Pakistan Pounds Swat, Over One Million Refugees Registered
Another 500,000 Waiting for Registration
As Pakistan’s military continued with its artillery barrage against the Swat Valley strongholds of the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), North-West Frontier Province Information Minister Ifthikar Hussain said today that the number of registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Swat Valley and the surrounding portion of the Malakand region has risen to over one million.
The bad news doesn’t stop there. Another 500,000 IDPs are waiting to be formally registered. On top of that, another million civilians are trapped inside the Swat Valley because of the military’s curfew. Minister Hussain tried to tout the military’s success in reclaiming parts of the tiny Buner district, a small consolation for the millions of lives ruined by the offensive.
It has also sparked a warning from members of the opposition Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which had initially supported the offensive and had been talking about joining a unity government. MP Khawalja Saad Rafiq blamed the government for mishandling the Taliban issue, saying it was time to deal with the matter through talks with the groups involved rather than “toeing the American line.” He also cautioned that the growing number of IDPs had effectively turned the nation into a conglomerate of “international beggars.”
Yet Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani remained defiant, pledging to win the war militarily and saying that the government had to also win a second war for the “hearts and minds” of the populace. He also said a group would be set up to deal with the IDPs, headed by an experienced army officer. It seems there is no problem Pakistan’s civilian government is uncomfortable throwing the military at.
Pakistan Pounds Swat, Over One Million Refugees Registered « Dr Nasir Khan
May 15th, 2009 at 1:01 am
[...] Refugees Registered By sudhan Another 500,000 Waiting for Registration by Jason Ditz | Antiwar.com, May 14, [...]
Arrest US Bilderberg Conspirators « Culture of Life News
May 15th, 2009 at 6:41 am
[...] Those involved in Bilderberg reject such claims outright, arguing that the forum offers a chance for world leaders to discuss international affairs openly and honestly…. Open and honest chat: ‘Damn, those stupid people on the internet are on to us! How can we shut them down? The campaign to mock them is failing! And anti-free trade sentiment is rising. True, we killed the anti-Doha Round WTO demonstrations by being extremely violent and extremely secretive. But they are watching us online. Perhaps we can kidnap and waterboard online commentators who track us?’ Yes, open and honest discussions about how to control us. I love that. Former British cabinet minister, Lord Denis Healey, who was one of the founders of the group, branded assumptions of world domination as “crap!” and said that the group’s aims were much purer…. As pure as the whole banking business, the Derivatives Monster’s affairs and all the other creepy things these incompetent conspirators have done to us. In an interview to journalist Jon Ronson of the Guardian, Healey said: “Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.” Veteran Bilderberg-watcher Daniel Estulin says that the big topic on the agenda for this year is the global depression. YIKES! The ‘real rulers’ got tired of fighting EACH OTHER…the killing of millions and so on had to be redirected. Eh? So, what are they doing today? Pakistan Pounds Swat, Over One Million Refugees Registered — News from Antiwar.com [...]
Salahmir
May 15th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
government of Pakistan should have done this long time ago. u can not talk to the terrorists. only language they understand is the language of bullets. government of Pakistan should not listen to the leaders of the religious parties. they have no credibility they are the one who started all this mess. government talked to taliban , taliban,s are the one who did not honor the agreement they signed with the federal government. Pakistan has no other way to deal with ignorant, uneducated herd except what the defense forces of Pakistan doing. the people of Pakistan should stand by the government and the military. this is the last chance we have if we do not defeat them now they will destroy this country of our,s. my heart goes for the people of swat, whole nation should do what they did for the victims of earthquake in Kashmir. i hope defense forces of Pakistan will crush the terrorists soon. God bless Pakistan.
Antiwar.com Blog · Swat’s Refugee Crisis Underscores Government Incompetence
May 15th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
[...] thing the private sector can’t compete with a modern military on, it’s the ability to drive millions of people from their homes in a matter of weeks. The situation in the Swat Valley is the largest migration the nation has seen since the 1947 [...]