By NNN-IRIN,
Peshawar (Pakistan) : With the opening of some roads into conflict-ravaged South Waziristan this month, thousands of people displaced by fighting in Pakistan’s tribal areas, which lie along the country’s western border with Afghanistan, have begun returning to their homes.
Displacements from the North and South Waziristan agencies, over 150km south of Peshawar, began in 2004, as government forces began battling pro-Taliban militants in the area.
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, with scores of civilians among those reportedly killed. The Pakistan military has said several hundred personnel and many more militants have died, but the number of civilian casualties remains unknown.
“People in the area are very badly affected. Waziristan has always produced fruit and now that source of income has been wiped out for people. Education is also very badly affected,” Kamran Arif, a Peshawar-based human rights activist, told IRIN.
The precise number of people displaced from the North and South Waziristan agencies has not been determined.
Quite a few people, even if they have gone back to Waziristan, have also set up a second home elsewhere… simply to make sure they have a safe place to live in.
However, in October 2007, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), some 80,000 fled the town of Mirali, the headquarters of North Waziristan. Many have since returned, while other families have opted to stay away.
“Quite a few people, even if they have gone back to Waziristan, have also set up a second home elsewhere – in Peshawar or towns near the tribal areas like Dera Ismail Khan – simply to make sure they have a safe place to live in,” said Arif, who said a movement back into Waziristan had begun.
The Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre has confirmed large-scale displacements over the past few years from Waziristan, but says numbers are unknown, partially due to the media’s “lack of access” to areas of conflict.
Meanwhile, the latest return process to Waziristan is taking place as a result of initiatives by the new government. The chief minister of the province, Amir Haider Hoti, has said “terrorism” would be dealt with, but “not at the cost of people’s lives”.
Many families have been living with relatives outside Waziristan after Mehsud-tribe dominated areas of the region were sealed by the military in January. People who fled fighting were denied permission to re-enter to retrieve household items.
In March, military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas of the Inter Service Public Relations said people could “go to sealed areas only after obtaining the permission of the political administration”.
The re-opening of closed roads, early in April, signals a relaxation in these measures. Other roads, however, remain closed. Some families from Waziristan and other conflict-areas have chosen to leave permanently. Even as people return, the fear of further fighting still looms, and new government policies on the issue of militancy are yet to be elaborated.
“I fear there will be further fighting in the days ahead. So I am staying with my family in Peshawar,” said Najeebullah Khan, 45, one of those who fled Waziristan late last year.