| Dreaming of Swat leading new lives in Karachi |
| Thursday, 18 September 2008 | |
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From the 20 buses transporting refugees from Swat and Bajaur Agency to different parts of the country daily, arrived a bus in Karachi on September 11 last week carrying Azam Ali’s family. Azam is one of the hundreds of internally displaced locals of Swat who is unaware of what the future has in store for him. At the moment, he is content knowing that he has arrived at a safer location – his father-in-law’s house in Old Muzaffarabad Colony near Landhi. The military operation, the violence and the curfews have paralysed life in Swat compelling locals to migrate to relatively safer parts of the country where their relatives live. Since Karachi is known to house the largest number of Pukhtoon families after the N.W.F.P., most families have some distant relative is this part of the Sindh province. Some Pukhtoon families have also migrated to parts of Punjab, it has been learnt. “The government lied to us that the operations will halt in Ramazan. On the contrary, there is curfew in our district for the past 15 days. Life has come to a standstill in Swat and we are confined to our homes worrying about our safety as the government continues to strike our homes through bombs. The air strikes know no limits,” revealed Azam Ali during an interview with The News. He belongs to a remote village called Sigram in District Matta of Swat. Frustrated with unemployment, shortage of food and other basic essentials, Azam finally decided to move to Karachi, where his wife’s family is based. The price of a 40kg flour bag in the district, he informs, has risen from Rs950 to Rs2,500 and Rs3,000 after the imposition of curfew. Fearing the worse, Azam’s father-in-law, Bakhtawar Shah, called him to Karachi. Although not financially strong, Shah managed to arrange for a small makeshift home beside his own in Old Muzaffarabad Colony (also known as Geedar Colony) for his daughter’s family. For the past five days, Azam has been unsuccessfully looking for a job (on daily wages) at one of the factories situated in the neighbourhood. “I don’t want to financially burden my father-in -law who has already been kind enough to provide us with this space,” said Azam who is still trying to settle in the new city. His 22-year-old wife, Nazia, hides behind him but listens intently as he speaks. Nazia is pregnant with Azam’s second child and says the only thing that worried her husband after the air strikes was the safe delivery of their baby which finally convinced him to shift to Karachi. “My husband has no work here and I don’t know how he will arrange for the delivery charges worth 3,000rupees at a private hospital in the area.” Nazia is unwilling to risk her delivery with a traditional birth attendant in the area. She says since her husband was relatively well-off in Swat, her elder daughter was delivered at a private hospital and she hopes her second child receives similar treatment here. Criticising the government for mistaking innocent civilians for ‘Taliban’ and targeting them with bombs, Azam said the recent air strikes have escalated their fear and resentment against the government. “First it was only suicide bombings that scared us. Now the government’s use of F-16 jets for random attacks in residential areas [to target so-called militants] has further compounded that fear. The government is well aware of the houses of locals, but continues to target civilians in the operation.” Azam further informed that the house of his own cousin, Umar Farooq, was reduced to rubble during an air strike, but, thankfully the family escaped unhurt. Farooq moved to Karachi a month back, but is still unemployed. Contrary to the official figures, disclosed Azam, about 400,000 to 500,000 people have been displaced from Matta Tehsil alone. “Swat, which was once known as the Switzerland of Pakistan, has been reduced to ashes,” lamented Azam “But I still miss the place and will go back tomorrow if the operation stops.” Nazia, however, differs with his view. “I have been born and raised in Karachi so I want to stay here. Swat was beautiful when we got married four years ago. Its no more the ‘heaven on earth’ people talked about.” Bakhtawar Shah, however, has warned his son-in-law that discrimination against the Pukhtoons in Karachi has also increased over the past few months and they too, have been labeled as the ‘Taliban of Karachi’. “I have told him this city is not free of problems and the challenges here are different. I am hoping he learns to adjust soon,” sighs Shah. Apart from Old Muzaffarbad, Pukhtoon families are mostly moving to Gulshan-e-Muneer, another area populated by Pukhtoons in Karachi. According to a local activist, Tanveer Hasan, most empty plots in Gulshan-e-Muneer were illegally grabbed by the land mafia and now refugees are staying there in makeshift houses without basics like electricity, water and gas for the past few weeks. Most want to go back given the chance. At the same time, many are worried about how to get by in the time that they are in Karachi. |
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