SWATUN pleads for more cash for Swat displaced
Pakistan is struggling to cope as civilians flood every day into crowded camps or the homes of over-burdened relatives, escaping a month-long military offensive in the northwest.
Last Friday, the United Nations appealed for 543 million dollars to provide the displaced with food, medicine, shelter and other assistance, but so far the response has been lackluster.
‘Out of this 543 million, only 88 million is funded — 16 per cent — which is way too little to respond in an effective and timely manner to the crisis that we have,’ said Manuel Bessler, head of UN humanitarian agency OCHA here.
Donors had already committed that 88 million dollars before the fresh appeal and since then only 100 million dollars more had been promised — money that had not yet reached the United Nations.
‘We have not had any overwhelming responses to our appeal. We got some pledges, but we did not get pledges sent into actual bank deposits,’ said Fikret Akcura, the UN resident coordinator in Pakistan.
‘We would like to see a quick response. We will be discouraged if the situation keeps going like this,’ he told a press conference in Islamabad.
Khalif Bile Mohamud, the World Health Organisation representative in Pakistan, said they had enough medicine stocks to last only until June.
‘That’s why we are urging the international community to come and come now,’ he told reporters.
The military launched its operation in the districts of Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and Swat on May 8, after Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometres of Islamabad.
Pakistan has called for one billion dollars to help the uprooted civilians rebuild their lives, but it remains unclear when they will be able to go home.
The army claims to have secured 90 per cent of Buner and to be closing in on militants in Swat’s capital Mingora, but there is no imminent end in sight.
A trickle of people are trying to return to harvest their crops, but a thorough assessment of the security situation in the conflict zones would be needed before any large-scale return, the UN officials said.
