Return of displaced Pakistanis must be voluntary and sustainable – UN relief chief

As families uprooted by the military operations in north-west Pakistan begin to make their way back home, it is vital to ensure that the returns are voluntary, that it is safe for them to repatriate and that basic services have been restored, the top United Nations relief official said today.

More than 2 million Pakistanis have been displaced by the conflict between Government forces and militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), and the vast majority are either sheltering in schools and other public buildings, with host families or in rental accommodations.

The Government this week began a programme for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to some parts of Buner and Swat, among the areas hardest hit by the operations.

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes, who just returned from a four-day visit to the country, told reporters in New York that the issue now is how quickly and on what scale people will begin to return home. It was clear from his conversations with the IDPs that people are “desperate” to go home, he said.

He noted that the Government is keen that the IDPs should go home in order to reduce the burden on host communities as well as the general financial burden.

“We’re of course also concerned that they should be able to return home as quickly as possible,” added Mr. Holmes. “What we’ve also said is that this has to be a voluntary process; there must be no obligation to return before people are ready.”

He emphasized the need for proper consultation with the people concerned and to ensure that the right conditions are in place for their returns. “There has to be basic security there… the power needs to be on, the water needs to be running, the police force needs to be there, the local administration needs to be in place.

“The main point is that returns have got to be sustainable,” he stressed, adding that the worst scenario would be if people went back and were then displaced again.

Mr. Holmes got a first-hand look at the site of the clashes when he visited the district of Buner last week. He noted that conditions there were in “reasonable shape,” with more half of the displaced having already returned to the district and life seems to be returning to “something approaching normality.

“The shops were open, the bazaars were busy, there’s a lot of people moving around and trying to resume their normal activities,” he stated.

An initial assessment is currently underway in Swat, where media reports say that people have started to return.

Mr. Holmes also pointed out that when after people return to their homes they will need assistance for some months to come, and repeated his plea to donors and the international community for continued and increased support, including for early recovery efforts.

“I sometimes have the feeling that the international community and the media have not given the depth and extent of this humanitarian crisis the attention that it deserves,” the UN relief chief said.

He added that the UN and its partners have so far received about 42 per cent of the $543 million appeal launched in May to help those affected by the crisis.

“We hope the donors will respond generously to what is a continuing and very large-scale humanitarian problem.”