AS a vicious political flare-up grips Pakistan, the continuing IDP crisis has fallen by the wayside. A joint report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and the Norwegian Refugee Council puts the global number of displaced people at 71.1m in 2022. It includes massive dislodgment caused by Russia’s war and those left homeless in the catastrophic floods that submerged large parts of Pakistan. Although the report says 8m were displaced in the country, the overall figure of those affected is a grim 33m, which is one-third of the population, with 2.2m homes either swept away or damaged. Ideally, these figures should have served as a climate change clarion call for authorities to prioritise rehabilitation. But a vast majority still faces brutal attackers and weather conditions. Reports as recent as January this year say some six IDPs were shot dead and five wounded in an attack on their makeshift shelters in Jacobabad.

It is time to spare a thought for humanity that was robbed by nature. For a nation as beleaguered as Pakistan, the international community must do more to assuage mass misery. Moreover, minors among the displaced being deprived of basic rights to health and education is an area of significant collective concern. Restoration of homes and livelihoods is not all that should have been delivered by the government. As the trajectory of climate change suggests monsoon floods will be a biannual blow, robust strategies to counter natural calamities are absent. Taking a cue from developed nations, we require a crisis response task force on a national scale for prompt control and provision of shelter, food and safety. And federating units need to work in smooth unison to plug loopholes in service delivery systems. Succour for humanity can only arrive with a committed, sensitive leadership so that lives do not hang by an endless thread and relief is provided with a vision to end need.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2023