News Archives:

• Hopes and realities
  The lush green valley of Swat where the mountain peaks covered with snow seemed like a bridegroom dressed for the marriage and the trees dancing with the breeze with the whisper of the leaves and the melodious voices of the birds used to be a frequent sight has been dazzled
• Letter from the frontier
  I am from the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan and am studying at the University of Oslo. All my family and friends live in the frontier areas, and I have gone to my area at least once every year since I came to Norway
• Massive displacement in north-west Pakistan
  This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 8 May 2009, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
• Ongoing struggle
  The advent of the Taliban is splitting our South Asian identity and leading to the existing schizophrenia and changing dress codes
• Are the Pakhtuns under siege?
  In the nineteenth century they fought the British imperialists in a long-drawn-out war of attrition. In the twentieth century they were pitted against the might of another empire, the Soviet Union. In the 21st century, in yet another unequal contest, they are confronted by and fighting against the US empire
• Peace deals and other blunders
  TWO months into Operation Enduring Freedom, the fugitives’ escape into Pakistan’s tribal areas was a foregone conclusion. That was the time to closely watch the Durand Line, not just the Khyber and Kurram agencies
• The price of war
  So big has been the displacement of people due to the latest military operations in Swat and the rest of the Malakand division that UN officials are already drawing comparisons of the unfortunate situation prevailing in Pakistan with that of Rwanda, the Central African country where genocide in 1994 forced large-scale dislocation of communities. And mind you the figure of 1.5 million displaced people that the UNHCR gave on May 18
• Swat – a report from the frontline
  Recently an AIRRA (Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy – an Islamabad-based research organisation) investigation team went to some parts of Swat that had been under army attacks. The team observed whether the attacks were targeted at the Taliban and their installations. It observed two villages -- Ladikas and Watkai in Mingora -- and Khwazakhela, a tehsil in Swat. The team with its access to the people of the area
• People's response to the IDP crisis
  A town named Rustam is often the first stop for internally displaced people (IDPs) leaving conflict-hit Buner district and entering Mardan. At a roadside gas station amid fertile farmland, volunteers young and old stop every vehicle bringing uprooted families to offer them packs of juices and packets of biscuits. Cooked rice is also offered and, at times
• Struggling for survival in Swat
  The fighting in the Swat valley between the Pakistani army and Taleban militants has almost completely destroyed the communications network and links with the rest of the country
• Sufi too weak to deliver on promises
  Sufi Mohammad likes to be outspoken while airing his views, but on that day he was lost for words. His head buried in his hands, he sat listening intently as officials unveiled evidence linking Swat militants to the April 15 suicide bombing in Charsadda that killed 15 men, mostly police
• Swat exodus: the human tide
  They have walked for days, forsaking their homes to escape Pakistan's campaign against the Taliban. And these refugees are the lucky ones. Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich report from Swabi