when they were young? Were/are they impressionable, intimidated youth? Have they been/are they free? Have they or their relatives, mentors been enraged by previous killings of their relatives, friends, neighbors? Are they in solidarity with movements local or global whose members and leadership have found themselves betrayed by Western promises?

Where is the potential "overkill" for US and Pakistan? Where are seeds being planted which will reap unfortunate whirlwinds? Where are there repeats of disasterous attempts to thwart terrorism in recent past and present - where led by the west?

What are the environmental results of the kind of warring the US is urging on Pakistan? What are the longterm consequences of these effects on the future of this beautiful Swat area even in terms of survival - let alone in terms of the Nation's resources for tourism and more?

So here above and below are various items - none of which I necessarily understand well nor embrace in tone or even fact. Yet I will attempt to provide over the weeks ahead a spectrum of perspectives. Some items may be posted here more quickly than I would normal post them in an effort to stay immediate and provide leads for others.

I will be adding more throughout the next few days here or in another post.

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"Close to 200 girls' schools have been destroyed and some 600 hotels rendered useless. As the exodus continues, camps for IDPs are springing up all over; tent cities for IDPs are now commonplace...Pakistan's semi-autonomous regions have been on fire ever since the army, a key component of the US-led international coalition, began fighting Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan in October 2001. Recently Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose to call their Pakistani strongholds "the crucible of global terrorism," after the US administration characterised the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas as "al Qaeda sanctuaries and terrorist havens." (this is an excerpt from article below)

The following article is from The Sunday Herald, Australian Award-Winning Newspaper

A struggle to survive in Pakistan - EYEWITNESS REPORT: From Imtiaz Gul in Peshawar
(posted via various media sources Sunday/Monday May 10/11 2009)

ALI AKBAR'S story is typical. It is a good, but tragic, illustration of Pakistan's gradual decline from a country that once provided safe haven to more than 3.5 million Afghan refugees into a nation forced to stand back and watch as hundreds of thousands of its own citizens have been turned into internally displaced people and forced to flee militant gunmen and state forces. Today, Pakistan boasts an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) population of some half a million people.

Back in 1983, when Islamist mujahideen were still battling Soviet forces and their Afghan surrogates, tens of thousands of refugees from eastern Afghanistan descended on Pakistan villages, Jalala being one of them, seeking refuge. On Friday, this village once again hosts thousands - this time Pakistanis who have fled from fighting between the Pakistani security forces and home-grown religious radicals - hardened zealots of the Tehreeke Taliban Pakistan (TTP), led by their maverick leader Baitullah Mehsud.

Ali Akbar, 11, comes from Rahimabad, a small hamlet in the embattled Swat region. The family of nine left Rahimabad in May 2007, as Islamist militants began seizing government buildings and patrolling roads and streets in the entire valley, triggering fears of another battle between extremists and the military.

"The whole night we heard thuds and shelling. We could not sleep any more," Akbar told the Sunday Herald at the Jalala Camp for IDPs, less than 25 kilometres from the mountains of Swat, once again echoing with the artillery thunder and the roar of gunship helicopters.

Anticipating escalation in the days ahead, Akbar's family packed up whatever they could and headed out of their village to reach Jalala, some 160 km northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, after an arduous journey of 10 hours, something they used to cover in less than three. Scores of other families that arrived in Jalala or the Sheikh Shahzad town camp in Mardan or the Swabi camps near the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway had similar woeful tales about the manner and conditions that forced them to flee for safety. Thousands of families are still on the move.

"The Taliban militants have forced us into this indignity, we hope the government will restore our dignity and help us go back to our homes," said Niaz Khan, father of four, from Pir Baba, a small village built around the shrine of a Saint Pir Baba. Militants occupied even the shrine, forcing the army to surround it for several days.

The camp at Jalala, a small village on the Peshawar-Swat highway, today houses about 600 families, at least 3600 people - IDPs not only come from Swat but also from Buner and Dir, towns around Swat where militants also began projecting their power after the government succumbed to a peace deal in February.

"My elder brother Ilyas used to take care of Afghan refugees at Jalala, Dargai and a few other locations in the 1980s," a local journalist Arif Zeb told the Sunday Herald, recalling that Ilyas used to work with Pakistan's Commissioner for Refugees. Nobody had ever even thought of experiencing this day, Zeb said with a voice tinged with frustration.

Like scores of other Pakistanis, Zeb is agonised by what the home-grown Islamist radicals, ideologically driven by al Qaeda, have done to their own country. Misery has piled on misery, forcing hundreds of thousands of people from a region where terrorism has replaced tourism, particularly since the summer of 2007.

Close to 200 girls' schools have been destroyed and some 600 hotels rendered useless. As the exodus continues, camps for IDPs are springing up all over; tent cities for IDPs are now commonplace.

Pakistan's semi-autonomous regions have been on fire ever since the army, a key component of the US-led international coalition, began fighting Taliban and al Qaeda insurgents in Afghanistan in October 2001. Recently Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose to call their Pakistani strongholds "the crucible of global terrorism," after the US administration characterised the mountainous Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas as "al Qaeda sanctuaries and terrorist havens."

One of the battle zones is the northern Bajaur area, separated from the eastern Afghan province Kunar. Bordering this region is the Malakand area, the crown of which is Swat valley - with ski resorts, hilly retreats, glacial water lakes at Mahudand, and hot water springs. It once attracted tens of thousands of local and foreign tourists every year, until the first signs of the Islamist reaction to the questionable War on Terror began emerging in the valley.

At first Mehsud's deputy Maulana Fazlullah got his vigilantes to scare shopkeepers into burning music CDs and videos. They warned women not to appear in public without a veil and also instructed hotels not to allow "un-Islamic activities" in other words, the drinking of alcohol.

The situation became increasingly frightening when Fazlullah's men began physically checking out hotels in June that year. Two couples, with their children, had travelled to Malam Jabba - the scenic ski resort - and then settled down in a hotel at Mingora, the administrative headquarters of Swat, for a peaceful weekend. At around 2am a band of about a dozen Taliban knocked at their doors and ordered them to leave.

"Don't spread obscenity here, just leave the place," one of them thundered while swinging his gun. The two frightened women took refuge in one of the bathrooms. But the Taliban shot twice at the door to force them out. Both horrified women were wounded and came out limping. Bleeding profusely, and with children crying, the families packed up and fled from the hotel. The hotel administration looked on as silent spectators.

From then on, Taliban militants never looked back; one after the other they seized 12 police stations, enforcing their brand of sharia, eventually prompting the Pakistan army to launch Operation Rahe Haq - the right path - to wrest control of the valley from the rag-tag army in November. But ever since Swat has not settled down.

The ensuing hostilities in the areas around Swat led to two peace deals, one in May 2008 and the other in February of this year, spearheaded by the 80-year-old Maulana Sufi Mohammad, the father-in-law of Fazlullah.

But both deals fell flat - because the al Qaeda-led TTP militants did not put down their arms, and instead used the cover of the agreement to extend their influence in neighbouring districts such as Dir and Buner, where they evicted affluent locals from their properties, seized government properties and set up security check posts in April.

This unleashed a deluge of speculation about the future of Pakistan as a nation, as advancing Taliban came within 160km of Islamabad. From President Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton and Gordon Brown, the floodgates of fear opened up. Never before had the world watched Pakistan with such an awe and helplessness.

"I think we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances," Clinton said.

The US secretary of state said the government in Islamabad was ceding territory and "basically abdicating to the Taliban and the extremists", adding that the nuclear-armed nation, under the sway of extremists, could also pose a "mortal threat" to the United States and other countries.

Despite the Doomsday scenarios, Pakistan's leaders claim they are fighting the Taliban relentlessly. "These militants have no religion, they are not bothered about boundaries, and they are opposing the state and its institutions, we cannot take it," Yousuf Reza Gilani, the prime minister said, following an urgent Cabinet meeting that ratified military action in Swat.

Gilani also summoned an all-party conference, with participation of religious scholars to elicit what he called a "consensus on the acts of people who justify their acts in the name of Islam."

President Asif Ali Zardari assured his US counterpart and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, of an "all out war against terrorists." Zardari also laid to rest worldwide speculation about the safety of his country's nuclear arsenal by saying they were beyond the reach of the obscurantists.

Obama perhaps needed these assurances. "We want to respect their sovereignty, but we also recognise that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don't end up having a nuclear-armed militant state," he said.

The American president followed up his concerns for Pakistan by urging Congress to approve additional funds so the very "fragile'' Islamabad government could go on delivering basic services like education, health care and a justice system to its people. A Congressional Appropriations' Committee approved an unprecedented $1.9bn aid package for the current year to help Pakistan ride out the economic crisis. The amount also includes more than $400m counter-insurgency funds for equipping and training the security forces, perhaps underscoring the sense of urgency in Washington on the need to prevent a Muslim country of 170 million people buckling under militant pressure.

The Washington meetings, some of them also attended by General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of the Inter-Services' Intelligence (ISI) agency, Pakistan's equivalent of the CIA, suggested both countries were closer than ever as far as taking on the common enemy, the al-Qaeda-led militants, is concerned.

By last night, almost 200 militants had fallen to the army offensive in various sub-districts around the Swat valley, the district of Buner, Shangla and Dir.

"We will fight these anti-state elements tooth and nail, and it is our resolve to keep the collateral damage minimum," army spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the Sunday Herald.

These assurances notwithstanding, the fighting is resulting in a humanitarian crisis. Most IDPs from Buner and Dir are complaining of neglect and shortage of food and shelter.

"Displacement from one's home is a big psychological trauma and these people need to be handled carefully," said Sitar Jabeen, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Islamabad.

UNHCR officials are also warning of complications if government and non-government organisations did not co-ordinate the aid effort.

"Frustrations at camps can easily deliver some people into the hands of the Taliban," said a worker of Al-Khidmat Foundation at the Jalala camp, who was surprised that some of the IDPs were still supportive of militants such as Maulana Fazlullah.

"I am not sure if the army really wants to eliminate the Taliban but those who are with Fazlullah are good ones," said Jalaluddin, a refugee waiting for his turn to register.

"In the current scenario, it is all the more crucial not only for the military but also for the political leadership to establish the state writ in the embattled areas. The credibility of the state's ability to fix rogue elements is also at stake," said Talat Masood, defence analyst.

"Pakistani state institutions have to deliver as an increasingly skeptical and cynical public looks to its government not only for safety but also for a radical improvement in governance," Masood added.

LINK to the above story - here