Displaced Pakistanis return to Swat

20/07/2009| IslamWeb

People displaced by the military's offensive against the Pakistani Taliban are returning to their homes in Swat valley in the country's northwest.

Many of the two million internally displaced people arrived in Swat and surrounding areas in the North West Frontier Province on Sunday.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Mingora, Swat's main city, said he saw more and more people returning since the Pakistan government unveiled its "repatriation" program on Monday.

"When we first went in [to Swat] on Monday, there were long queues and numerous checkpoints ... [but today], the city is coming back to life," he said.

However, many Swat residents remain concerned about the security situation as sporadic clashes continue to erupt despite the military's control over the towns and all major communication routes.

Fighters at large

The Swat Taliban leadership is still intact and hundreds or even thousands of their fighters are still at large.

"The people will be picking up the pieces, the shops and businesses that have been destroyed have to start from scratch," our correspondent said.

"It will be an uphill task and the people of Swat will need assistance for a while."

The UN humanitarian affairs chief earlier cautioned that there was no guarantee of safety for the returnees.

"The security situation is not going to be 100 per cent calm in these areas overnight and we must recognize that," John Holmes said on Friday at the end of a Pakistan visit.

But there are other areas in the northwest where people have not been able to return for over a year due to the fighting.

"They [residents of the NWFP] would be concerned that they will not be able to return for another few years," our correspondent said.

Many people have been living with friends and relatives or in makeshift camps since the military began its offensive in the NWFP in late April.

'Fazlullah broadcast'

Amid the influx of Swat's displaced residents, Pakistan's army said it was investigating if Maulana Fazlullah, the leader of the regional Taliban, delivered a recent radio address.

The military had earlier said he was wounded.

Fazlullah long used FM radio transmissions to rally support. The army has been fighting his supporters for nearly three months.

The Associated Press news agency quoted a local as saying he heard Fazlullah for a few minutes on Tuesday.

Mohammad Yaseen Khan said Fazlullah asked his supporters not to lose spirit in the face of the army onslaught.

PHOTO CAPTION

A man, who fled military offensive two-months earlier, enters the city of Mingora by foot, in Pakistan's Swat Valley, July 19, 2009.

 

Al-Jazeera