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Teams
formed for registering IDPs
Karachi
The Sindh government had started the process of registering and
settling Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Swat and Malakand
and others of North West Frontier Province at camps in almost all
districts in the province, especially at entry points covering
Kandhkot and Ghotki respectively, according to the Relief
Commissioner and senior member Board of Revenue (BoR) Sindh, Ghulam
Ali Shah Pasha.
Talking to The News at his office on Monday, he said the teams for
registering the IDPs have been formed which comprises of one
representative of the police, Rangers and the BoR respectively. “We
have also established two camps, one at Karachi and the other at
Hyderabad respectively to register and to settle IDPs”, he added.
The Relief Commissioner said that ‘a large number of people’ had
already migrated to some parts of the Sindh province and were
residing with their relatives and friends.
Pasha who had recently visited the IDPs camps in NWFP to provide
relief to the displaced persons on behalf of the Sindh government
said that the provincial government was also making efforts for
helping the IDPs. He said the chief minister Sindh had already
provided financial assistance of Rs70 million through prime
minister’s fund for victims of terrorism. In his recent visit to the
ID2Ps camps in NWFP, the CM handed over 50 trucks of food items to
the NWFP government. The Sindh government had also arranged 30 more
trucks from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) fund for displaced
persons. Some of these trucks had already been sent through C-1
aircraft, while remaining will be sent shortly.
To a question about possible problems being faced while registering
and setting up relief camps, the Relief Commissioner said the CM had
categorically stated that IDPs will be registered and housed in
relief camps where they would be provided shelter as well as food
during their stay at the camps. “I do not see any change in the
government policy,” he said, adding that the government’s directives
would be implemented in letter and spirit.
The provincial government had stated that the purpose of
establishing camps was to provide relief to the displaced persons.
To a question as to what would be the government’s policy if IDPs
say they do not need the government’s help and prefer to live at
their relatives homes, Ghulam Ali Pasha said that the people who had
housed them may not be able to provide them food and shelter for a
long time mainly due to their financial conditions. In such a
scenario, the government will welcome the IDPs’ arrival in the
camps, he stated.
The relief commissioner said that at present there was no exact data
available regarding the number of IDPs which arrived in Sindh so
far. However, they were compiling the data and for this purpose the
Sindh Home Department was coordinating with them. —IA
The
News: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 |
