September 19, 2008	Friday	Ramazan 18, 1429

PESHAWAR, Sept 18: A 17-minute documentary, depicting the miseries of displaced people of Bajuar, was screened here at the Peshawar Press Club on Thursday.

The documentary titled Homeless at Home has been produced by the documentary-maker Samar Minallah of Haripur to inform the national and international community about what has happened to the peace-loving people of a remote area.

They are residents of Bajaur, one of the seven tribal agencies of the country, who are being bombed for nothing. They are being punished for the crimes, which they had not committed.

She touched only social aspect of the refugees, living in an alien world of tents, which had become an agony for their womenfolk. She has deliberately ignored the causes of the migration. The militants, leftovers of the Afghan war, are an integral part of this misery but Samar did not touch them.

She was of the view that she wanted to draw the attention of the world towards the plight of Pakistan nationals, who were forced to live like refugees in their own country. She said the war had destroyed the undiluted culture of the tribal people. According to Samar, the people of Bajaur are being robbed of their folk culture, pastoral life and history, which are inseparable from their life. She said she had spent two years of her life in Bajaur.

She said the Bajuri women would organise and celebrate the Eid festival in a big ground outside the main town, where women would converge from all sides.

About poor translation of people’s spontaneous remarks against the security forces, she confessed that their feelings were properly not translated. “I will do their translation and insert them in the relevant frames,” she said. It was a good effort on the part of Samar to highlight the miseries of displaced people, living in tents in Pir Piai, Nowshera.