Internally Displaced People in Pakistan

The number of internally displaced people in Pakistan is now two million of which more than 1,400,000 have been recorded in the last two weeks, as reported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It has been ‘such a massive shift in such a short period of time,’ according to the office.
UNHCR data show a total of 1,454,377 people registered as internally displaced since May 2 which, together with the earlier recorded volume of 553,916, makes a grand total of 2,008,293 displaced people in Pakistan today.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani government broke a peace agreement with the Taliban in Swat Valley (North) who used the truce to spread to neighboring districts. The government, thus, ordered the army to launch an operation in the regional division of Malakand where Swat is located.
This has caused a mass exodus of residents of the northwest.
Pakistani authorities are aware of the humanitarian tragedy behind the largest internal displacement in the country since the creation of the state in 1947. However, they are determined to continue the offensive and have asked civilians to leave combat zones.
“This crisis is one of the most dramatic in recent times,” declared the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Gutierres, who noted the high potential of destabilization that the situation might end up in. He calls for an ‘urgent and massive international campaign to help thousands of displaced people fleeing the fighting in the northwest of the country.’
Gutierres called on donors to remember ‘Pakistan’s decades of generosity shown by the presence of millions of Afghan refugees on its territory.