|
|
Internally Displaced Persons facing problem in registration
NOWSHERA, Jul 21, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --
The government has badly failed to register the refugees and there are a number of families finding it difficult to be listed. Talking to this agency the IDPs despite being happy to return to their homes after spending hard days in refugees camps have complained about problems they faced during the process of repatriation.
The issue of registration overcomes all the other problems, followed by inadequate food, medical facilities and transportation etc. The government has badly failed to register the refugees and there are a number of families finding it difficult to be listed, they said.
When the operation started unmanageable number of people fled their homes and rushed to safer places while during returning the situation does not seem too much different.
So far the registration process is incomplete and non-transparent. The government is providing each family with ATM cars of Rs.25, 000 cash support to build their damaged homes etc but all is possible when the refugees are accurately registered. Some people within a family have received more than one ATM cards while a number of people are running from pillar to post to get a single one.
Zakir Khan currently living at Government high school Bigatganj says, Since last two weeks Im visiting different offices to register my family but Im unable while there are families that have received more than one ATM card. Shakir Khan of Mingora, currently living at primary school Kunda Swabi, told this scribe, We have been asked to leave tomorrow for our homes but we are not leaving as we have to receive any card or financial add from the government. What we will do back at our village without any ration and money. Another person at the same school said that he has received the money but is waiting for the vehicle to come and pick his family.
Also ATM card have been allotted to those IDPs posses identity cards whereas a number of people within refugees bearing no CNIC. Zarina, a widow with three small kids, currently living at a camp in Topi said, Im unable to register my family as I dont have any national identity card. People, after receiving money, are retuning to their homes but Im worried about my position, she added.
Majority of the IDPs are complaining about the slow process of payment, the government has provided each registered family with an ATM card, which is totally new experience for them. After receiving ATM cards, number of refugees, are waiting from few days for the transfer of money to their account. An old man from Swat who was unable to use his ATM card at a machine in Mardan told Pulse, I received an ATM card; Im unable to use it, yesterday a boy helped me to use it but there was no balance in it.
Today Im here again with a hope that it would work; illiterate people like me cannot use the ATM cards so the government should provide us with cash amount instead of card, he advised. Due to overload, majority of the ATM machines are nonfunctional while the refugees are in hurry to receive the money for returning to their homes. Once they enter Malakand division, there would be a problem for them to receive money due to lack of ATM machines. There is a single ATM machine in Batkhela that usually remain out of order while at Mingora there are few ATM machines but due to curfew no one is functional and the people need the money at once.
The returning people looking worried while entering Malakand Division amid of clampdown, no doubt due to curfew the traffic is smooth but it also reminding the people that they are not moving to safer places. According to Zarif Khan a refugee currently living at Shergar Mardan, The children are scared when they enter Malakand in curfew; they feel they are experiencing the same situation as the earlier when they were leaving their homes.
There are some 16,000 affected families at different camps and government buildings at Malakand agency but so far none of them has been registered. These IDPs demand for registration and want going back to their native villages. A number of families have returned without getting any financial assistance from the government but the poor families are anxiously waiting for the financial add. Some families of Buner are currently residing at camps at Malakand agency but all routes to their homes are closed, so the families who can afford to return without government assistance are waiting for the opening of roads while the rest of them are waiting first for registration followed by opening of routes.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
|
|
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
