Pakistan flight resembles Darfur, U.N. official says

The plight of Pakistanis fleeing warfare in the Swat Valley echoes conditions in such hard-pressed regions as Darfur and Congo, a U.N. relief official said Monday, as thousands more displaced people poured out of the conflict area and strained humanitarian organizations.

The government pressed its weeks-old military campaign against Taliban insurgents and said its troops had killed 700 militants in the last four days, a figure that could not be independently verified.

The current conflict started last month when Taliban fighters in the northwestern region of Pakistan expanded into neighboring areas closer to Islamabad, the capital, after having agreed under the terms of a now-defunct peace deal to put down their weapons.

This challenge to the state, combined with significant U.S. pressure, prompted the army to send reinforcements to the region backed by warplanes to take on the Taliban. That sent civilians fleeing by the tens of thousands.

The flood of displaced people is “approaching the situation we’re seeing in Darfur and Congo,” Killian Kleinschmidt, a representative of United Nations relief efforts, said Monday. “The sheer numbers are not as great as Darfur, and we’re still somewhat away from Congo, but not far.

“I’m not saying the consequences for people themselves are as bad,” Kleinschmidt added. “Here they’re not fleeing into the desert, or someplace where there’s nothing. It’s not as dramatic. They are able to flee to places where there are people, food and some capacity to deal. It gives us more time to react.”

The U.N. said 360,000 people have fled the Swat Valley and neighboring Dir and Buner districts in the last four days, in addition to the 500,000 living since last fall in camps, which Kleinschmidt noted could be “dehumanizing.”

Though the public has generally supported the military operation against the Taliban, which has sought to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, in the region, some civilians fleeing the fighting say the army has upended their lives and damaged their property more than the insurgents. This could undercut the government’s bid to win local support in its fight against extremists.

The government said Monday that it would survey and provide tax exemptions for communities damaged by the military.

The army lifted a curfew Sunday, prompting more terrified people to abandon their homes. Many of those fleeing have landed in Mardan, the first major town south of the Swat Valley.

“We’re almost full,” said Usman Khan, an official with the Salban Development Organization, a humanitarian civic group in Mardan. “Now we started another camp nearby that’s already got 5,000 or 6,000 people, but that’s filling up fast and they just keep coming like rain.”

Most of the recently displaced have chosen to live with friends or relatives rather than stay in the designated camps, the U.N. said. This reflects in part a long tradition of hospitality in the Pashtun community, which accounts for much of the mountainous region’s population.

It also suggests that many want to avoid the sterility, boredom and heat of life in the camps, as temperatures soar above 100 degrees.

But those living outside the camps present special challenges for aid groups. They’re more dispersed, more difficult to register and more difficult to assist. In some cases, victims have to walk half a mile or more to find water and basic supplies.

Furthermore, these already-impoverished host communities are seeing their resources stretched, fueling potential instability.

Jeff Hall, regional assistant director with humanitarian group World Vision, said one family he visited Sunday in the town of Jalala had 28 people living in a three-room apartment, two rooms of which had collapsed roofs. “And with the lifting of the curfew, there were 15 more people on the way,” he said.

Aid workers said almost everything was in short supply, including food, water, sanitation and health and education services.

Khan said the registration process was suffering under the load of incoming people. Last week, groups arriving from Swat and Buner demonstrated against the lengthy registration system, which is a prerequisite for receiving aid.

Displaced people planning either to live in a camp or a host community are required to show their Pakistani federal ID card to ensure that non-Pakistani citizens or impoverished-but-not-displaced people don’t take advantage of the aid. They are then eligible for another card that gives them access to food, tents and other basic supplies.

“I’d say the registration is not going according to plan,” Khan said. “There are too many people. Some in the camps are registered, some are not. It’s iffy.”

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mark.magnier@latimes.com

Ali is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Mubashir Zaidi in Islamabad contributed to this report.