Pakistan says NW refugees can go home next week

by Sajjad Tarakzai

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan said Thursday nearly two million displaced people can start returning home next week, drawing a line under its massive assault against the Taliban in the northwest.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said preparations were being made to send home the hundreds of thousands of people who fled their homes in the Swat valley, claiming that the military had "eliminated" the extremists.

"The displaced people will start going back from July 13. The special support group will finalise the strategy from today and will make a procedure for their return, security and other arrangements," he told a news conference.

"The army will remain in the area for the security of the people and the reconstruction process of the affected areas will start soon."

Soldiers launched an offensive against the Taliban in parts of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in late April after the fighters moved from Swat into the neighbouring district of Buner, which is further south towards Islamabad.

The offensive sparked a huge evacuation.

Most of the 1.9 million displaced, including about 500,000 who fled an offensive last year elsewhere in the northwest, are packed into relatives' homes, while others are crammed into hot and dusty refugee camps.

Families say they are desperate to return to their cool mountain homes, but have expressed concern that there is still no guarantee of security.

UN humanitarian chief John Holmes, who visited Buner on Thursday, said many people were returning already, but added every effort must be made to ensure that people can rebuild their lives in safety and not flee again.

"People need help to re-establish themselves, to re-establish their livelihoods, to re-start farming. They're going to need some food," he told reporters in the village of Sultanwas, which sustained heavy damage.

"The biggest concerns are that people are able to return and that once they've returned, that return is sustained.

"The worst thing of all if people come back and then suddenly they find it's not safe and have to go back again. That would land us all with a big problem," Holmes added.

Electricity and water supplies were cut off in the main urban hubs during the fighting, hospitals closed their doors, markets shut and witnesses have spoken of significant amounts of damage after the offensive.

Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, the official in charge of Pakistan's emergency response to the displacement crisis, said full security would be provided to ensure the safety of those who went back.

"First the people living in camps will be sent. Then the people living in schools. In the third phase, people living with their relatives in houses and in the final stage, people living outside NWFP," he told Geo television.

"We will provide full security," he added. "We will enroll local young men through community policing and pay them 10,000 rupees (123 US dollars) per month, they will be responsible for law and order in their areas".

Army commanders have been saying for some time that Swat, Buner and neighbouring Lower Dir are almost cleared of Taliban rebels, although fighting continues in several pockets.

The prime minister said soldiers would remain on the ground after people return, but appeared to be drawing a line under major combat operations.

"More than 1,700 militants were killed during the operation. Our soldiers also made sacrifices. Some of them were injured. Some of them were disabled, but they eliminated the extremists," Gilani told reporters.

Death tolls released by Pakistan are impossible to confirm independently because fighting takes place in military zones closed to the media.

Fighter jets Thursday pounded suspected militants, killing at least 12 in the tribal belt of South Waziristan, where commanders have vowed to open a second front against Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, officials said.

Twelve Taliban militants were killed around Ladha, about 60 kilometres (38 miles) northeast of Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, they said.