AS is regrettably usual in Pakistan, delays, confusion and obfuscation in government and administrative circles have left citizens facing an uncertain future. After months of back and forth over talking to the terrorists, it was the assault on Karachi airport that apparently proved the fulcrum and prompted the state to send military forces into North Waziristan. Was the fallout on civilians fully thought through? Operation Zarb-i-Azb has been under way for just a few days and already the director of the Fata Disaster Management Authority says that some 92,000 people have fled the region since the military started launching air strikes, mostly going to the adjoining Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. On Wednesday, in the wake of authorities easing the curfew in some parts of the region to let civilians leave — taken by some as an indication that the campaign is likely widen into a ground operation soon — an exodus of around 30,000 has occurred. More continue to pour out, carrying with them whatever they can. Apart from fleeing to the provinces, thousands of people have also gone across the border into Afghanistan’s Khost province where, according to Afghan authorities, they lack basic facilities including food.

Some camps for these internally displaced people have been set up and reportedly registration points are also in evidence to deal with the influx of people. However, the camps remain largely empty; it seems that many families prefer to make their own arrangements. This, unfortunately, is understandable to an extent since the plight of the tens of thousands of people similarly displaced during earlier military operations and who ended up in camps is fresh in the region’s memory, even if it has been forgotten by the country at large. Overcrowded and underequipped, living conditions at these camps were far from satisfactory and led to the deaths of many. It took the state several years to sort out the problem of those displaced in earlier rounds; this time, the problem is likely to be far worse since the operation appears to be taking on bigger and more sustained dimensions.

In this regard, it is outrageous that the Sindh and Balochistan governments have sent out signals that they will not allow internally displaced persons to seek refuge here. Certainly, there are valid concerns: violence-hit Balochistan worries about militants slipping through amidst the flood of refugees, while Sindh is concerned about the further spread of polio — figures given a couple of days ago put the number of unvaccinated children poised to flee North Waziristan at about 300,000. But both matters can be resolved through an efficient registration and checkpoint system. It behoves the country and its provinces to square up for the challenge. Making citizens feel unwelcome is only going to exacerbate the alienation from the mainstream that many in the tribal areas already suffer.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2014