SOMETIMES even dire situations can offer the semblance of a silver lining. While one cannot overstate the travails of people from North Waziristan who have had to leave their homes behind for life in IDP camps with all its attendant discomforts, their presence in a settled area like Bannu affords the state a chance to extend to them facilities they did not have ready access to before.

The KP government’s initiative, in collaboration with WHO, to provide care to an estimated 40,000 pregnant women among the displaced population is thus much needed. This includes the establishment of emergency wards at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Bannu and improvements to 20 basic health units in the area. According to a WHO official, about 30pc of the pregnant women could face delivery-related complications and 73pc of women and children are in need of immediate medical attention. The existing infrastructural shortcomings — there are reportedly only four women doctors in the entire Bannu district — necessitate the recruitment of more gynaecologists, which is already under way.

Until the spillover of the Afghan war into this country, for most Pakistanis, if their fellow citizens in Fata existed at all, it was only in musty research papers or the odd exotic travelogue by Western adventurer-chroniclers. Governed under the antediluvian Frontier Crimes Regulation, Fata remained devoid of the political ownership that is usually a prerequisite for development. Health and education indicators there were dismal. The disadvantages for women are compounded by the extremely conservative social milieu. For many of them, this will be the first time they will receive professional medical attention and information on health and nutrition both for themselves and their children. Given the numbers involved, the government would do well to recruit lady health workers to augment the work of doctors. Also, now that the state is starting to get a better idea of the demographics involved, it must improve access to health and education for these citizens of Pakistan when they are able to return home.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2014