IDPs should be facilitated for their rehabilitation and reconstruction tasks
BANNU: Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched to strangle our militant elements in Waziristan. According to the news, enormous success is being reported, which will further be demonstrated in the days to come. The apathetic management of internally displaced persons (IDPs) on Pakistani soil, however, has gone largely unnoticed. Owing to the lack of capital, most families walked the entire distance from Mirali to Bannu and wrestled with both, the scorching sun and freezing winters of Bannu for two years beneath worn-out tents. Contrary to the news that is airing, basic amenities were meagre.
IDPs should have been treated well and made to feel as Pakistanis. IDPs, being introduced to Bannu’s education system, would have developed affinity to send their children to schools and have them become educated. Still, all is not lost and the government now needs to show adequate concern to assimilate them into mainstream society. If this grave matter does not invite government attention, then another Zarb-e-Azb is just around the corner. For this, IDPs should be facilitated for their rehabilitation and reconstruction tasks so that they take this operation as a move towards peace and not towards their alienation. Only then, the mega crackdowns against malignant elements will bring home peace and domestic tranquility.
Sohail Afridi
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2016.
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