Internally displaced persons...
Displaced widows at Jalozai narrate tales of ordeal
NOWSHERA: Displaced from their native Swat and Bara areas
required to look after small children, several widows at the Familo
camp in Jalozai need urgent attention by the government and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Though peace has been restored in Swat, the widows and their
children cannot return to their villages, as the houses where they
lived were owned by landlords who now wanted those places for their
own use.
During a visit to the sprawling Jalozai settlement reserved for the
internally displaced persons (IDPs), one met a number of displaced
Swati widows and heard their heart-rending tales of ordeal.
Shahi Lal Bibi, a 50-year-old widow from Devlai village in Swat,
said she was displaced along with her five teenaged children when
the army ordered the villagers to leave. They first stayed in the
makeshift camp in Kund Park in Nowshera and were then shifted to the
Jalala camp in Mardan district. Now they are staying in the Jalozai
camp, their third destination in the course of a year.
“When Swat became peaceful, we were also told to go back. However,
we didn’t own any house in Devlai. The one in which we lived
belonged to Khan Nawab, who annexed it to his own house after the
military operation. Being poor and having no male adult in the
family I had no option but to stay in the camp.”
Frail and distraught, Shahi Lal Bibi said that four of her daughters
were married while four sons and a daughter were living with her in
the camp. She said her 14-year-old eldest son couldn’t earn enough
from odd work to support her family of six persons. “Before the
military action in Swat, the only source of income for my family was
a cow. We lost the cow when we were displaced,” she recalled. She
said she missed Swat but was compelled to live in the camp due to
poverty.
Showing a worn-out token (VP 00051187-No.101) issued to her by the
National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) on June 10,
2009, Shahi Lal Bibi said she was yet to receive her computerised
national identity card (CNIC).
She added that the absence of CNIC was a hurdle for her in claiming
rations and other benefits at the Jalozai camp. “Families in the
neighbouring camp share their rations with us out of kindness to
save us from starvation,” she said.
When asked if any of the widows were registered for the Benazir
Income Support Programme (BISP) in Jalozai camp, her answer was in
the negative. She said the militants had destroyed their life but
the government must not abandon people like her before the rough and
tough life at the camp devoured her impoverished family.
Another widow Badshah Izzat Bibi, resident of Koza Bandai village in
Swat, had almost a similar tale of misery. Mother of six children,
the 40-year-old widow said her family also didn’t own any house and
were living in one provided by a landlord. She too cannot return to
Swat and had no choice but to stay in the camp. “My four sons are
not of working age. I have no male breadwinner. Life is tough as we
are underfed. The ration given to isn’t enough for the six members
of my family,” she explained.
Living in extreme poverty and facing hardship, the widows among the
IDPs were yet to receive any special treatment given to the
extremely vulnerable individuals (EVIs) around the world in conflict
zones.
Several widows residing in the camp including Sardara Bibi, Jamroza
Bibi and Gul Jamala Bibi, all displaced from Bara in Khyber Agency
following the military operation and two more widows from Swat asked
the government to register them for the BISP.
In Jalozai’s Familo camp, which was detached from the main Jalozai
IDPs camp by several kilometres, there is no school for the
displaced children. The children belonging to various age groups
were observed in the playing in the dusty wasteland of the camp
instead of going to school. The teenagers in the camp also had no
opportunity to learn skills to be able to earn their livelihood.