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WEEKLY
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| Exodus from SWA continues amid fighting |
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Thursday, October 22, 2009
By Delawar Jan
PESHAWAR: Authorities said on Wednesday that 41,570 people had left the troubled South Waziristan Agency after the launch of the operation Rah-i-Nijat but still men, women and children continued to stream out to flee the fighting.
With the fresh exodus from the area, the total number of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) has exceeded 122,000 as 80,507 persons had migrated before the offensive.
Security forces launched an all-out military operation against the Baitullah Mehsud network in the rugged South Waziristan to eliminate the alleged terror infrastructure. The government has been blaming the network for launching terrorist attacks across the country and said it would go after the militants headquartered near the Pak-Afghan border to secure the country.
The military offensive on October 17 triggered displacement from the area but the scale was not as massive as Malakand. According to the official data, some of 4,490 families comprising 41,570 individuals have migrated from South Waziristan after the launch of the military operation. Apart from it, 80,507 persons or 11,089 families, who had left the tribal agency well before the operation, have already been registered in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank.
The government has said these IDPs would be given Rs 5,000 per month for support. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 4,735 cash cards of Rs5,000 had been distributed to the displaced families. There were reports that the migrating people were facing problems at the checkpoints.
Majority of the population is, however, still trapped in the volatile area where fierce fighting between security forces and militants has been reported. The Special Support Group plans to provide relief items to the trapped people once security forces move deeper into the agency.
The operation has been launched in Mehsud-populated areas of the South Waziristan, but the people of Wana, inhabited by Wazirs, are also stranded as roads have been closed.
Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), a body to take care of the IDPs, has established a helpline (09-5278477) which could be contacted in case of any problem to the IDPs, particularly in registration. The authority is coordinating efforts of NGOs, UN agencies, government departments and other relief bodies to ensure better service to the IDPs.
Sources said it had appointed a focal person in each government department who would be responsible to solve IDP-related problems in their respective departments. Six registration points, sources said, had been established for the IDPs moving out of Waziristan.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
