ISLAMABAD, July 8: The government has rejected a demand of international humanitarian organisations to give them access to Wana for relief operations in the wake of events in the region which these organisations claim fall in the category of an "internal armed conflict,"
official sources told Dawn on Thursday.
When the Director-General of the Inter Services Public Relations directorate, (ISPR), Major-General, Shaukat Sultan, was asked whether the situation in Wana was an internal armed conflict within the provisions of Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, he said: "No. It is not at all an internal armed conflict."
Maj Gen Sultan said the situation in Wana was improving rapidly and Prime Minister, Chaudhry Shujaat chaired a meeting specifically on Wana this week. The ISPR chief said the Fata administration would be able to givedetails about the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Wana and the relief assistance being provided to them.
Officials in the international relief organisations said up to 10,000 persons had been displaced as a result of the operation launched in Wana in October last year.
They said use of helicopter gunships, heavy artillery and the number of casualties on both sides attracted the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. They said that Pakistan was a signatory to the Geneva Conventions and it was obligatory on them to adhere to international humanitarian laws in terms of assistance to be provided to victims of an internal conflict.
Article 3, common to all four Geneva Conventions, authorises the International Committee of the Red Cross to offer its services "in the event of non-international armed conflicts and to provide minimum protection to the victims of such situations."
Spokesperson of Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Rabia Amjad, said relief operations were "being planned" in the troubled Wana area. In response to a specific question whether the Red Crescent was providing access to Wana since the military operation was launched there in October last year, the PRCS spokesperson said: "No. Not as such."
She said the PRCS would like to change the attitude of people in Wana towards western organisations so that relief work could be undertaken. The UNHCR spokesperson, Jack Redden, told Dawn that the agency was unable to carry out relief operations in and around Wana due to unstable security situation prevailing in the region.
