Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province is in grave danger of becoming a large tented village as the country grapples with the largest displacement of people since the creation of Bangladesh (1971) and Partition (1947). The number of displaced, some estimates suggest, could go as high as 1.5 million. A UN official told the Los Angles Times that the situation in Pakistan was “approaching” that of Darfur and Congo. “First came the Taliban, then came the army. After that, trouble started. If the Taliban go, peace will return,” said Sardar Ali, 42, a fruit merchant from Mingora, Swat’s capital.

Many agree with Ali’s nuts-and-bolts formula at the dusty and chaotic camp set up by the provincial government for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on the outskirts of Mardan, the first major town on the road out of the Swat Valley; 129 km northwest of Islamabad. Tens of thousands have made it out of the valley but there are still many more who have been caught up in the fighting between the Taliban and Pakistani security forces. Ali told Hindustan Times that a bomb hit his neighbourhood, killing about 35 persons. That is when he and his wife decided to leave with their five children. “Now all we have are our lives,” he said, relieved to be alive. Most of the refugees said they have nowhere else to go. A large number of those who left Swat have put up with friends and family members, many as far as Karachi. The tragic stories slowly come out in conversations with the men. Men at the Shah Shezad Town camp recount instances of cars and buses being bombed and of corpses of men and women rotting on the roads. More are worried about those left behind. Aurangzeb Khan of Pir Baba village in Buner said while he and his brothers escaped with their families, their eldest brother stayed back to look after the house and the livestock. There has been no news since. The chaos at the camps reflects the lack of planning on the part of the government. One refugee said it took him two days to secure a card that entitled him to a tent and a blanket as well as food. “It’s a free for all,” he said. Politicians, government officials and aid agency workers regularly come in to monitor work and boost morale. On Sunday, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif arrived at one of the camps to offer his support. But PM Yusuf Raza Gilani is yet to visit the camps and there is some difference of opinion between leaders over who is to blame for this mass exodus. President Asif Ali Zardari is on tour abroad.Religious organisations, many legitimate, but others not quite, were the first to arrive with help, like in the case of the October 2005 earthquake. Shah Husain, a pleasant 20- year-old, works for the Al-Khidmat Foundation, associated with the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami Party. His religious duty was to help the displaced. But lack of funds and shortage of essential items makes the work difficult. “What we fear are the multiplying numbers,” he remarked. That is when things will go from bad to worse.