SHEIKH SHAHZAD JALALA CAMP, Mardan, Pakistan – The military may be winning the war against the Taleban in the Swat Valley but the government appears to be losing the battle to cope with at least half a million people displaced by the fighting and heading for the various relief camps being hurriedly set up outside the battle zone. At Sheikh Shahzad Jalala camp, about 50 km from Buner and the only one in Mardan district, the sense of horror, loss and hopelessness among the refugees was palpable. There was no water, no food and not enough tents for the approximately 3,000 families packed in a place meant for only 1,000. “We escaped the hell in Buner for this – another journey of suffering!” Mohammed Sher, 26, said in exasperation to the Saudi Gazette, Saturday. Behind him, a long, snaking line of bedraggled refugees waited under the 40°C sun to be registered for entry into the camp by only three officials. Some women lay flopped down on the dusty ground, tear-stricken and too exhausted to bother anymore about the children with them. “Many of the children have diarrhea and fever,” Sher said, his hand instinctively rising to his nose to shut out the stench. There was no sign of any international relief agency operating in the camp. The men were huddled in groups, talking animatedly about the war. “The army is bombing and Taleban are retaliating and innocent civilians are getting killed,” said Sher who had just arrived on foot from Buner. “I saw hundreds of dead bodies, Taleban or civilians I don't know,” he said. At Katlam relief camp in Rustom, just 20 km from Buner, helicopter gunships flew by as we reached. A Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz convoy of 10 trucks was parked in the camp. PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Punjab Minister of Prisons and Law Chaudhry Abdulgafoor, and national assembly member Anjum Aqeel were distributing flour and other relief material to a crowd of screaming men, women and children. “More aid will come, more aid will come,” they yelled to the clamoring refugees. Shadia Khan, a 60-year-old woman, stood apart, her shoulders slumped as she watched the scene with her 12-year-old son who was crying. “My husband and three sons were killed early this morning in the bombing,” she said. “I lost everything except this boy.” Shadia had run with her child as much as they could the 20 km distance from Buner to the camp.“This is not our war,” she said, still breathless but still thumbing the prayer beads in her hand. “This is a war from outside.” Gul Mohammed, 65, who had come from Dir, said they were sandwiched between the army and the Taleban. “If we help the army, the Taleban will kill us, if we help the Taleban, the army will kill us.” By mid-afternoon, some 500 more families were expected to arrive in Rustom. All the refugees appeared to be Pashtuns. Sher Khan, who spoke English, came forward to make an appeal on behalf of the refugees.“Please help us,” he said.
