Pakistan's Military Offensive in Swat Valley Creates Huge Refugee Crisis

Posted by Christine Welter May 21, 2009

As many as two million Pakistanis have fled the fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistan army. On Tuesday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US would offer Pakistan $110 million in humanitarian aid.

Washington Post reporter Pamela Constable visited the refugee camps and told the following story:

A family of about 70 people had fled from the Swat Valley, at first by foot, and then by truck. They made it almost to Islamabad. When she met them, they had found shelter in a stable in an outlying village. She talked to the patriarch, an articulate man, who was very upset at what they had witnessed in Swat.

"When the Taliban fighters first came into their little village, they were preaching, "You know, we're going to bring justice. We're going to bring peace (...) and fairness.(...) And they were received well by the people.

And then, he said, just two days later, they saw these Taliban fighters grab the local policeman and start chopping off his head. And the whole village was just horror-struck. They managed to save the man's life and get him away and hide him, but he said, "All of us from that moment on looked at each other and said, "Who are these people? Why have they come here? Are they really Muslims? And what do they really want with us?" (Refugees on a Mass Exodus, Online Newshour)

Most of the refugees are small tenant farmers. They are not educated. Right now they don't know what will happen to them. Will they be able to go back? Will the Pakistani army protect them from the Taliban?And if they can return, who will help them rebuild? $110 million in aid won't go very far.