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WEEKLY
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| IDPs may get cash as relief |
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Monday, May 18, 2009
By our correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The government is considering disbursing a minimum of Rs 25,000 to every family that migrated from Swat and Buner, so that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) have some cash with them without any delay.
“If you plan to pay a few hundreds of thousands of rupees to every migrated family as part of a package, being prepared now, you should instantly provide at least Rs 25,000 to every unit to enable it to have some ready money with them,” a federal minister recommended to a high-level meeting that was also attended by Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, the chief of the Special Support Group (SSG).
In the last cabinet meeting, the minister had made a severe dig at some of his colleagues, who were taking part in various TV debates very vibrantly, but were not visiting the tormented people at the camps to provide them solace.
An official told The News that the government planned to pay around Rs 200,000 to each affected family, whose house was destroyed in the operation, on its return to its native area. He said it was obvious that the government would take care of the basic needs of all the IDPs till the time they were living in the tents in Mardan and elsewhere. He said that it had come to the notice of the authorities that the affected people had no cash at all.
Whatever they had, they were deprived of it while they were fleeing their areas after the military operation was launched, he said. In some cases, the official said, these people had to give their jewellery because of having no cash to pay to the transporters to escape from their areas.
He said there were complaints that unscrupulous elements also made money in the process. Talking to this correspondent, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, who visited the Mardan camps for the fourth time on Saturday, said the affectees were in dire need of cash and they must be provided with something right away, because they had been strangulated financially.
He said items like salt, teabags, milk powder, soap, washing detergents, water coolers and slippers were required. There have been several cases of snakebites because of having no slippers or other shoes for the IDPs. Dr Babar Awan appealed to the pharmaceutical companies to generously donate medicines for the IDPs, as there was a shortage of it. He said paramedics were also required.
The parliamentary affairs minister said the people giving donations were free to channel their money through any organisation engaged in the area or the SSG, which was working under the NWFP government.
He said 2,000 to 2,500 female schoolteachers, who migrated from Swat and Buner, had started taking classes in the camps and the provincial government would pay them their salaries, because they were on duty.
Dr Babar Awan said the non-Muslim IDPs were being looked after without any discrimination. He lamented that three Indian TV channels were engaged in propaganda against Pakistan on this count.
He said he had received a letter from India’s Gurdwara Parbandic Committee of Sikhs, which expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by Pakistan for the affected people of its community.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
