Rawalpindi (Report PODA Team) Sunday, 10 May, 2009
“Internally displaced mothers are suffering economically, physically and emotionally and need urgent help from world community” said Sameena Nazir, Director PODA, an women’s rights NGO, during a meeting in Rawalpindi at Mohalla Safdarabad where over 200 families have taken refuge after threats from Taliban and ongoing fighting between forces and insurgents in Swat Valley.
PODA Team celebrated world mothers day with IDP mothers and distributed donations and sweets among displaced women.
On this occasion PODA team was informed that these families are rural and low income households and mostly illiterate. They come from Swat and Kohistan areas from villages of Purana Gaun, Bebrain, Kalam, Ramir, Lati Kot, Khushal, Panjgaram, Sataal, Aieen, Naji Gahri, Satgaran. Out of the 50 women, only two had ever gone to school in Swat to study up to class three. “ But all our children were going to school until the Taliban came and started ordering people to stop sending children to schools”, said one woman whose 7th grade daughter was stopped from schooling after the Taliban bombed her school. The girl became paralyzed from waist down due to fear and shock from the bombing.
One mother told PODA that they had to leave due to constant threats to their lives. “I was afraid to send my children to school or outside fearing they may not come back alive”. Many women could not go out themselves after the Taliban ordered that women can not leave home without men. “We were made prisoners in our own homes”, she said adding that Taliban are cruel and local people did not support them. “If we supported them, we would not be leaving our homes and livelihoods” she said. We had to leave to save our lives and for children’s education. Another woman said the Taliban used to insult them and humiliate their families.
Unfortunately, their sacrifices seem to be going in vain. After they moved to Rawalpindi the local government schools are not allowing IDP children to attend the neighborhood schools. There is a government girls high school and a government boys schools in Safdarabad but both are not admitting the IDP children because the children do not have proper identification even though their parents have Pakistani ID cards. The IDP mothers told PODA that most women give birth at home in Kohistan and do not get birth certificates and most families left in a hurry and could not bring their documents and belongings with them either because they did not have them or because they lost them. “ We are Pakistani citizens but our children are not allowed to study in government schools in Rawalpindi, one mother complained adding that their small children stay out all day instead of going to school because they are already living in crowded homes of their relatives. Each house has four to five families. Each family has an average of 7 to 10 children. “ Our girls are locked at homes all day like in Swat and our small boys collect garbage or try to find some small job to earn some livelihood for the families that have no income”. said one mother. They appealed to the government to allow their children to study in local schools or arrange special schools for them so that they can have some normalcy in their lives. The mothers appealed for help with child care and health.
(Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (PODA) is a women’s rights NGO
working for the promotion and protection of human rights in rural areas of Pakistan.)
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