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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
According to the UN, some 180,000 children – including both IDPs from South Waziristan and those forming a part of host families – have been immunized against measles. Other vaccination campaigns are on. Many of the children from South Waziristan have never been inoculated before. Most families have not received any external help at all. This then is the first time they will experience the possible benefits of humanitarian aid. A part of the isolation of South Waziristan – and other tribal areas – is of course due to the fighting that has ravaged them for years. But this alone is not the reason for the deprivation people suffer. The FATA areas are some of the most backward regions of our country. Literacy stands at just over 17 per cent. Barely three per cent of women have any schooling at all. In many parts of the FATA areas, there is a single doctor for every 7,000 or 8,000 people.
The IDPs, who have for years lived a life of immense hardship, are reported to have received the food and medicines and blankets, offered to them by humanitarian agencies, with immense gratitude. But these basic needs are their right. It is the duty of the government to deliver these to them. The failure to do so has certainly been a key to the rise of militancy that we have seen in these areas. Had these people been empowered, they would not have allowed the Taliban to take so strong a hold. For the future we must work towards incorporating these areas in the mainstream of our country. The disparities we see between various parts of our country give rise to a sense of injustice. We need to eliminate this discrimination immediately. Otherwise we will not be able to defeat the militancy that today endangers our very survival as a state.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
