ISLAMABAD: Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata said on Thursday that rehabilitation of people displaced from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) because of fighting against terrorists would help strengthen stability on the Pak-Afghan border which was crucial for peace and security in Pakistan.

Ambassador Inomata led a mission of UN agencies to the Jalozai camp which was also visited by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan. Mr Inomata expressed the hope that the government’s plan to facilitate the return of the temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) by the end of 2016 would go as scheduled.

Also read: Akkakhels start leaving Jalozai camp for home

The head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Pakistan, Lola Castro, and United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) country director Marc-André Franche accompanied the Japanese envoy along with Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director-General Amir Afaq and officials from the Fata secretariat.

The Japanese government has approved a grant of $5 million for the rehabilitation of TDPs. With this money, the WFP has been distributing food and providing nutrition services to TDPs at the Jalozai camp.

The WFP has set up a Humanitarian Response Facility (HRF) at the camp in order to prepare inhabitants for natural disasters. Japan has played a major role in setting up the facility. The plans to set up the facility started after the 2010 floods which brought devastation across Pakistan.

Japan is also providing assistance to Pakistan to strengthen the weather forecasting system, improve flood warning and management capacity, and install a weather surveillance radar.

The UNDP has been supporting the TDPs with Japanese support through vocational training, social cohesion and rehabilitation of community infrastructure. A group of 20 young trainees from Fata received certificates on completion of training.

The UNDP will expand similar training for the TDPs who belong to North Waziristan. In this regard, the UNDP and Fata Secretariat signed an agreement at the camp on Thursday.

Mr Franche thanked the Japanese government for their support which enabled the UNDP and partners to work with communities to improve their living conditions during the displacement period and to facilitate their return to Fata by improving access to basic services, developing business skills and promoting social cohesion.

Lola Castro pledged that the WFP would continue its support in enhancing government capacity to prepare and respond to natural shocks. She said the HRF had been successfully completed and handed over to the PDMA in Lahore, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Muzaffargarh.

The mission also visited the WFP nutrition facility at the camp where acutely malnourished children, pregnant women and lactating mothers receive treatment.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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