Médecins Sans Frontières deeply shocked by sudden forced evacuation of 7,000 displaced people in Lower Dir district (North West Frontier Province)

Walay Kandow, Lower Dir, North West Frontier Province. © Gaetan Drossart/MSF

Local authorities must find adequate resources to accommodate this vulnerable population.

Islamabad, 26 January 2010. International medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières is deeply shocked by the forced evacuation of about 7,000 displaced people from Munda (Lower Dir, North West Frontier Province). On 25 January, our teams based in Munda learned that armed military personnel were forcibly evacuating families from the Munda camp for displaced people and the market building, where Médecins Sans Frontières has been working for the past two months.

Since early November 2009, some 450 families have been living in this camp set up by Médecins Sans Frontières. An additional 4,500 people who were staying in a market building were also asked to evacuate within a few hours. Until yesterday, Médecins Sans Frontières has been actively looking for adequate land to shelter these families, and had already expressed its concerns regarding their extremely poor living conditions.

The order to evacuate happened without warning and people were told at midday to leave the Munda camp before 4pm the same day. “We didn’t receive any information about the upcoming evacuation, nor did any other humanitarian organisation present in the region or the displaced people themselves,” explained Olivier Chenebon, country representative for Médecins Sans Frontières in Pakistan. “They had four hours to pack up and leave and we were prevented from preparing the transfer of the displaced people.”

Men, women and children were told to head towards Walay Kandow, 40 minutes drive from Munda. UNHCR runs a camp for displaced people in Walay Kandow but there is no facility to provide adequate welcome and shelter for the newly arrived families.

“People arrived very late, and had to settle in the dark,” explained Gaetan Drossart, coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières’ Lower Dir project. “Some slept outside last night and will have to do so again tonight.” 

On the morning of Tuesday 26 January, a Médecins Sans Frontières team arrived in Walay Kandow and saw firsthand a large number of people waiting on the road. “They do not know what to do,” said Drossart. “They are asking for water and food, they have almost nothing. The vast majority of these people fled the ongoing violence in neighboring Bajaur Agency, and are once again facing a dramatic situation.”

In Munda, Médecins Sans Frontières assisted these people with access to drinking water, latrines, showers, medical assistance, as well as tents for those staying in the camp. The families from the camp took their tents with them, while the displaced people from the market building ended up in Walay Kandow without any shelter.

“Our priority is to provide water to these people,” said Drossart. “We will bring water here by tomorrow morning and set up a tent to provide primary healthcare as soon as possible.”

Médecins Sans Frontières is extremely concerned about this critical situation. The area of land supposed to shelter the displaced families is smaller than in Munda. “It was already small in Munda for 450 families,” explained Drossart. “Now there are more than 1,000 families in urgent need of proper shelter, access to food and water.”  Médecins Sans Frontières urges the authorities to find adequate resources to accommodate this vulnerable population.

Since 1998, Médecins Sans Frontières has been providing medical assistance to Pakistani nationals and Afghan refugees suffering from the effects of armed conflicts, poor access to health care and natural disasters in NWFP, FATA, Balochistan and Kashmir.

Médecins Sans Frontières does not accept funding from any government for its work in Pakistan and chooses to rely solely on private donations.

For further information, please contact Sally McMillan on +61 447 482 379.