Dislocated children in Pakistan face uncertainty
Dislocated children in Pakistan face uncertainty
13:26, November 06, 2009 
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Dislocation resulting from conflicts has forced children in Pakistan to face uncertainty even today, not to say tomorrow.
Twelve-year-old Hidayat Ullaha was first displaced from hometown at Swat and then dislocated from school outside Islamabad, all because of military conflicts.
Six-year-old Wahab Khan ended up in the same Kachi Basti refuge camp as Hidayat Ullaha after his school at Sarai was shut down.
As Wahab Khan had nothing to do but kill his time by milling round the camp, Hidayat Ullaha found himself a meaningful daily routine in fetching water for fruit and vegetable peddlers at a local market.
Hidayat Ullaha and Wahab Khan, both with almost half a dozen of siblings, are counted as among over 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Pakistan's militancy-hit northwest.
As the ongoing operations came to an end in Swat and Malakand, most of these IDPs were expected to have returned to where they came from by September, according to the Pakistani authorities and UN refugee officials.
But Hidayat Ullaha and Wahab Khan had no place to return to, because their houses at Swat and Sarai had been totally destroyed during the conflicts.
They had to live in self-exerted exile by joining other million of refugees migrating from neighboring war-torn Afghanistan.
Eight-year-old Afghan boy Ghafar is a newcomer to the Kachi Basti camp in Pushto but another Afghan boy, 10-year-old Mubeen, has never left the camp since he was born there.
Mubeen's family moved to the refugee camp 40 years ago due to the civil war back home.
To Gul Nabi, now 24, the change in attitude and approach of the host country toward Afghan refugees is obvious.
When they first arrived, the Afghan refugees got respect but now they got no assistance from the Pakistani government simply because they are Afghan refugees.
Striding a bike on a slope overlooking sprawling Islamabad, GulNabi looked confused.
He said he did not know for sure what would be the future for himself down there and where would be the future for his 2-year-old brother, Muhammad Nabi, who only cared to spell his name for now.
Nearby, a cohort of camp kids pinned their future hope on keeping their kite limply aloft.
Source: Xinhua
Twelve-year-old Hidayat Ullaha was first displaced from hometown at Swat and then dislocated from school outside Islamabad, all because of military conflicts.
Six-year-old Wahab Khan ended up in the same Kachi Basti refuge camp as Hidayat Ullaha after his school at Sarai was shut down.
As Wahab Khan had nothing to do but kill his time by milling round the camp, Hidayat Ullaha found himself a meaningful daily routine in fetching water for fruit and vegetable peddlers at a local market.
Hidayat Ullaha and Wahab Khan, both with almost half a dozen of siblings, are counted as among over 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Pakistan's militancy-hit northwest.
As the ongoing operations came to an end in Swat and Malakand, most of these IDPs were expected to have returned to where they came from by September, according to the Pakistani authorities and UN refugee officials.
But Hidayat Ullaha and Wahab Khan had no place to return to, because their houses at Swat and Sarai had been totally destroyed during the conflicts.
They had to live in self-exerted exile by joining other million of refugees migrating from neighboring war-torn Afghanistan.
Eight-year-old Afghan boy Ghafar is a newcomer to the Kachi Basti camp in Pushto but another Afghan boy, 10-year-old Mubeen, has never left the camp since he was born there.
Mubeen's family moved to the refugee camp 40 years ago due to the civil war back home.
To Gul Nabi, now 24, the change in attitude and approach of the host country toward Afghan refugees is obvious.
When they first arrived, the Afghan refugees got respect but now they got no assistance from the Pakistani government simply because they are Afghan refugees.
Striding a bike on a slope overlooking sprawling Islamabad, GulNabi looked confused.
He said he did not know for sure what would be the future for himself down there and where would be the future for his 2-year-old brother, Muhammad Nabi, who only cared to spell his name for now.
Nearby, a cohort of camp kids pinned their future hope on keeping their kite limply aloft.
Source: Xinhua
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