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IDPs being barred from entering Punjab, Sindh: Muqam

* PML-Q provincial president says Punjab govt stopping IDPs from entering province at Attock Bridge
* Says cash assistance per IDP family should be increased to Rs 100,000

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: The people of Swat and Malakand are at war against the Taliban and rendering sacrifices for the country’s survival, but the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from these areas are being barred from entering Punjab and Sindh, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) provincial President Ameer Muqam said on Sunday.

“It’s not an issue of Swat and Malakand alone. It’s an issue of the entire country as the Taliban want to reach Islamabad,” Muqam told a press conference at his Peshawar residence.

Attock Bridge: He said the Punjab government was preventing the IDPs from entering Punjab at the Attock Bridge, which was regrettable. He said the Sindh government was treating the IDPs in a similar manner.

Muqam said the relief camps established for the IDPs in Islamabad had also been uprooted. He said the Pakhtuns had welcomed three million Afghan refugees and provided them shelter when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, but millions of dollars of international aid given to Pakistan for their (Afghans) welfare was spent in Islamabad.

The PML-Q leader was highly critical of Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan’s role in the existing crisis.

“He (Asfandyar) is part of the federal and Sindh governments and is ruling the province (NWFP) but has not protested and remained silent so far,” he said.

Muqam said the Pakhtuns were going through a tough time and the political leaders had double standards. “They (leaders) say one thing in parliament and another outside,” he said.

He demanded that the relief camps be shifted to areas like Abbottabad and Mansehra as the IDPs were not used to the scorching heat of Mardan and Swabi. He said the rules for the registration of the displaced men’s wives at the relief camps should be relaxed and the affected people should be given cash assistance.

Not enough: Muqam said the provision of Rs 25,000 per IDP family was not enough and the amount should be increased to Rs 100,000 per family. He said the IDPs should also be provided loans on easy installments.

The PML-Q leader said his party would submit an adjournment motion on Monday in the NWFP Assembly and the National Assembly against the ‘maltreatment’ of IDPs by the Punjab and Sindh governments.

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