A young girl washes the few dishes her family possesses. Photo: Ghulam Rasool, CWS/ACT

Although thousands of displaced Pakistani families are returning home to the Swat Valley district, many question the safety of returning, and others are fleeing violence elsewhere in the country. 

"Please don’t force us to go back to hell,” Noor Bux, a displaced person, recently said in frustration about the prospect of returning to what was recently a war zone.

Even those who are returning question whether their safety can really be guaranteed. In addition to fears of Taliban presence, the displaced — often called internally displaced persons or IDPs — are concerned about the facts on the ground. Those facts are that homes, farm fields, schools and health facilities are destroyed. There is no natural gas or electricity, and access to food, drinking water and other basic necessities is not yet available.

Presbyterian Disaster (PDA) will continue to provide assistance to families displaced by the ongoing violence between Pakistan’s military and the Taliban rebels.

An additional humanitarian response in Pakistan is needed related to an incident on July 30, 2009, when the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran led to violence in Gojra City in Punjab Province, Pakistan.  About 50,000 families (mainly Christian) were displaced.

Response

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has been supporting the humanitarian response for IDPs as a member of Action by Churches Together (ACT) and in partnership with Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS-P/A).

PDA’s partner CWS-P/A, along with their local partner Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), has identified food and basic nonfood items as the most urgent needs of the families affected by the violence in Gojra City. 

Rapid Response funds through ACT have been made available to assist in providing one-month food rations and basic non-food relief items within the next six weeks to 235 families in Gojra city who lost their homes in the July 30 attacks.  Food rations require the provision of kitchen sets and sand stoves to enable the families to prepare food.

The one-month basic food rations, according to SPHERE standards, consist of:

• 80 kg. wheat flour
• 8 kg. pulses
• 4.5 liters cooking oil
• 4 kg. sugar
• 400 g. tea leaves
• 800 g. iodized salt
• 2 kg. milk powder*

* The milk powder included in the food package is intended for tea preparation that is customary in Pakistan.

Nonfood items kits consist of:

• Hygiene kits, including soap, towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap holder and sanitary napkins
• Household and kitchen sets, including pots, plates, spoon and fork, cups, as well as mosquito nets, jerry cans and plastic mats
• In addition, each family will receive a cooking stove

CWS-P/A will work with CLAAS to conduct further assessment of needs of the affected families. Although beneficiaries are mainly Christians, CWS-P/A will also strive to establish coordination not only with Christian organizations but also with other affected entities present in the area. The assistance provided will be openly communicated to the local government and other religious leaders, if necessary. This is to ensure that the aid provided will not create any cause for grievances from people in neighboring communities.