Caught between the Taliban and the Pakistan Army, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Fata are making do in camps established by the NWFP government. Even here, their fate is uncertain, as the government remains vague about how long it will continue to support the IDPs.Over 400,000 people have fled Fata in recent months. According to Jamil Amjad, director general of the NWFP Disaster Management Authority and former provincial relief commissioner, over 52,000 people are being accommodated in 11 camps.
These are located in Peshawar, Noshera, Lower Dir, and Charsadda, while another “spontaneous camp” in Malakand is housing 5,000 families.Katcha Garhi itself currently houses 1,800 families from Bajaur Agency and another 800 families from Mohmand Agency. According to Sadeeq Ahmad Khan, district administrator for the camp, Katcha Garhi was initially meant to serve the IDPs until Dec 31, 2008. With financial support from UNHCR, that deadline has now been extended. Support and services are also available from Red Crescent, Edhi Foundation, and the Benazir Income Support Programme.According to Mr Amjad, the 11 IDP camps are expected to stay functional for another nine months, until September 2009. “We will host the IDPs through the winter since they have no chance of returning in the harsh climate, especially since their homes have been destroyed,” he says. However, no formal plans for camp closure or repatriation have been finalised.Meanwhile, over 15,000 displaced families living with friends or relatives have been registered in nine districts of the Frontier province.
For the moment, the government is identifying these families and offering some assistance, but there is a fear that these IDPs will soon seek out camp accommodation as well.Azka Khanum, a resident of Bhai Cheena village in Bajaur, says that she initially stayed with distant relatives after arriving in Peshawar last September. “Soon after we came here, we started to feel like a burden on our relatives,” she says. “They were kind, but they’d ask us about our plans to return home. Since we couldn’t give them an answer, we moved into this camp instead.” As more people flee violence in the tribal belt, camps such as Katcha Garhi may begin to seem like a merciful option.Until now, however, the mercy of Katcha Garhi seems hard to come by.
Wandering through tented enclaves, one hears complaints about deplorable health standards at the camp.“They have one doctor on duty, and he gives out the same tablet for different ailments,” says Ameena, who originally hails from Kausar village in Bajaur.Nearby, Azka Khanum points to her sister who is holding an infant swathed in warm blankets. “My nephew had a major operation just before we had to leave for Peshawar,” she says. “Now that he’s here, the boy isn’t being able to recover.
He has trouble breathing and persistent diarrhoea. He doesn’t even have the energy to even cry or shiver.”Ameena and Azka Khanum both complain that they are very worried about the health of their family members because they have no money with which to visit doctors in the city and have little faith in the camp’s health and sanitation services.Indeed, the World Health Organisation has itself stated that over 50 per cent of the camp’s inmates suffer from respiratory infections while 19 per cent have acute diarrhoea. Children, in particular, are also suffering from malnourishment.
There is also a sense throughout the camp of a life interrupted. The women, in particular, are beginning to feel claustrophobic. “We’re imprisoned in this camp,” says Ameena from Kausar village. “At home, we could roam in the fields and in the courtyards of our homes. Here, to maintain purdah, we stay in the tent.”For their part, the men are distressed by the conditions in which they have to maintain their families. Hayat Khan, who hails from Khar village in Bajaur Agency, dislikes the way families are not kept together within the administrative enclosures of 10 tents each. “No one knows who’s who,” he says. “Strangers from other villages are in the tents near ours while our relatives are living in tents at the other end of the camp.”Thankfully, most amenities are regularly available. Camp administrator Sadeeq Ahmed explains that the IDPs receive food rations as well as non-food items such as blankets, jerry cans for water, sheets, ground mats, and a kitchen set for communal spaces.
Azka Khanum confirms that food items -- oil for cooking, flour, and lentils -- are regularly available, though she complains that the quality of the flour is poor. In another part of the camp, Yahya Abdullah, who also hails from Bhai Cheena in Bajaur and has been at Katcha Garhi since late August, confirms that food rations are well apportioned. “There’s sometimes problems with water,” he says. “It makes me miss our tube well in the village.”Formerly a public school teacher, Yahya insists that options for young children displaced by the war against terror are the most depressing. He teaches at Katcha Garhi’s school, which currently accommodates about 1,400 children, including 600 girls. “There are only six of us (teachers),” says Yahya, “and we have about 140 kids in each class,” he says. “This is no way to learn … and no way to live.”
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