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13 May 2009
Residents fleeing the Pakistani military's offensive
against Taliban fighters in the Swat valley have told
Al Jazeera of their sense of abandonment at the hands
of both sides.
The government said on Monday it would continue its
campaign against the Taliban in the North West
Frontier Province, while thousands of people continued
to arrive in refugee camps in nearby Mardan.
The exodus is said to be the largest movement of
people in Pakistan for 60 years. An estimated 500,000
people are running away from the fighting with the few
belongings they can carry.
Abdur Rahman, one of the displaced who fled to
Mardan, told Al Jazeera: "People from all over - from
Matta, Mingora and from everywhere - [are fleeing] on
foot. Women and children and even old women and old
men.
"Some of them died on the road, but no one was
willing to offer us any help - neither the army nor
the Taliban.
"They are both committing atrocities and cruelty
against the ordinary people."
It was not possible for Al Jazeera to verify
accusations of atrocities.
Civilian exodus
About half a million people are believed to be
leaving the region, in addition to more than 550,000
people already displaced from Swat and nearby areas
since August.
The army
lifted its curfew on the area briefly on Sunday to
allow residents to flee, before imposing it again with
a "shoot on sight" order for anyone who violated it.
Many of those fleeing have headed to nearby
villages, but thousands more are gathering at any of
11 refugee camps around the province.
Reporting from Islamabad, the capital, Al Jazeera's
Sohail Rahman said: "That exodus of civilians
continues ... it's a desperate situation.
"Those that have managed to escape the Swat valley
during that curfew period on Sunday are certainly
making thier way to those camps in and around the
southern part of the region, and outside Peshawar, the
provincial capital."
Economic concerns
The offensive has been praised by the US, which
wants Pakistan to root out havens where Taliban
fighters are said to plan attacks on American and Nato
forces fighting in Afghanistan.
But
analysts warn that the military's campaign will have
severe knock-on effects in terms of the local economy,
which in Swat has become dominated by agriculture in
the years since its position as a tourist destination
faded.
"They [those fleeing] will be losing their
agriculture, their livestock ... in addition to that,
their houses and their family networks," Zafar Jaspal,
a professor at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam university,
told Al Jazeera.
"When we look at Swat and these areas' agriculture,
number one is fruit - and fruit trees need care. If no
one is there, how can they care [for] them? Number two
is that it is the harvest season for the wheat crop
and who will go for harvesting?
"It has not only a short-term implication but a
long-term implication in the economic sector."
Offensive continues
Despite the concerns, the military's campaign
shows little sign of letting up, with Rehman Malik,
Pakistan's interior minister, on Monday vowing that
the operation will "continue until the last" fighter
has been ousted.
He said that the military had already killed up to
700 fighters.
Military aircraft pounded Taliban positions close
to Mingora, Swat's main town, early on Monday, and
there were reports that the army had jammed FM radio
station run by the Taliban in Swat.
"It was through those FM stations that they were
able to pass their information and go on a campaign of
their own, a propaganda campaign," Kamal Hyder, Al
Jazeera's correspondent in Peshawar, said.
But in a reminder of the dire security situation
faced by those displaced by the fighting, a suicide
blast at a checkpoint outside Peshawar killed as many
as 10 people, police say, and wounded dozens more.
Officials said that a man detonated a car full of
explosives on the outskirts of Darra Adam Ghek.
The bomb site and a nearby tunnel were sealed off,
while the injured are being taken to hospital, a
military official said. -- Al Jazeera and agencies |
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