Displaced Pakistanis begin to return home

THE first groups of the two million Pakistanis who fled a military offensive against the Taliban in Swat Valley began trickling back home yesterday, but many families refused to leave refugee camps, demanding promised government assistance and citing security concerns.

In Pakistan’s east, meanwhile, an explosion rocked a small village, killing at least nine people — seven of them children — wounding dozens and damaging houses in a reminder that security in the country has deteriorated well beyond the north-west region bordering Afghanistan.

TV footage showed a massive crater at the scene of the blast. Many people were trapped under rubble, and the explosion’s cause was unclear.

The government had designated yesterday as the first day some of the more than two million displaced people could return to the north-western Swat Valley after nearly three months of fighting.

The army has declared most of Swat cleared of Taliban militants, and the operation has been backed by US officials eager to see Pakistan get rid of safe havens for militants implicated on attacks in Afghanistan.

The sputtering start to the repatriation programme showed the government’s limited capability to respond to one of its greatest-ever humanitarian challenges. It could also fuel criticism that it is moving too soon to let people return.

Officials said the returnees would go as far as Barikot, south of Swat’s main city of Mingora.

Families at some refugee camps early yesterday said they would not go home unless they were given cash, food and other aid promised by the government. Each family was supposed to get 25,000 rupees (€216), but the government has had difficulties in giving out the cash.

Many others, however, were desperate to go home after weeks in stifling tents, and they quickly boarded buses and trucks. At the Jalozai camp in the Peshawar area, 20 buses carrying 108 families took off around 10am

“I am happy we are going to our home,” said Sher Zaman, 60, a farmer. “We want peace in our area.”

Several refugees in Jalozai, however, said they were never given money or rations.

About 200,000 of the displaced stayed in camps. Most stayed with relatives and friends. Despite yesterday’s official start date, some Swat residents left earlier for home. Buner, a more southern district included in the military offensive, has seen thousands return.

At a camp in Charsadda north of Peshawar, the other main departure point yesterday, refugees questioned the repatriation plan, saying most families at the camp lived in places not yet cleared for return.

Many militant commanders remain at large in the valley.

“It was the security reason that forced us to leave our homes, and if it is still there when we go back then we will be forced to leave our homes again,” said Mohammad Rehman, 36, from the Saidu Sharif area in Swat.

Camp administrator Shaukat Ali said he expected 40 or 50 families to go home on the convoys, but stressed: “This repatriation is totally voluntary. We are not forcing anyone to go.”