No escape from Hell

Despite the clear indications of the oncoming crisis of mass exodus, which was but a logical result of a full-scale military operation in Malakand Division and adjoining areas, the government, as always, had the most sluggish response for any preparedness in its wake. The now exposed National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had nothing but empty words to offer and tried to underplay the crisis. The redundant Authority had four years to organise themselves, not to mention millions of dollars, but it is a great mystery as to why they still have a handful of staff, mostly clerical, and no real organisational or operational capacity. They have not been able to establish either the provincial or district disaster-management authorities they were supposed to set up and make them functional to form a viable and effective disaster-management system in the country. In a country like Pakistan, facing many challenges like conflicts, violence, extremism, natural disasters and mass exodus of people from conflict zones this inertia from NDMA is inexcusable.

As an obvious result of the lethargy of the governments the IDPs started pouring in at an alarming rate in Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar, Nowshera and other districts before anyone was remotely prepared to receive them. The rest is the same story of ad hoc administration, piecemeal solutions and very inadequate management regarding the IDPs, both in camp and off camp. The Provincial Relief Commissioners and the DCOs were given the task of managing the IDPs, setting up camps with the help of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and handling the relief goods arriving from different sources. This task turned out to be way beyond their limited capacities and understandably resulted in chaos and eventual rifts between the DCOs and the District Nazims mainly on distribution of relief items. 

After the poor response of the NDMA the prime minister constituted a Special Support Group to manage the operation regarding the IDPs headed by Gen Nadeem Ahmed. Later the minister for information and broadcasting was made the focal person by the government to steer the process of IDP management and coordinate its various aspects, as well as the working of the various actors involved in crisis-management, including international aid agencies and the UN.

So now there are a variety of departments, organisations and agencies working for IDP management. There is the SSG, the ministry of information and broadcasting, the ministry of states and frontier regions, the UNHCR, the WEF, UNICEF, the provincial governments, district governments and the Emergency Response Units set up by the NWFP government's Provincial Relief Commissionerate. 

The task of registration of the IDPs is also being done by four different agencies. In the NWFP the ministry of social welfare is doing the registration of off-camp IDPs and the Afghan Commissionerate is doing the registration of in-camp IDPs with the assistance of the UNHR.

In Punjab the UNHCR is doing the registration of off-camp IDPs through partner organisations which are local NGOs, namely, SACH and SHARP. SACH is doing registration in Rawalpindi and Attock and SHARP is doing it in Lahore and other districts. Other than the UNHCR the Punjab government is doing its own registration of IDPs through the Special Branch and the Police. (Needless to say, the data collected by the two sources does not tally at all.) According to UNHCR officials they are registering IDPs who came after July 2008, but there is no definitive mechanism to ensure that. NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) is doing the verification of the registration to prevent duplication and triplication.

Other than all these agencies the interior ministry and the home departments of the provincial governments are dealing with the security issues arising out of the mass influx in various districts.

The federal government is yet to announce the policy regarding the IDPs or to come up with any proposed plan for the three phases of disaster management. Federal information minister Qamar-uz-Zaman Kaira has announced Rs25,000 per family but has not given any date for the commencement of actual distribution. As for the policy decisions, there have been conflicting statements of various federal ministers regarding the movement, registration and camp facilities for the internally displaced people. Interior Minister Rehman Malik has announced that the IDPs outside the NWFP will not be part of the relief package announced by the government in the short or medium term, but the minister of information and broadcasting has encouraged the IDPs to travel across the country and accommodate themselves wherever they please. It is a very important that the IDPs should be given clear and precise message and a single policy be adopted to be applied uniformly.

The WFP is the lead agency responsible for food procurement and distribution both on- and off-camp to the IDPs, but as of now there is no food being prepared in the camps because community kitchens have not been set up by the UNHCR. The food given in the camps is being catered by private contractors and the bills footed by the NWFP government. The wheat flour and other food items being sent by Punjab government are not yet being used for cooking in the camps. 

The UNHCR is the lead agency for camp setting and distribution of non food items, NFIs both in and off camps. They have set up twenty three camps in NWFP which are now being managed by the NWFP government. The non-food items have been distributed to camp residents including jerry cans, utensils, mats, buckets and soap, but it has not started distribution of these NFIs to the larger off-camp IDP population. (The standard package contains the items needed by camp residents, but one wonders if the off-camp families need the same things on priority. All the items are locally purchased.) The UNHCR representative informed that the reason the distribution has not started for off-camp IDPs was that they had to have a critical mass of items before starting actual distribution which now they have and will start distribution soon. 

There is very little coordination among the various agencies and provincial governments working for the IDPs. There is still a huge shortfall of the items actually required by the IDPs, especially those off-camp and their host families, but no one seems to have any exact data regarding that. There is some estimation from the Emergency Response Unit in Peshawar which they have posted on their website, but as that is not regularly updated there is no way of knowing the met requirements and the remaining shortfall. The Punjab government received a request for 10,000 pedestal fans but after dispatching 7,000 of them it again received the request after a week. This is an indicator of mismanagement and lack of coordination.

The UN aid agencies had requested $500 million from the international community in their donors' conference but as yet they have received around $24 million. The federal government has also announced a sum of RsI0 billion for the IDPs but it is yet not clear as to where and how this money is going to be spent. There is also no information as to how much of that fund is already been spent if any and who exactly is authorised for the disbursement of that fund. There is also no planning for the actual spending.

One of the much neglected areas is the special needs of the newborn babies in the camps and their mothers. Temperatures in the camps is rising beyond 43 degree Celsius and it is heartbreaking that infants are forced to stay in appalling conditions unbearable even for adults. The government should pay urgent attention to the special needs of mothers and children, immediately shift them to better accommodation and provide them special care until they are able to return to their homes. UNICEF is the lead agency for mother-and-child healthcare and they should do better than this.

The response from the general public has remained lukewarm for a number of reasons but for people who want to help there is no information regarding the prioritised needs of IDPs. An awareness raising and educational campaign is urgently required for sending the right message to the public regarding relief.