Category: Swat Crisis

  • Report on the IDP situation

    Report by Wali Haider from ROOTS Talking to the displaced people in various IDP camps, or in the homes of friends/relatives during my recent visit to Takht Bhai and Charsadda they have taken refuge it is obvious that for them the objectives of the army operation remain unclear. At the same time their suffering as…

  • The women who walked – and walked

    This is an abridged version that was published on 4th June in The News extracted from a recent report by AIRRA (Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy) based in Peshawar, whose members traveled to the IDP camps for these interviews. We write here some of the stories the women of Swat told us. They…

  • A Global issue of Terrorism – Stop Criticizing Pakistan

    Pakistan has been in massive fluctuations since the Pakistani government started operation in Swat and the other heaven like valleys in Northern Areas against Taliban. Some of the parties are criticizing the Government owing to operation. All the International countries like US, European etc are also in the favor of operation against the militants. Before…

  • IDP Crisis, More transparency, please

    Voices of reason and critique are often drowned in the sounds of gunfire and heavy artillery shelling. This current operation ‘Rah-e-Rast’, or what is being termed as a ‘War for Pakistan’s survival’, has resulted in an exodus of almost 3 million people which might just be another number for those who are at the helm…

  • IDP Crisis: A tragedy of errors and Cover-ups – HRCP

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has published a very comprehensive report on the IDP situation in NWFP titled A tragedy of errors and Cover-ups:The IDPs and outcome of military actions in FATA and Malakand Division its quite a comprehensive report. I have taken the liberty to extract some critical sections which caught my…

  • IDP Relief Drive from Karachi to Mardan – a Detailed Report

    IDP Relief Drive from Karachi to Mardan The IDP Relief Drive DAY 1, Thursday May 21th DAY 2, Thursday May 22nd DAY 3, Thursday May 23rd Conclusion The IDP Relief Drive On May 15th, 2009, a good friend, renowned blogger and dentist Dr. Awab Alvi emailed his contacts for collecting and distributing relief goods to…

  • Peaceful Anti-War Protestors, Harrassed & Arrested

    People’s Resistance, a civil society coalition of students, professional and ordinary citizens strongly condemns police violence and arrest of peaceful anti-war protestors in Quaidabad, Karachi today, on grounds that the right to peaceful dissent has been violated. The march had been organized by The Jang Mukhalif Committee comprising several local groups that have been protesting…

  • Huffington Post: Pakistani Bloggers Unite for IDP’s

    Mona Sarika writes in Huffington Post on how the Pakistani bloggers have united to help the IDP’s in Pakistan. The Pakistani blogging community has joined hands and is calling for action to inform and generate funds for the Internally Displaced People (IDP) of Pakistan. They are using their blogs to spread awareness about the plight…

  • Swat Relief: Call out for Doctors, Community health workers, Gynecologists & Nurses

    A Severe Health Crisis: There are 66,000 pregnant women living at the relief camps in Pakistan and many of them are likely to give birth in the next three months, the UN has said. Displaced children need special health and nutrition assistance as well as access to primary and emergency medical care to prevent disease.…

  • Swat Relief Drive – Day 3 – Distribution Day

    Our Swat Relief drive on Day 3 [Saturday] was hectic to say the least. We [Hasnain, Youshey, me & Faris] left Peshawar around 9am without breakfast, our aim was to start bright and early to first head to Bagheecha Deri where around 150 bags had been delivered a night before stored safely in Inam’s house.…

  • Swat Relief – Day 3 Relief disbursement Pictures

    Pictures from Day 3, Saturday 23rd May when we distributed our relief hampers across Mardan, commentary to follow.

  • War is welcome, IDPs aren’t

    Guest Blog by Kazim Aizaz Alam Violence has gripped Karachi once again. People are scared and all markets are closed in major parts of Karachi as I write these lines. The MQM is up in arms against the Pakhtuns as its alleged goondas on Saturday burnt [*] a woman and a girl alive in an…

  • Swat Relief Drive Day 2 Pictures

    I have uploaded over 180 pictures of our Swat Relief Drive day 2 – I have barely been able to filter / sort / label any of the images and can only promise to get them sorted out once I get back home so until then I leave you to marvel at how bad the…

  • Swat Relief Day 1 – Pictures

    I share all the 90+pictures that I took on Day-1 of our Swat Relief Drive. It more or less includes the trip to Inam’s village Bagheecha Deri and his farm land in this remote corner of Mardan

  • Swat Relief Drive Day 2 Update

    Day two in Mardan was seriously very adventurous. We started off around 10am, taking the Motorway to Mardan, we first hooked up with our two trucks from Lahore and keeping them in tow we were frantic to find a location to offload the good and repack them our planned bags. Calling up many go’s we…