Hundreds displaced by conflict arriving daily at Pakistani camp, UN reports

The United Nations refugee agency reports that more than 100 families, or about 500 people, uprooted by fighting in northern Pakistan are arriving daily at the Jalozai camp, which housed some 100,000 Afghan refugees before it was closed down last year.

The escalating conflict between the Government and militants in the Swat district of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and other areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) had displaced around 450,000 so far.

However, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that number, which includes people made homeless by floods in August, could top 600,000 within weeks.

While UNHCR is working to expand the capacity of camps like Jalozai to cope with the new influx, it has also stepped up distribution of basic relief supplies to help people living outside the camps – where 80 per cent of registered internally displaced Pakistanis reside – as part of a broader coordinated humanitarian effort.

The agency has already assisted more than 8,000 families with items such as sleeping mats, blankets and kitchen sets in the Mardan, Nowshera, Swabi, Lower Dir, Upper Dir and Kohat districts.

The rising tensions, coupled with a general economic crisis in what is already among the poorest areas of Pakistan, is putting huge strains on the resources of the displaced as well as host communities. Although it is providing relief, UNHCR emphasized that people needed much more help.

“The humanitarian community as a whole, in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan, needs to expand the range of assistance we can provide, so people can rent houses, restart livelihoods and access services. They need to regain their dignity,” stressed Kilian Kleinschmidt, UNHCR's assistant representative in Pakistan.

More than 64,500 people in 12 camps in NWFP have now been registered by the Pakistani Government, with UNHCR’s help, up from around 15,000 from the previous month. Another 245,000 people living outside camps have been registered, while many more are expected to be registered in weeks to come.

Mr. Kleinschmidt noted that the registration of a significant portion of displaced people has been a critical step in managing the crisis. “Registration is always a complex task, but we now have much better information to plan and distribute the assistance required,” he said.

UNHCR, as part of an overall $98 million UN appeal launched last week, is seeking a further $16.8 million to boost aid to displaced Pakistanis.