Pakistani refugees begin returning home

SULTANWAS, Pakistan — Crammed into rickety vans with electric fans and sacks of flour roped to the roof, the first of Pakistan’s 2 million refugees have begun returning to their homes after the army said it expelled Taliban militants from some northern strongholds.

Their return is unlikely to end Pakistan’s refugee crisis. The military is preparing for a major offensive in a neighboring region, ensuring that other Pakistanis will be displaced.

The refugees have spent the past two months in crowded camps and squeezed into houses with relatives and friends south of the war zone, and are eager to restart their lives. The government must now quickly restore electricity and water — and prevent the militants from coming back.

If the government fails, it could lose the goodwill it won among the public by confronting the Taliban during last spring’s offensive. The military operation began after militants poured out of bases in the Swat Valley into the neighboring district of Buner and moved within 60 miles of the capital, Islamabad.

The army has now declared Swat and Buner cleared of most Taliban fighters. It plans to follow up on its success in those areas with an offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan, part of the lawless tribal region along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

But those offensives have forced an estimated 2 million civilians from their homes, threatening a humanitarian crisis in a country which has long fallen short of providing basic services to its people.

The urgency of the situation is particularly clear in Sultanwas, a small town in Buner that was reduced to rubble during the fighting. F-16 fighter jets, military helicopters, tanks and artillery flattened houses, mosques and shops, strewn with charred children’s books, torn sandals and busted suitcases.

With the Taliban driven from the area, about half the town’s estimated 5,000 residents have returned — mainly men to scout out the situation to see if it’s safe for their wives and children. About 100 tents have been set up in a wheat field to house them.

Some returnees were grumbling Thursday about what they perceive as government foot-dragging.

“If we are ignored and neglected, then no one will stand against militant extremism in the future,” said Muhamed Shereen, who left his wife and nine children in a refugee camp. “In this war we lost and gave everything, saw our village destroyed. So now the people of Sultanwas look to the government and the whole country and world to come forward and help us.”

Help is something they desperately need.

There’s no electricity in Sultanwas, and the sole source of water is a well with a hand pump. Craters from artillery shells and bombs have ravaged fields where tomatoes and cucumbers once grew. Shereen said food is scarce and the government is slow in delivering new supplies.

While the scale of destruction in Sultanwas is exceptional, many of the residents’ frustrations are not. In nearby villages that escaped the fighting largely unscathed, residents said they also experience power outages and food shortages. Many ran through their savings supporting their families while away; they are now counting on government handouts to get by.

Electricity has been restored to some villages, and officials say it should be back on in Sultanwas in the next few days.

The government also has vowed to provide for those who return as well as those still stuck in camps until the end of the year.

“We will ensure that every family that leaves (the camps) gets cash support from the government,” said Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmad, who heads an army support group to look after the displaced.

Although the army says Buner and Swat are now largely free of Taliban fighters, security questions remain.

In the village of Pir Baba, the dusty main market street was empty and most storefronts were shuttered.

At one of the few produce shops open, Asad Khan was selling bananas, mangoes, tomatoes and red onions. Khan, 17, returned to Pir Baba this week with his parents and six siblings from a refugee camp about two hours south.

“We don’t see any danger at the moment here,” he said, but noted that business was slow despite the influx of returnees.

“People are not coming to the market area because they are still apprehensive,” he said.

Tufaiel Ahmad, 16, said he left his parents, four sisters and three brothers at a refugee camp to reopen his father’s snack shop near the town’s shrine to a local Muslim mystic.

“This street was not like it is now,” he said, playing with the scales used to weigh walnuts and almonds. “You couldn’t pass because of the crowd of people. We had great business in those days.

“The problem was because of the Taliban. Now that they’ve left, we hope normal life will return.”

Military officials acknowledge that pockets of resistance remain in northeast Buner and parts of Swat. Officials insist that troops will finish them off in the coming days.

Many residents believe Taliban fighters simply hid their weapons and melted back into the civilian population, waiting for the right moment to resurface as they have after previous Pakistani crackdowns.

This time, the army acknowledges it is going to have to retain a presence in Buner and Swat.

“The army will remain until the situation feels comfortable and there is no threat,” said Lt. Col. Waseem Shahid, a spokesman for an army group helping refugees in the region.