The fires of ethnicity

The violent opposition in Sindh to the presence of IDPs in the province is a shocking reminder of the divisions that have effectively fractured society.

The MQM and Sindhi nationalist parties have united forces to oppose the entry of the IDPs to the province. The essential humanitarian element of their situation has been lost amidst the blinding hate inspired by ethnic factors, which has during the past few months already triggered episodes of mayhem in Karachi. The inter-connections between different parts of a country which make it one nation rather than a collection of isolated portions of territory have been lost.

There are many aspects to this issue that now confront us head on. The ethnic issue has played a part in creating a situation where only 38 per cent of NWFP and the adjacent FATA areas, according to a map put out by the BBC, are under the control of the Pakistan government. The Taliban have in many places used ethnicity almost as much as religion to establish their grip. Others too confuse the issue with notions of a 'tribal' Pakhtun culture and 'tradition', ignoring the fact that for the most part the militants of Baitullah Mehsud or Maulana Fazlullah are opposed by tribal leaders who previously held almost undisputed sway in the same areas. Neither offers a solution to the problems of people who essentially seek a greater role in the making of decisions about their own destiny.

The extent to which ethnic issues determine what happens in the state is evidenced too by the matter of the Kalabagh Dam. The minister for water and power has now re-affirmed the project has been scrapped, and says that the decision in this respect is final. This announcement will create some dissent in Punjab. The whole matter has become one of provinces pulling in opposite direction; it has also become one of pride rather than good sense. Amidst this tussle, it has become impossible to look objectively at the dam and its possible developmental benefits. It is possible that it may have brought some. But the fact is that the ethnic friction it created was so damaging, pitching groups of people against each other, that the decision to abandon the reservoir is almost certainly a wise one. A dam that resulted in so many further divides within an already weakening federation could serve no useful purpose at all.

In the IDP situation too, the ethnic realities are visible everywhere, and not just in Sindh. In NWFP, hundreds of people have opened up homes to the nearly two million people displaced from the war-hit areas. Keys to unused homes or rooms that lie empty have been handed over to IDPs in many places. In Punjab, in Sindh and indeed in Balochistan, the misery of the displaced is just as visible. The TV images beam in just as they do in the Frontier. The appeals for help are heard everywhere. But the generosity of spirit seen in the Frontier is in many ways absent. Even though relief goods have been handed over, there has been opposition in parts of Punjab to the location of IDP camps close to their residences and the provincial government itself seems somewhat confused about the issue.

Nowhere though are the ethnic tensions more visible than in Balochistan. The reports of schools which no longer play the national anthem or isolated incidents in which the Pakistan flag was reportedly burnt are the latest unpleasant indications of this. They have quite naturally created a wave of shocked anger. There is speculation that a military operation may be conducted against nationalists in Balochistan, possibly after the Taliban have been overcome. This, in the minds of some, would be a straightforward continuation of the bid to regain 'lost' territory. But there is a need, before any such action is begun, to contemplate all the angles. The events in Balochistan are extremely unfortunate; indeed tragic. But they are tied in to perceptions regarding an unjust federal policy to the province over many decades. It is this problem, which lies at the heart of the anger we now see in Balochistan, which needs in one way or the other to be addressed. Military manoeuvres will not achieve this, even if they succeed in temporarily snuffing out nationalist passions by adding to the growing list of those killed for their struggle in this cause. In time, such action will fuel only greater resentment and still more hatred. It must be avoided.

The ethnic issue then has come to dominate more and more elements of life within the state. The manner in which it is being used in the IDP issue is especially disturbing. What we need to do at this point is to step outside our state – metaphorically and not physically – and take a look at it from something of a distance. What we have is increasingly divided communities and a huge distance between people in various parts of the country. The distance is represented too by differences in culture, in language in modes of thought. It is senseless to try and eliminate these differences. That has not worked in the past; it will not work now. What we need to do is to create a greater sense of the whole, of unity – to use a cliche – by accepting differences and learning to embrace them as a source of strength and not a weakness.

It may of course take a generation, perhaps even more, for this to happen. But the attempt to build togetherness needs to start in the present, so that we indeed have a future. This can happen only by looking into the past. There are many in the country quite genuinely mystified by the war-crimes-trials process on in Bangladesh. This aims to try, after three and a half decades, those guilty of crimes committed in the then East Pakistan during its struggle for independence which culminated in 1971 in the creation of the independent state of Bangladesh. Although the proceedings, for which Bangladesh will be assisted by the UN, involves persons in Pakistan and also Bangladesh, Islamabad has feigned a kind of distant indifference, insisting this is an 'internal matter' of Bangladesh. This is not the case. The affair involves Pakistan and opens up many questions as to its past. 

These are questions we need to face up to; to confront head on. Only by doing so can meet the challenges we face today and ensure that we emerge from the process as a stronger nation rather than one in which there is a constant pull in different directions, threatening to weaken the basic structure itself.

About 126,000 displaced daily by Pakistan conflict

Pakistani displaced children wait their turn during a food distribution at Jalozai refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan

About 126,000 people are daily fleeing fighting in northwest Pakistan in one of the ‘fastest major displacements’ in recent years. Inhibitants continue to leave the areas of conflict between government forces and militants in search of refuge in Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi and Nowshera districts of North West Frontier province and Some 18,000 families -- about 126,000 people -- are registered on average every day in these districts.

The number of displaced people from the Swat, Lower Dir and Buner districts had reached 2.38 million since May 2. It is still difficult to know how many people were still trapped in the conflict zone and this is the reason it is not possible to estimate the potential scale of the displacement.

This is one of the fastest major displacements the world have seen in some years.

Children deal with the trauma of living in refugee camps

Pakistani displaced children who fled the troubled Swat Valley, attend a class at a make-shift school setup in Shiekh Yasin refugee camp in Mardan

Nabila Bibi sits in a tent in the blistering heat thinking about the dolls she left behind at home in the Pakistani mountains where the army and Taliban rebels are killing each other.

Rosy-cheeked Nabila understands nothing about Islamist insurgents and Pakistan's latest military offensive against them, which the United Nations said has displaced around 1.5 million people this month alone.

She is more concerned about her ‘lonely’ dolls. ‘I am very upset to be here. I feel all alone because my dolls are not with me. Is there someone who can bring these dolls from my house?’ Nabila asks her elder sister.

Nabila, 12, and her family were living outside the town of Mingora in the northwest Swat valley until they fled to the Yar Hussain camp in fear of their lives.

The dusty camp was set up by the government in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) with the help of the UN refugee agency on the outskirts of the town of Swabi, sheltering about 1,200 families in the same number of tents.

‘It is very hot here. I have no friends nor is there any proper playing field like the one I had in front of my house,’ said Nabila, who is taking classes at a temporary school in the camp.

The UN children's agency UNICEF, deeply concerned about the psychological toll on children displaced by the operation to flush out the militants, said it was providing education and recreation in 13 camps where families are holed up.

‘It is vital for children to cope with the trauma of displacement,’ UNICEF spokeswoman Antonia Paradela says.

She said counselling services for women and children are available in all those camps, with trained staff identifying children who have been damaged mentally and helping them cope with a predicament which is none of their doing.

‘Children have also been provided toys, pencils and drawing paper to help them regain confidence,’ Paradela said.

But for all these initiatives, many youngsters in Yar Hussain look unsettled and some plain unhappy.

‘I miss my friends with whom I used to play cricket. I am a big fan of leg spinner cricketing hero Shahid Afridi,’ said Nauman Ali, 16, a carpenter from Mingora, Swat's main town.

‘I wish he would visit me in this camp. I like him because he is also a good batsman. He has a lovely style of hitting sixes.’ Nauman looked sceptical when asked if he thought he would go home soon.

‘I really don't know when I will be able to go back home and play cricket with my friends.’ Jawad Khan, a third grade pupil, said he wanted to become a doctor.

‘How can I continue my studies in an area where bombs and grenades explode daily? Stories about a group of people who slit the throats of their brothers scare me a lot,’ said Jawad, apparently referring to Taliban rebels.

‘I have a few friends from my area in this camp and we all agree these are dirty people,’ he added while carrying his half-naked infant sister.

Six-year-old Nadia Khan, meandering with her mother through the camp, where long queues of men and children formed at lunch time, repeatedly begged to be let out the camp.

‘I want to go home and play with my friends, please take me back,’ she pleaded with her mother in broken Urdu.

Despite severe irritation in her eyes caused by a dust storm, Nadia was hungry—even if the dish of spicy rice with chickpeas was hardly mouth-watering.

Shahid Khan, an eighth grade student, said the fighting had ‘shattered’ his dreams. But he was resolute nonetheless. ‘I want to become an army officer. I like their uniform, I like their discipline,’ he said.

‘I am determined to continue my studies. If this is not possible in Mingora, I will ask my father to send me to another city where I can complete my studies and join the army.’

The state that wouldn’t fail

How many more challenges can we afford to put off till the last possible second?

PAKISTAN is the country that just won’t fail. It threatens to, seemingly always on the brink, always giving the world a collective migraine, always on the verge of chaos, but just when you think we’re done for, when all hope is lost, when it seems nothing can save it from itself, somehow we end up doing just enough of the right thing to keep the country afloat, to live another day to drift into another crisis.

And so it is this time with the operation in Malakand division. The government wants you to believe that it had a plan all along, that the Nizam-i-Adl was a way of stripping away the last vestiges of justification for the militancy in Swat, that the negotiations with the TNSM were a necessary charade to expose the motives of Maulana Fazlullah and his band of savages.

Would that the illusion of a government with a plan in hand were the truth. The fact is, the government, and us, the people, by extension, got lucky. If the ANP government in NWFP and the PPP government in Islamabad had their way, Sufi Mohammad would still quietly be rearranging society in Malakand to his liking, with the TTP the stick with which Sufi would enforce his law in his bailiwick. And thus, with one problem confined to one area, the governments in Peshawar and Islamabad could go about their business of pretending to govern the other areas under their control.

But two things happened to spoil the plan, and while both were always likely to have occurred, it would be charitable in the extreme to argue that the provincial and federal governments anticipated them and had factored them into their plans for Malakand.

First, the militants in Swat, freed from fighting in the district, set forth and began to spread their seed in neighbouring districts. We can know the government didn’t expect this because it installed a pro-Taliban commissioner in Malakand and didn’t do anything to try and stop the militants from slipping into Buner, Lower Dir and Shangla and setting up shop for business.

Fact is, if the government’s plan always was to eventually fight the militants it would have acted to limit the theatre in which the militants were to be fought. But now, even weeks after trying to retake even a small mountain village like Pir Baba in Buner, the army is struggling. What could have been nipped in the bud by local police and administrative action, has become a full-fledged military operation.

Second, Sufi Mohammad reverted to his kooky ideas publicly. Neither the ANP nor the PPP expected it — in fact they planned for something quite the contrary. The massive gathering on that scenic grassy field in Mingora was arranged by the government to give Sufi a grand stage from which to denounce Fazlullah and declare a fatwa against his intransigent militants. But when Sufi got up on the stage, he became giddy at the sight of all those thousands gathered to listen to him and thought, ‘Heck with it, this is my moment. I’ll speak from the heart.’

And so he did, declaring everybody and everything in Pakistan un-Islamic. The cameras focused on the wild applause of the audience, but if they had looked elsewhere they would have captured the stricken faces of government officials. Things had most definitely not gone according to plan.

So, once the original plan — if it can even be called a plan — had failed, the government had to come up with something else; and by then the only option left was the military option. Criticism of the government at this stage may seem churlish, given that so rarely does a Pakistani government do the right thing even after all the wrong options have been exhausted.

But the story of how this government arrived at the military option in Malakand is important because it is not the final stop in the fight against militancy — there is a long road ahead, and it weaves through Fata and Punjab and Pakistan’s cities. The point is, if the road ahead is navigated with a similar mix of lucky breaks and nonsense planning, a fortuitous result is far more unlikely than likely.

Steering blindfolded may yet get the government around another bend or two and burnish the legend of Pakistan being the state that just won’t fail, but it won’t affect the inexorable logic of failure in the long run — you can only get away with mismanagement of a country for so long in the face of a violent threat. If not tomorrow or next year, then five, 10, 15 years down the road, at some point our luck will run out. That isn’t abject cynicism, it is a logical certainty.

But for all the sins of omission and commission, the failures of the government of today — or even the one of tomorrow — are only part of the problem. At the root of the problem of militancy is the security establishment — essentially the Pakistan Army high command with sections of the intelligence apparatus and retired officers as its instruments of policy implementation.

It is that group which sets the parameters of what the state can or cannot do against the militants, and it still cleaves to the distinction between good and bad militants. There is no reason to believe that it is not serious about eliminating the militants in Malakand this time. The militants there have proved intractable and of no utility to the state — in fact, they are a threat to it and therefore are being taken on.

But there is every reason to believe that the security establishment is serious about maintaining that distinction elsewhere. And that is especially problematic when it comes to dealing with Ground Zero of militancy — the Waziristan agencies.

Separating good from bad is tactically possible when the good and bad militants are spatially separated, in small numbers and not in control of territory. So in Punjab and the cities the state can go after Al Qaeda militants — the bad ones — while turning a blind eye to the good ones, our home-grown jihadi networks.

But in the Waziristan agencies the good and the bad are intertwined, exist in larger numbers and control the territory. Trying to whack the bad militants there while avoiding trampling the good ones is a non-starter. To succeed there — and there is no doubt that militancy in Pakistan cannot be defeated without success there — the good/bad distinction would need to be abandoned first.

And if we don’t drop that distinction soon, the legend of the state that just wouldn’t fail may eventually prove untrue.

Caught in the middle

Refugees from fighting in Buner, a district seized by Taliban fighters last month, crowd a truck as they wait at Bela Pass on the edge of Ambela, one of the first villages inside Buner district, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 19, 2009. The army assault on stubborn Taliban positions in Buner shattered the hope of nearly 500 refugees baking for hours in scorching temperatures to return to their homes after the government and army said the area had been cleared of militants.

Waiting at a checkpoint on Tuesday under the searing sun, Amina rocked her baby, wrapped in a heavy black burqa. ‘You'll be home soon,’ she whispered. But the thud of exploding shells deadened her hopes — and raised questions about military claims the area was clear of Taliban militants.

‘What is this government doing? They are telling us to return. Listen to that fighting,’ said Wasim Khan, who was among the hundreds of refugees waiting to return to their homes in Buner, a district seized by Taliban fighters last month.

A strategic piece of territory, Buner provides the most direct link to the rest of Pakistan from the Taliban-dominated Swat Valley.

Despite army assertions that soldiers have cleared the district of Taliban forces, more troops and heavy artillery poured into the area on Monday, according to Ghulam Bacha, a policeman who suggested the Taliban were dug in deeper than the military originally suspected.

The Taliban overran Buner after a peace deal soured last month, streaming down from their Swat Valley strongholds to within 60 miles of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and triggering alarm in the government coordiors.

An army offensive to oust the Taliban has so far caused 1.5 million people to flee. The military claims to have killed about 1,000 Taliban fighters, a figure that cannot be independently verified, and says 50 soldiers have also died in the 3-week-old operation.

Amina and Khan were among some 500 people seeking to return to their villages in Buner Tuesday after the provincial government urged residents to come back, saying the area was safe and the Taliban had been routed.

They waited for hours in a mile-long line of battered trucks piled high with bedding, bundles of clothing and ancient-looking threshing equipment. Whole families perched atop the vehicles' roofs, baking in the sun: women hidden behind burqas, crying children and scores of bearded men.

But they made it only as far as Ambela, a village at the foot of Bela Pass, a winding five-mile-long road that links Buner to the rest of Pakistan.

The refugees were expecting authorities to open the road deeper into Buner, but the shelling put an end to that. A couple of vehicles tried to inch up to the barbed-wire checkpoint blocking the narrow pass, but soldiers fired warning shots to keep them out.

One rickety flatbed truck was carrying a coffin. Zaffar Ali had died the night before in Peshawar, the frontier provincial capital, and his family was trying to take him home to their village to be buried.

‘What choice do we have? We will spend the night here and hope tomorrow we can return to our village to bury him,’ the dead man's nephew said.

Among those around him, there was a mixed reaction to the military operation to rid the area of the Taliban. But all were united in their criticism of the government's failure to help those forced to flee the fighting.

Most of the displaced have sought shelter with relatives or friends, but more than 100,000 remain crowded into camps run by the government and international aid organizations.

Whether Pakistan's will to take on the militants will falter depends in part on whether people like Amina and Khan can quickly return to their homes. A protracted refugee crisis could undercut public support for the battle.

Packed into the back of a flatbed truck with nearly a dozen other women, their faces all hidden beneath burqas, Amina said: ‘We just want peace.’

The small portion of her face that was visible was dripping with sweat; her 1-year-old son squirmed beneath the folds of cloth.

Shah Bahauddin, who was shepherding 40 members of his family back to Buner, was critical of all parties in the conflict __ the government, the Taliban and the army.

‘No one has given us anything in the camps and nothing to help us return,’ he said. The Taliban slipped into his village of Chamla several weeks ago, seizing houses and confiscating cars. ‘For three days they even had their own government,’ he said.

Bahauddin and his family sought shelter from the fighting with relatives in nearby Swabi.

‘But they are poor. When we heard that Buner was open, we had to leave. They helped us so much, but we couldn't stay if we could go home,’ said the 65-year-old farmer, whose son sat in a wheelchair precariously positioned in the back of the family truck.

‘What are they doing telling us we can come back?’ he asked bitterly, interrupted by the sound of shells exploding.

Like most of the men in the convoy, Bahauddin had hoped to get home soon to harvest wheat that will soon rot in the fields. ‘We are poor farmers. We will lose everything,’ he said.

At Ambela's police station, Bacha, a 28-year veteran, said the station had been wrested from Taliban hands just two weeks earlier.

Bacha, who said the Taliban were nearby despite government claims to the contrary, said he worried about another attack and recalled last month's Taliban takeover.

It was April 28, and there were just 10 policemen in the two-room station. The best weapon among them was a Kalashnikov assault rifle, he said.

Nearly 80 Taliban emerged from the mountains, armed with rocket launchers and automatic rifles.

‘They had lots of weapons. We just left,’ said Bacha, his gray-flecked shalwar kameeze hanging loosely on his thin frame, unbuttoned and tattered, a silver police insignia pinned crookedly on his shoulder. ‘What else could we do?

Mardan relief camp swarming with IDPs

People of Mingora and Buner queue for food in a camp set up for people who fled from fighting between Taliban and security forces in Mardan

The Jalala relief camp in Mardan district set up for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Buner, Dir and Swat districts has been overcrowded as long queues of migrants seeking accommodation and assistance are seen outside the camp.

Around 79,000 displaced families arrived from Buner, Swat and Dir districts and the arrival of displaced people is gaining momentum with each passing day.

The official said that around 60,000 displaced families were living outside relief camps while 9,000 to 12,000 were living in the camps.

Two additional camps in Sheikh Shehzad and Jalala areas in Mardan and one in Yar Hussain area of Swabi district had been made operational to accommodate displaced persons. Likewise, Shahmansoor Township and Hund in Swabi were identified for relief camps due to the ideal locations of those areas. Cooked and dry food, biscuits and dry milks were being provided to the displaced people inside the camps by different government and non-government agencies.

Pakistan's refugees: Looking for a home II

A galllery of the still increasing number of families who are given no other option than to leave their homes due to unavoidable security threats.

A girls looks out from a tent at a camp set up by the government for displaced people who fled Buner

Girls are seen at a camp set up by the government for displaced people who fled Buner

Local residents of Mingora are seen at a bus terminal as they leave the city

Local residents flee from the area in Mingora

A view of deserted market in Mingora, Swat valley, is seen

NWFP refugees: Looking for a home I

A galllery of the still increasing number of families who are given no other option than to leave their homes due to unavoidable security threats .

A woman complains about the condition of a camp set up by the Pakistani government for displaced people who fled Buner

A local child of Mingora waits for a transport to leave the city

Evacuees from Buner walk near a camp on the outskirts of Peshawar

Women and their children are seen in a tent set up by the government for displaced people who fled Buner
People are seen at a camp set up by the government for displaced people who fled Buner

Little dreamers!

Like their adult counterparts, the children of Pakistan too are dreaming of a better future........Here we take a look at the pictures of some of our children

A young child finds shelter in a cardboard box near a gutter in Karachi on Saturday afternoon. According to a Unicef report, there are an estimated 10,000 children living on the streets of the city

A young boy day dreams while perched on top of a tree.

A child completes his homework under the shade of a tree due to heavy loadshedding in the city.

This little boy was found hanging by his mother's cloth near the grill of a residential apartment in the City. The child had just woken up from his afternoon nap after hearing the click of the camera. His mother, a domestic maid, had left the child behind while she finished working at a household

A child scavenger guards his possessions sniffed out from the garbage of the streets of Rawalpindi. According to a Unicef report, there are an estimated over a million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan. Many survive by picking up garbage on the streets which they then sold to recycling plants.

Homeless in your own home

Hundreds of residents of the troubled Peshawar region are living in tents in the camp after fleeing fighting between Pakistan's army and Taliban militants.

Pakistani children peer out from a shelter in a refugee camp

Children play in a mud puddle in a refugee camp at Nowshera

A child cries in a refugee camp at Nowshera, which is near Peshawar

A young girl rests in a drainage channel beside tents the refugee camp

Young boys walk arm in arm along a path in a refugee camp

Labourers of Pakistan

The nation has a workforce of more than 45 million people among a population of 160 million, according to government economic reports.

A labourer takes a nap on a cart in front of closed shops

Labourers work in an iron factory

A potter works on a vase at his workshop

A shopkeeper removes a wooden pillar used to support antique doors at his antique shop on the outskirts of Islamabad.. Affluent communities in Pakistan have a taste for antique wooden crafts that are brought from northern areas of the country, including Swat Valley. An engraved wooden door costs between 15,000 and 60,000 Pakistani rupees

A young potter works on a vase at a workshop

Blood and tears

Once again, the city of lights stands doused in blood. Karachi has been in the grip of fear and violence for most of this week, and tragically, there is much that points towards a definite case of ethnic hostility.

The majority of the people who died were Pathans while some hailed from the Mohajir community. This is an eerie reminder of the bloodstained mid-1980s, when Pathan-Mohajir clashes broke out only to intensify. In the current situation, there is widespread anarchy with vehicles being set ablaze and raging crossfire spreading through the metropolis, bringing public transport and economic activity to a grinding halt, besides causing educational institutes to be closed.

Regrettably, this is yet another episode of carnage that has made the ineptitude of the city administration and law-enforcement agencies as clear as day. It is no secret that Karachi is perhaps our most vulnerable city when it comes to political crime. It does not take a lot to fan the flames of political and ethnic tensions in this city.

Why then have democratic dispensations failed to at least curb political patronage that spawns police apathy and spells destruction for civil society? Needless to say, the fact that a city of such large proportions is at the mercy of a police force plagued with indigence and nepotism, does precious little for its security. And, indisputably, politics and police are far from cordial bedfellows. Take Lyari for instance, a pocket that is easily the city’s greatest contradiction.

Despite being a PPP stronghold, it remains a gangster-infested war zone and one wonders why the home department, police and the Rangers have repeatedly failed to sustain peace in the locality. The perpetual bloodshed in an already dispossessed neighbourhood has, aside from costing lives and livelihoods, also bred tremendous bitterness towards the party leadership.

However, as Karachi fast turns into a simmering ethnic cauldron once again, it is the political leadership that must show a greater determination to act. There is no better deterrent than to compel party ranks to take a cue from their leaders’ oft-repeated mantra of tolerance and harmony — and there is no reason why Sindh’s coalition government, which includes the PPP, MQM and the ANP, should not be able to communicate this message forcefully to their respective supporters.

Also, authorities have failed to implement airtight security apparatus such as CCTVs, helplines and empowered police patrolling; without these Karachi is no less than a ticking time bomb. It is hoped that the home department will treat the metropolis’ recent flare-up as a build-up towards the May 12 anniversary and initiate a foolproof action plan involving abundant security deployment across the city. Otherwise, the current tension may end in a larger tragedy.

Workers unware of Labour Day!

Labour Day! What is this day? Wajid Ali, who was painting a side door of a grand building with brown colour on Friday noon, asked and asked again with a polite smile, is it a day which is observed in the memories of a politician’s death or birth anniversary?

Replying to a question as how does Ikram, an outdoor tea seller, observe the Labour Day, he said he works seven days a week and is making off all day long, as he works on commission and not on a fixed-salary. “So, I serve the tea to my customers from dawn to dusk, then I receive that commission. Therefore, time is money for me,” he explained with many pauses.

The May Day is observed in the memories of a dozen of Chicago’s workers, who were massacred in 1886 by Chicago police in response to question for their rights and this day is meant to give relaxation to the workers.

Generally, but, politicians take advantage of this international event as well here. They deliver an emotional speech before the labourers on this day, renewing their commitments for working in the great interest of labours and forget their promises the next moment the speech is finished, said a worker of Premier Sugar Mill. Explaining his priorities in accordance with their needs, he said the first and the foremost issue for them (workers) remained their low salaries. “Though the government has raised a minimum salary of its employees to Rs6,000 in last budget, but the same rulers are unable to give us a kitchen budget, as how to run our home with an average of six people in a family with one breadwinner,” he questioned. He appealed to the government to raise minimum salaries up to Rs10,000 immediately or in the next budget.

Moreover, the government should also make the private sector fully implement this minimum salary package order immediately, as it (private sector) seldom raises the salaries and continues to exploit workers. Rasool Khan, who was anxiously waiting for a construction hirer in morning hours, appealed to the government to pass on the benefit of reduction in international commodities and oil prices to the locals so that it would greatly help them cut their expenditure short to some extent. He, however, knew almost nothing about the Labour’s Day and asked me to explain about the day and its importance. But he was not unaware of commodities price hike in local markets, although he did not know about the Labour’s Day and his basic rights! He explained that prices of edible items, including vegetables, meat, pulses and flour, have shot up and he said this inflation breeds poverty, rise in street crime and increasing Talibanisation in the country.

He who is obviously not a certified expert on the subject maintained that people without economic empowerment or with the growing sense of economic insecurity join mafias or so-called political parties in the city and other parts of the country as well, in order to run their every day business smoothly.

No arrangements in sight for one million IDPs

The displacement from Dir Lower and Buner districts has raised the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in NWFP to nearly one million with no proper arrangements in sight for the recently uprooted individuals.

The ongoing military operation against militants in Maidan, Dir Lower, and some parts of Buner district has left thousands of people homeless, who have migrated to the nearby towns and districts of the province. The provincial government has set up interim relief camps for the IDPs from Maidan in Timergara and Chakdara in Dir Lower while for the IDPs from Buner some temporary camps have been established in Mardan and Swabi districts.

According to Amnesty International report, a total of some 65,000 civilians had abandoned their homes in Dir Lower and Buner districts till Thursday. “There is no sign that the government has prepared for the exodus of civilians,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. “As the military operations extend to more areas the government has to ensure that the fleeing civilians have adequate food, shelter and health care facilities. Eyewitnesses told the Amnesty International in Timergara that at least 28 to 30 houses had been completely destroyed while dozens of houses have been partially damaged”.

However, Al Khidmat Foundation, a welfare wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, claimed that about 100,000 people had fled the fighting between security forces and militants in Dir Lower. An activist of Al Khidmat Foundation said that the foundation had started relief activities to the displaced people in Timergara and Chakdara where the government made no proper arrangements for the IDPs.

Acting Provincial Relief Commissioner Younas Javed says that the district administration of Dir Lower had established relief camps in Timergara Commerce College, Degree College and in some schools and Chakdara where proper arrangements for the fresh IDPs had been ensured. However, he said that according to the report submitted by the district coordination officer of Dir Lower office, only 230 families had been registered at the relief camps in Timergara. Some camps for the IDPs from Bajaur Agency have also been set up at Munda and Jundol areas of the Dir Lower where thousands of IDPs have been lodged.

Similarly, he said, temporary camps in Yar Hussain, Swabi and Jalala, Shehzad Town and Rustam had been set up. The official said that a low number of IDPs from Buner had been registered at the official camps as majority of the conflict-affected people were living either with their relatives or in rented houses in Mardan and Swabi.

A delegation from NWFP, led by Provincial Minister for Social Welfare Ms Sitara Ayaz, returned from Geneva on Thursday where the donor agencies and developed nations were asked to provide more assistance to the NWFP government for rehabilitation of IDPs from Bajaur Agency and Swat district.

Approximately 550,000 IDPs have either been registered or are in the process of registration in the NWFP. Just over 300,000 have been registered outside camps in 11 districts of the province, while registration forms for an additional 29,000 families or approximately 175,000 individuals have been received, but have yet to be entered into the IDP database.

The registered population of the 11 official camps now stands at 75,000. The conflict-affected people from South and North Waziristan agencies, Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency and Dara Adamkhel area are yet to be registered, whose number could be estimated in thousands who have settled in Peshawar and southern districts of the province.

Karachi killings

The fragile peace that had held out in Karachi for several months has been shattered once more. The orgy of ethnic killings that began with an attack on a North Karachi neighbourhood has now claimed over 30 lives. The tensions were continuing into Thursday, despite shoot-on-sight orders from the PM and the deployment of police and Rangers across the city. The new round of violence will, of course, also take a toll on business confidence – at a time when the Karachi Stock Exchange had begun a recovery from its dismal decline over much of the past year. Political parties have all condemned the violence. But they need to do more. All major groups need to sit together and work out a strategy that can prevent such descent into madness at periodic intervals. Activists on the ground, supporters and community leaders all need to be involved in this. We must, in Karachi, a city made up of many diverse groups, get over the parochialism and narrow racism that inspires the kind of ethnic hatred we see now. This is especially important as the latest murders, the burials that follow and the long grieving in so many homes will inevitably inspire only more feelings of ill will. Such sentiments need to be overcome by building in Karachi a spirit of community that crosses line of language and belief. The task is not an easy one. For too many years now we have seen Karachi erupt with terrible anger. In many cases such episodes seem to have been deliberately incited. Everyone with influence within the country's largest city must be called upon to ensure such provocation does not take place.

The government – at both the federal and provincial level – needs to carefully consider strategy. On a short term basis we need to persuade all the stakeholders to sit together and make a commitment to peace. On a longer-term basis, we need to do more. Tolerance must be built within the city – through a wide set of strategies. As in other urban centres around the world, the creation of localities – in some cases ghettoes dominated by a specific ethnic group – is a factor in the violence. Perhaps there is a need to think along the line of more innovative housing and employment schemes that can help break up this communal isolation. To do so, those in powerful places who seek to rule by dividing people will also need to be tackled. The task is a demanding one. For over two decades now, peace in Karachi has remained elusive. But full attention must be given to changing this. We cannot afford a situation where the city's principal commercial centre becomes periodically paralyzed by bloodshed that takes people off streets and forces offices, schools and colleges to close. Such a situation is simply untenable. Resolving the communal issues of Karachi must therefore become a priority for everyone who can play a part in this in any way. There is no other alternative.

Violence against women

The first quarterly report of the current year released by a non-government organisation has recorded 162 cases of violence against women in the NWFP. The report was launched at the Peshawar Press Club, showed 56 cases of murder, 51 of honour killing, 12 of suicide, nine of kidnapping and 24 miscellaneous.

Peshawar district topped the crime rate against women with 81 of total cases, followed by Mardan and Charsadda with 16 and 13 cases, respectively. The NGO compiled the report in collaboration with Violence Against Women (VAW) Watch Group titled ‘Violence Against Women’ in NWFP under the project namely Policy and Data Monitor on Violence Against Women.

Presenting the report, authorities informed the media-persons that there were 162 registered cases of violence against women during the first quarter of the current year. “Out of the total 162 cases, there were 56 cases of murder, 51 domestic and 12 were of suicide,” .

About the district-wise data and kind of violence cases, she said that a total of 81 cases were reported in Peshawar, including 13 cases of murder, 33 of domestic violence, one suicide, eight kidnapping and 26 miscellaneous.

In District Mardan 16 cases were reported out of which 10 were of murder, four of domestic violence, two of suicide and two miscellaneous. Similarly, in Nowshera, 13 cases were reported in which four were of murder, five of domestic violence, two suicides and two miscellaneous.

In Charsadda, eight cases were reported of which three each were of murder and domestic violence, one of suicide and one other. In Mansehra, four cases were reported—all of them of murder. Likewise, in Dera Ismail Khan, five cases were reported out of which four were of murder and one miscellaneous.

In Kohat, five cases of violence were reported of which three were of murder, one of domestic violence and one miscellaneous. Four cases were reported in Bannu district amongst them two were of suicide, one of domestic violence and one miscellaneous.

In Haripur two cases were reported—one each of domestic violence and suicide. In Malakand, two cases were reported with one each of murder and domestic violence. In Swat, two cases were reported: both were of murder.

In Chitral two suicide cases were reported, while in Battagram two murder cases, in Lakki Marwat two cases (one of murder and one miscellaneous), in Karak one murder case, in Upper Dir one kidnapping case was reported. Likewise, in Abbottabad one miscellaneous case, in Tank one murder case, while no violence case was reported from Buner Kohistan, Hangu, Shangla and Lower Dir.Nusrat said that in all 162 cases the accused were close relatives, including husband, father, brother, cousin, in-laws or neighbours.

The sources of the information mentioned in the report were newspapers, police headquarters, hospitals and women crisis centres, it is important to mention that these were the reported cases and the list might swell if the un-reported cases were included in it.