“They are saying there is peace there now. Perhaps we can go back soon,” said Muhammad Ibrahim, 16, the eldest of six boys watching a TV news report in a cramped, airless room in Lahore, some 400km southeast of Swat Valley.
His younger brothers and cousins smile in agreement, pleased at the prospect of returning home to Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The leader of the Islamist Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi party, Maulana Sufi Muhammad Khan, has called on internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return home following last month’s ceasefire agreement (see the origins of Swat conflict).
Some have begun to return, some are still wary, whilst others have found new opportunities in Lahore and other big cities.
“There are at least 20 families, with about 10 members each, who are here in Lahore from Swat. I am told there are several dozen more in other areas of the city. Each night, nine or 10 of us men sit together to try and decide what we should do, if we should go back,” Rashid Muhammad, a 45-year-old trader, said.
Some 60 percent of Swat’s 1.8 million people are estimated by the vice-chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in the NWFP, Mussrat Hilali, to have fled Swat Valley at some point. “Everyone who could go, packed up and left,” she told IRIN.
Whilst a large number of IDPs are now heading back, others such as Mehmud Khan, 22, have decided to try and make a future in Lahore. “I have got a job here in a shop. Now I will try also to resume my education. There are more opportunities here,” Khan told IRIN.
Some in Lahore, like Javed Khan, 30, have decided to take their families back in the next few weeks.
“I had a job filling forms for people at the district court in Saidu Sharif [Swat’s administrative capital]. We left because there was shelling all around our village, about 10km from Saidu,” Javed told IRIN. Jobless in Lahore, he is eager to get back as soon as he can.
Others are less certain. Rashid Muhammad feared the truce might soon break down. “Neither side is trustworthy; not the militants and not the government either,” he said.
Rashid is looking for work in Lahore so he can move out of his cousin’s cramped house and send his children to local schools. “They have suffered because of the frequent closure of schools in Swat and have learnt very little this year,” he said.
His elder brother, Ghaffar Muhammad, agreed. For them and their families, the displacement may prove to be permanent.
Cramped
Most of the families from Swat who moved to Lahore have sought shelter with relatives in the city. Living conditions in homes suddenly burdened by the arrival of 10 additional people are miserable, with extended families crammed into tiny rooms.
“We sleep head to toe each night. There is no space to wiggle a finger,” Muhammad Ibrahim, another IDP from Swat, told IRIN.
“I feel terrible imposing a strain on my cousin, Aziz Khan, who has his own family of six to support,” said Rashid Muhammad. There are also frequent water shortages in the house, with the small overhead tank unable to cater for so many additional people.
Yusuf Khan, another IDP, rented a house for Rs 4,000 [about USS$53 a month] but said the situation was “impossible” since he earned only Rs 5,000 as a driver.
Rashid Muhammad and Yusuf Khan are unwilling to return for now. “We saw too many horrors there; we saw beheaded bodies thrown in the streets; terrified children running home from school and the sound of gunfire yards from our homes. They say there is peace now, but frankly we are far too scared to go back,” Yusuf Khan told IRIN.
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His younger brothers and cousins smile in agreement, pleased at the prospect of returning home to Swat Valley in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The leader of the Islamist Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Mohammadi party, Maulana Sufi Muhammad Khan, has called on internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return home following last month’s ceasefire agreement (see the origins of Swat conflict).
Some have begun to return, some are still wary, whilst others have found new opportunities in Lahore and other big cities.
“There are at least 20 families, with about 10 members each, who are here in Lahore from Swat. I am told there are several dozen more in other areas of the city. Each night, nine or 10 of us men sit together to try and decide what we should do, if we should go back,” Rashid Muhammad, a 45-year-old trader, said.
Some 60 percent of Swat’s 1.8 million people are estimated by the vice-chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in the NWFP, Mussrat Hilali, to have fled Swat Valley at some point. “Everyone who could go, packed up and left,” she told IRIN.
Whilst a large number of IDPs are now heading back, others such as Mehmud Khan, 22, have decided to try and make a future in Lahore. “I have got a job here in a shop. Now I will try also to resume my education. There are more opportunities here,” Khan told IRIN.
Some in Lahore, like Javed Khan, 30, have decided to take their families back in the next few weeks.
“I had a job filling forms for people at the district court in Saidu Sharif [Swat’s administrative capital]. We left because there was shelling all around our village, about 10km from Saidu,” Javed told IRIN. Jobless in Lahore, he is eager to get back as soon as he can.
Others are less certain. Rashid Muhammad feared the truce might soon break down. “Neither side is trustworthy; not the militants and not the government either,” he said.
Rashid is looking for work in Lahore so he can move out of his cousin’s cramped house and send his children to local schools. “They have suffered because of the frequent closure of schools in Swat and have learnt very little this year,” he said.
His elder brother, Ghaffar Muhammad, agreed. For them and their families, the displacement may prove to be permanent.
Cramped
Most of the families from Swat who moved to Lahore have sought shelter with relatives in the city. Living conditions in homes suddenly burdened by the arrival of 10 additional people are miserable, with extended families crammed into tiny rooms.
“We sleep head to toe each night. There is no space to wiggle a finger,” Muhammad Ibrahim, another IDP from Swat, told IRIN.
“I feel terrible imposing a strain on my cousin, Aziz Khan, who has his own family of six to support,” said Rashid Muhammad. There are also frequent water shortages in the house, with the small overhead tank unable to cater for so many additional people.
Yusuf Khan, another IDP, rented a house for Rs 4,000 [about USS$53 a month] but said the situation was “impossible” since he earned only Rs 5,000 as a driver.
Rashid Muhammad and Yusuf Khan are unwilling to return for now. “We saw too many horrors there; we saw beheaded bodies thrown in the streets; terrified children running home from school and the sound of gunfire yards from our homes. They say there is peace now, but frankly we are far too scared to go back,” Yusuf Khan told IRIN.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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