Fighting leads to displacement in Mohmand Agency

For several days now, Atiq Rehman Khan has been visiting bus stands in Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province, where transport comes in from Mohmand Agency.



The agency is one of seven tribal agencies along the Pakistan-Afghan border. A new military operation began there on 27 January, after stepped up activities in the region by militants.



Atiq last heard his sister and her three young children were at Nahqi internally displaced persons (IDP) camp, near the principal Mohmand Agency town of Ghalanai, after fleeing fighting in their home village in the Safi area of Mohmand.



“I am worried about my sister because she is on her own, with the kids. Her husband stayed back to try and keep their house and lands safe. Like many woman from tribal areas, she has never travelled alone,” Atiq told IRIN. He is also afraid that she may have boarded the wrong bus, as she “cannot read”.



Atiq’s sister got to the camp, one of two set up in Mohmand Agency by the Federally Administered Tribal Areas Disaster Management Agency, with support from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).



Arianne Rummery, spokesperson for the UNHCR, told IRIN that as of 7 February, 34,182 were registered in the new camps.



The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 4 February situation report on displacements from Mohmand says: “Registering IDPs without documentation, especially women, is additionally difficult. It has been noted that a large number of children, who are attended only by their mothers, have arrived and are particularly vulnerable.” The government has been asked to look into the matter. Around 6,000 families are expected to arrive at the camps over the next few weeks, according to OCHA.

 

“Some people do not have ID cards but they are still being given assistance and registered after a verification process,” Rummery said.

 

But some IDPs have said they have faced problems. “I left my ID card at home when we fled fighting. My wife and mother, like many women here, have no ID cards anyway. No one was ready to help us at the camps, so for now we have moved in with relatives near Ghalanai,” Sartaj Khan Mohmand told IRIN.

 

It is freezing here at night. We dream of returning home, but who knows when that will be

Difficult adjustment



Women based at camps are also scared to be on their own. “Many have always lived in large families, and being away from them is frightening for these people. Some families have just sent the children and women away, to keep them safe from the aerial bombing and fighting,” Muhammad Ayaz, who works with the NGO Khidmat Foundation, told IRIN from Nahqi camp.

 

Others are in Peshawar. “My husband brought us to Peshawar and helped us rent a house. Now he has gone back to Mohmand, but my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I are determined to manage,” said Sumera Bibi. The 30-year-old mother of four has already had her first ride in a rickshaw (three-wheeled public transport vehicle) and jokes: “My baby enjoyed the bumps and the noise. It was so odd to buy milk at a store rather than get it from our own cow.”

 

The conflict in Pakistan’s north has brought yet another wave of displacements. Wagons and trucks bring people out of conflict areas, though there is concern about those left behind. “I am told fighting is intensifying. I hope my husband got back safely,” said Sumera.

 

There is no way of saying how long the fighting will last. Bitter cold has made life still harder for the displaced, especially those in camps, under canvas tents.

 

“It is freezing here at night. We dream of returning home, but who knows when that will be,” said Azamullah Khan, who has moved in with relatives, but who sleeps, with his three sons, on an open veranda as “space is limited” and “women need privacy inside”.



kh/cb