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Battle for Swat is now refugee crisis, says UN
Ed Harris8 May 2009
Thousands of Pakistanis were fleeing clashes between Taliban fighters and the army today in the bitter battle for the Swat valley, threatening a humanitarian emergency.
Refugees overwhelmed camps and hospitals to the south of the fighting as Pakistan's prime minister appealed for international help. Speaking on TV last night, Yusuf Raza Gilani vowed to defeat the militants.
"I appeal to the people of Pakistan to support the government and army at this crucial time," he said. "We pledge to eliminate the elements who have destroyed the peace and calm of the nation and wanted to take Pakistan hostage at gunpoint."
The International Committee of the Red Cross said fighting had cut access to places where civilians were most in need. UN spokeswoman Ariane Rummery warned: "We are in an emergency phase. The refugee problem is becoming much larger, and much more serious."
The US has praised the military operation which is gathering momentum in and around the Swat valley where Taliban guerrillas have extended their reach to within 60 miles of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. But with about 45,000 people already fleeing, the pro-Western government faces a daunting task as its troops respond to US pressure to wipe out the Taliban. The exodus adds to the more than 500,000 already displaced by fighting in Pakistan's volatile north-west border region with Afghanistan.
Yesterday several thousand men, women and children, many on foot, took advantage of an easing of the army curfew to pour through Swat's main town, Mingora, in search of safety. Convoys of lorries, cars and buses travelled for hours over mountainous terrain to reach camps in the city of Mardan.
At the Tuberculosis Hospital there, hundreds jostled before hard-pressed volunteers to register for tents and handouts of food, water and medecine.
Fazl Hadi, a doctor at another hospital, said 45 civilians had been admitted with serious gunshot or shrapnel wounds in recent days and he expected many more.
Chaman Ara, a 12-year-old girl, was wounded when a mortar shell hit the lorry taking her family out of Buner.She said seven people died, including one of her cousins, and pointed to a nearby bed where the boy's wounded mother lay prone. "We mustn't tell her yet. Please don't tell her," she whispered.
