IDPs to be repatriated with honour: PM

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said the government would ensure the repatriation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) with dignity and honour.
Speaking at the floor of National Assembly, after the members have expressed their views on IDPs and Malakand military operation, the Prime Minister vowed to help reconstruct the houses and infrastructure in Swat and Malakand. We will carry out a survey for the reconstruction of bridges, houses and help people rebuild their businesses, he added.
He said the government, with the help of international donors, would provide better and improved facilities to IDPs. He said a huge number of vehicles would be used to shift IDPs back to their homes and a gunship helicopter would escort them. He informed the House that while sending IDPs back home, first priority would be given to those living in camps followed by those residing in schools and colleges, and then the ones living in their relatives homes.
He reiterated that the government was committed to its policy of 3Rs - relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction - for the IDPs. He said special arrangements had been made for issuing Visa Cards to the displaced persons to expedite financial help to them. He said every day 10,000 such cards would be distributed in the camps.
The Prime Minister announced that Rs 50b had been earmarked for IDPs in the forthcoming fiscal budget. We are a respectable nation. If the pledges (made by donors) take some time to reach Pakistan, we dont want the aid to stop completely.
He said the Army operation was initiated as the last resort and the government would like to end it as soon as possible. We are fighting on two fronts. One with the militants and the other to provide relief to the IDPs, he added. He reiterated if this war of winning hearts and minds of IDPs was lost, the government would lose the war completely.
He said Rs 25,000, which were to be given to every household, would be distributed in a systematic manner to ensure credibility and transparency. He said every penny of the aid would be spent transparently and details of its disbursement would be available on Internet. The nation, he added, had full commitment to help their displaced brethren.
The Prime Minister said her daughter recently started a campaign in Lahore to raise money for IDPs and within three hours, Rs 300 million were collected. He admitted that the people in camps were suffering due to weather conditions as they had come from cool environs, but added that govt was providing them every facility like clean drinking water, electricity, fans, doctors and medicines.
He said there were many areas in Swat and Mingora where military operation had been ended and two grid stations had already been repaired while the rest of them would be in order in the next 10 days.
Gas supply, he added, had not been affected.
He said there had been no collateral damage in Mingora as the troops there fought militants in street battles, adding all the buildings there escaped any damage. He said the petrol stations and banks would reopen there and they would be provided with full security.
Prime Minister Gilani said at present there were 1.8 million IDPs and the rest of the figures quoted were inflated ones, as the people registered themselves over and over again. He said the process of registration had now been streamlined by Nadra.