Solution needed for displaced in Pakistan-administered Kashmir

Pakistan's leading human rights body has expressed concern over the condition of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) living in camps located in Pakistani administered Kashmir. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said in its annual report released on Tuesday that the conditions that IDPs face remain grim inside camps housing those displaced by the conflict with India over Kashmir over a fifteen year period. "These camps, housing some 25,000 migrants, were set up on an emergency basis in [the] 90s, without any proper planning. Now they've turned to slums where there is an imminent threat of disease due to poor sanitation," Sadiq Dar,head of the Relief Commissionerate (RC) of the Pakistani- administered Kashmir government, told IRIN from Muzzaffarabad, 135 km north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Wednesday. The RC has set up 15 camps in parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir for IDPs. The relief body believes an equal number of displaced people were living with their relatives elsewhere inside Pakistan. A monthly subsistence allowance of 750 rupees (about US $13) is given to every migrant, according to Dar, "Besides we've also made arrangements for schools and health care units inside camps being run by various NGOs." Increased tension between India and Pakistan between 1998 and 2001 caused heavy displacement along the Line of Control (LoC) diving the disputed territory of Kashmir. The state relief body estimates that up to 250,000 people have been displaced to date. However, after the ceasefire in 2003 most of them have returned back to their villages, said Dar. "Some 200 families are left, who are unable to move back due to land mines in their areas and they are staying at camps now," Dar added. An international charity, Islamic Relief, working in the area for over a decade to improve health care, water and sanitation systems, stressed the need to help the remaining IDPs to resettle permanently. "A long conflict has caused huge damage to private property and social infrastructure in the area. Local communities have been suffering as they have lost their cattle, their entire livelihood, fields were mined prohibiting any agricultural activity," Muhammad Niyaz, programme officer at the country branch of Islamic Relief in Islamabad, told IRIN. Some international assistance has been forthcoming for the blighted region. Recently, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US $57 million loan for a multi-sector rehabilitation and improvement project, aimed at improving the physical and social infrastructure of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.