Updated 30 June 2009
Working in partnership with the Hussaini Foundation of Pakistan, The World Federation is launching the Swat Valley Relief Appeal to raise funds to purchase 20,000 urgently needed insecticide bed nets for the displaced people of the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan.
ABOUT THE SWAT VALLEY
Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan, located 160 km from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The population of this region at the 1981 Census was 715,938, which had risen to 1,257,602 at the next Census in 1998. Today there are more than 3 million residents that call the Swat Valley home.
The Swat Valley was once a princely state in the NWFP until it was dissolved in 1969. With high mountains, green meadows, and clear lakes, it is a place of great natural beauty that used to be popular with tourists and known as "the Switzerland of Pakistan". In fact, there was a popular ski resort in Swat at Malam Jabba; unfortunately, the resort closed in 2007 due to the decreasing ability of the Pakistani government to maintain security in the region. In June 2008, this ski resort was burned down by militants.
CONFLICT IN THE SWAT VALLEY
In December 2008 most of the Swat Valley was captured by the Taliban insurgency and it is now too dangerous for tourism. A January 21, 2009 issue of the Pakistan daily newspaper The News, reports Taliban enforcement of a complete ban on female education in the Swat district. Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls have been shut down. At least 10 girls' schools that tried to open after the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Taliban were blown up by the militants in the town of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district."
A WAVE OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE
As a result of the deteriorating situation in the Swat Valley, nearly one-third of the region’s 3 million people have been forced to migrate out of the province. To date, the United Nations has reported that 1.9 million people have officially registered as refugees.
In May 2009, the Pakistani government began a military offensive to regain control of the region. This led to a humanitarian crisis. The increased conflict has killed thousands, driven more people out of the region and left another million people trapped in their homes with diminishing access to food and water.
What is heartening to see is that on a scale unseen in other crises, the majority of refugees have been taken in privately by relatives and friends in neighbouring districts. Host families are looking after several families at a time, leaving just 145,000 people to seek shelter in camps supported by the UN and other agencies, and in emptied schools. About 3,500 schools are now occupied by displaced families, living several to a classroom.
Mr Arrukban visited the Sheikh Shehzad refugee camp and privately hosted communities in Mardan, a district over the hills from Swat to where most people fled. He commented: “I was really touched. I’ve never seen this private hosting elsewhere in such large numbers. From what I can see it’s a part of the culture here to help each other. “But all these host families need help, too. We are working with them to help provide food and other essential needs. But we need the international community to help us help the host families. In the camps, I would like to see better conditions.”
SITUATION GRIM FOR THE PAKISTANI REFUGEES
On 22 June 2009, after visiting some of the two million people displaced by devastating offensives in the country’s north-west, the United Nations humanitarian envoy Abdul Aziz Arrukban warned the global community that the millions of Pakistanis displaced during the military strike would “die slowly” unless the international community paid heed to the scope of the humanitarian crisis which caught everyone by surprise. Today, millions of Swatis are living in refugee camps around Peshawar in the hopes that one day soon they will be able to return home.
The United Nations has appealed for $532 million to help shelter, feed and provide clean water and medicines for what it says is the world’s worst refugee crisis since Rwanda in the 1990s. So far only 35.5 per cent of the funding request has been met, making this humanitarian effort one of the most under-funded in recent history.
In an interview, Mr Arrukban said: “There hasn’t been a huge wave of deaths in this crisis. But these people, they will die slowly unless we get more help. What I’ve been seeing in Pakistan, it’s huge. This is the largest refugee crisis we at the UN have seen in the last 15 years. But it’s not getting that much attention. Some countries are not taking it seriously.”
Day by day the situation is worsening. With the coming of the monsoon season, these annual rains which usually arrive in July often cause destructive flooding.
THE WORLD FEDERATION LAUNCHES SWAT VALLEY RELIEF FUND
According to the United Nations, 2 million dollars a day is needed to provide the refugees with decent living conditions. At the same time, The World Federation’s partnering agency in Pakistan, the Hussaini Foundation has been monitoring the pressing needs of the displaced persons in the Swat Valley.
At this time, 20,000 insect bed nets are urgently needed in the region. With the upcoming monsoon rains, the threat of malaria and other water borne diseases are imminent and these nets will decrease the risk of infection among the refugees.
With the Month of Ramadhan only a few weeks away, let us come together to ensure the good health of our brothers and sisters. Please donate today.
Click here to Donate on The World Federation website
Click here to Donate in Canada or USA, (via NASIMCO)
Click here to Donate in Europe (via CoEJ)
For more information, please email relief@world-federation.org