Swat refugees begin returning home

Hundreds of Pakistani refugees who spent weeks in relief camps began heading home to the battle-scarred Swat Valley today under a government repatriation programme.

However, some refused to go back, saying they felt unsafe and needed promised aid, while the military tried to block thousands more returning without permission.

The government had designated today as the first day some of the more than two million people displaced during an army campaign to rid the north-western valley of Taliban could return home.

The army has declared most of Swat clear after an operation strongly backed by US officials eager to see Pakistan eliminate safe havens for militants blamed for attacks on international troops in Afghanistan.

The hesitant start to the repatriation however showed the government’s limited capacity to respond to one of its greatest humanitarian challenges.

Pakistan’s government has had a mixed record in such crises. Last year, officials told refugees from the Bajur tribal region they could return during a cease-fire with Taliban, and many did, only to see fighting resume.

Several families at some refugee camps said they would not go home unless they were given money, food and other government-promised aid.

Others also cited security worries. Many Swat militant commanders remain at large.

US-based Refugees International said the government was moving too quickly in reopening Swat, a former tourist haven.

“The army’s definition of cleared zones does not necessarily translate into safe zones for civilians,” said a spokesman.

Many others, however, were desperate to go home after weeks in stifling tents.

At Charsadda, a convoy of six vehicles including buses and vans, left carrying 22 families in the afternoon. A police van provided an escort. At the Jalozai camp in the Peshawar area, 20 buses carrying 108 families took off in the morning.

While about 200,000 of the displaced were living in camps, most stayed with relatives and friends.

Thousands of them also headed back Monday but were blocked by the military along one major road to the valley. Army officials told them only those returning from the camps under the government plan could go forward.

The return is expected to take several days.