UN opens new camps for displaced Pakistanis

October 6th, 2009 COLOMBO - A British cabinet minister began a two-day visit to Sri Lanka Tuesday to assess the government's resettlement plans for an estimated 250,000 people displaced by the country's civil war, officials said. Mike Foster, British Parliamentary under secretary of state for international development, was scheduled to visit refugee camps in the north, a British-funded child soldier rehabilitation centre in Vavuniya and a demining programme also backed by Britain.

October 4th, 2009 CHENNAI - Pattali Makkal Katchi's founder S Ramadoss has demanded that the Indian Government should take steps to send back Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner Vadivel Krishnamoorthy. "The Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner here is functioning like Karuna and others there (in Sri Lanka).

August 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Germany has given Rs.1.17 billion (about $14 million) in aid to Pakistan to help the displaced people in the country's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Online news agency reported Friday. The funds will be used to purchase food for the displaced people as part of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

August 14th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Most Pakistanis hate the Taliban as much as they consider United States as their enemy, a recent opinion poll has reveled. According to Pew Global Attitudes poll about 70 percent of Pakistanis are now against the Taliban's violent policies.

August 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday sent the fourth installment of relief material worth Rs 15 crores for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, who are confined to displacement camps. More than 2,80,000 civilians are held in sprawling camps in the north since May, when government troops crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to end a 25-year-old war.

July 17th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - After spending numerous arduous days in refugee camps, people belonging to Hindu and Sikh communities have started returning to their homes in the Swat Valley. According to The Daily Times, the first convoy of refugees consisting of several Hindus and Sikhs, left for Swat from Hassanabdal on Thursday.

July 10th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The displaced Pakistanis should not be forced to return to their homes until the security situation improves in the northwest, the UN has said. UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said the conditions have to be right before people are encouraged to return.

July 4th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - More than two million Pakistanis who have been displaced by the ongoing war between security forces and militants, but who have not got admission into any relief camp, are in appalling condition as they have no access to government aid, the Amnesty International has said. The government must ensure the ethnic Pashtuns fleeing the fighting in northwest Pakistan do not face discrimination in receiving assistance, the Online news agency said Saturday, citing the rights group Amnesty.

July 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - About 80 percent of Pakistanis feel that Taliban is posing a "serious threat to the stability of Pakistan", a survey revealed. The survey carried out by World Public Opinion (WPO) showed that 68 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the ongoing military operation against Taliban in Swat Valley.

June 20th, 2009 PESHAWAR - The displaced Pakistanis will start returning to their homes from June 25 onwards, the Online news agency said Saturday. The process will continue in phases till July 2 and the returning civilians will be provided food and transportation, the report said citing Fazal Kareem Khatak, commissioner in Malakand Division in northwest Pakistan.

June 3rd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Taliban militants may have escaped from conflict zones in the Malakand Division in the guise of refugees. As there is no proper system for registering displaced people, the NWFP government has no idea about how many militants could have moved out.

May 31st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Sunday urged the government to immediately release 500 million rupees (about $6 million) in emergency aid for the displaced people living at the relief camps in North West Frontier Province, a media report said. The president was deeply concerned about the people living in the camps and asked the government to step up the relief work with emphasis on transparency and accountability, Senator Farhatullah Babar, spokesperson of the president, said in a statement.

May 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - More than 1.6 million people have been displaced in Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province (NWFP), as the battle against the Taliban hots up, officials said Monday. About 164,000 people have fled their homes in the Malakand region alone since the military operation started in the area in late April.

May 13th, 2009 SWAT - The number of people who have fled fighting in northwest Pakistan and registered with authorities in the last 11 days has jumped to more than 670,000, the UN refugee agency has said on Wednesday. "The new figure of registered people since May 2 for the new influx is 670,906.

May 12th, 2009 MARDAN - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif has said the Taliban insurgent, who are responsible for the displacement of thousands from the war-torn Swat region, do not deserve any sympathy. Urging everyone to come forward and support internally displaced persons (IDPs), Sharif stated that a handful elements could not destabilize Swat.