Food, Shelter, and control
in the Camps in Pakistan:
Food, Shelter, and control
in the Camps in Pakistan:
“When we are hungry, n0b0dy listens, but when we are fighting they
send us l0ads 0f firearms and artillery“. Why? This secti0n discusses the c0mplex c0nnecti0ns between refugee aid and the c0nflict
in Afghanistan at different levels“. While aid was well
used t0 exactly man the war, it was als0 used f0r the
pr0m0ti0n 0f c0nservative ide0l0gies that pr0m0ted vi0lence and int0lerance with negative repercussi0ns f0r w0men and
children a maj0rity 0f the refugee p0pulati0n.
The Pakistan g0vernment gritty where the refugee camps w0uld be
l0cated and als0 wh0 was t0 is settled there. Firstly refugees c0uld 0nly
register as refugees in the N0rth-West Fr0ntier Pr0vince (NWFP) and in Bal0chistan,
tw0 0f the p00rer pr0vinces al0ng the Pakistan-Afghanistan b0rder. Registrati0n n0t 0nly free
them t0 shelter in a camp but als0 t0 f00d and material aid such as cl0thing,
sh0es, and blanket, as well as access t0 water,
educati0n, and health facilities. Th0se seeking t0 register elsewhere in Pakistan c0uld n0t d0 s0 and
thus they were n0t free t0 any direct (individual) 0r meandering
(c0mmunity) relief 0r supp0rt. The aim was t0 c0ntain the refugee p0pulati0n in
areas believed by the Pakistan auth0rities t0 emb0dy “cultural affinity,” specifically, between
the Afghan and Pakistani Pashtuns p0pulati0ns. A pr0blem, 0f c0urse, was that the Hazaras, Tajiks, and
Uzbeks shared neither the same language n0r the same culture with the pe0ple 0f the
NWFP and Bal0chistan. Additi0nally, settling Pashtuns in Bal0chistan
meant fuelling Bal0ch Pashtuns tensi0ns in that pr0vince. Bey0nd the ethnicity pr0blem,
the refugee fl0w created ec0n0mic and envir0nmental pressure in these tw0 poor
pr0vinces. But such c0nsiderati0ns relating t0 the envir0nment, l0cal ec0n0my, 0r ethnicity
Were ign0red because 0f the ge0strategic imp0rtance 0f these tw0 pr0vinces[1].
It was th0ught t0 be useful t0 keep all Afghan refugee campsites in the b0rder pr0vinces,
thus Peshawar and, t0 a lesser level Quetta became the
headquarters f0r all Afghanistan-related 0perati0ns. In these
way refugees c0uld be trained and sent hack int0
Afghanistan with the least c0st in time 0r res0urces. Refugees in Pakistan initially lived
in tents, but with time they built c0mp0und walls and mud and brick h0use sparkly
their realizati0n that their stay in Pakistan w0uld be an
l0ng 0ne. This situati0n, in turn meant that the Pakistan g0vernment
and d0n0r agencies needed t0 devise
systems and pr0grams f0r refugee settlement and aid distributi0n.
Here, we discuss refugee management in three different c0ntexts:
acr0ss campsites, within camps, and the c0nnecti0ns
between refugee status and the Pakistan base.
[1] "Three
milli0n Afghans t0 be expelled by December," The Express Tribune, 18 July 2012.
afghanrefugees.blogspot.com
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