Q+A-What next for Pakistan's displaced?
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By Jason Subler
ISLAMABAD, July 14 (Reuters) - Pakistan has started busing home some of the more than 2 million people displaced by fighting that broke out between the army and Taliban militants in the country's northwest over two months ago.
Following are some questions and answers about the plight of those people, many from the northwest Swat valley, and the future challenges to relief efforts that could come about when the military launches its expected new offensive against the Taliban in the South Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan.
HOW QUICKLY WILL THE PROCESS OF RETURN BE COMPLETED?
Though the government started bringing people home to Swat on Monday, it will hardly be a sudden return. Authorities are conducting the return in phases, starting with the more than 20 tented camps where about 280,000 of the displaced are living.
However, most of the displaced are living with family or friends in "host communities" and will have to wait if they want to go back under the government programme. The government is now allowing people to return on their own, but they face long identity checks at checkpoints, and many lack the cash to cushion their returns.
Aid workers say many of the displaced are concerned about security and afraid to go home, and that the overall process could take weeks or even months. The government says it hopes the return can be completed in 40 days.
WHAT DO THE DISPLACED FACE ON THEIR RETURN HOME?
Some people had their homes destroyed in the fighting between the army and the Taliban, and many homes and businesses were looted. Many farmers lost their crops and will need food aid to survive.
The government has said basic infrastructure such as power and water has largely been restored, but authorities have also cautioned sporadic incidents of violence will be unavoidable.
The United Nations and other aid agencies helping provide food, shelter and other services to the displaced have said they will help with their return, eventually including assisting with the resumption of classes for children. They stress the returns must be voluntary and the conditions right.
One of the biggest concerns will be enabling the displaced to resume their livelihoods, so they can stop relying on aid. U.N. officials say, however, they will probably need to help at least through the end of this year and have called on international donors to respond more quickly to a $543 million aid appeal they made in May.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL THE S. WAZIRISTAN OFFENSIVE DISPLACE?
Wrapping up its operations in Swat, the military is expected to turn its attention soon to a full-blown offensive in the region of South Waziristan, on the Afghan border, which is a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.
That mountainous region is much less populated than Swat, consisting largely of nomadic herders, and many of them have winter homes in the lowlands they can return to.
Government officials and aid workers expect the exodus of people fleeing fighting there to be much smaller than from Swat and other parts of the northwest. Authorities say 45,000 have already left and expect up to 60,000 people to be displaced, while aid workers say the number could climb as high as 100,000.
The United Nations is preparing aid distribution centres for relief materials in the area. (For full coverage of Pakistan, click on [ID:nAFPAK]) (Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
