Internally Displaced People
A short documentary highlighting the impact of displacement on the lives of refugees from Bajaur titled ‘Da Bajaur Guloona’ Homeless at Home’ has been prepared which is to be launched at the Peshawar Press Club Thursday, September 18 at 11:30am.
The 17-minute-long documentary has been produced and directed by anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Samar Minallah of Haripur to raise awareness on the present situation in Bajuar and how it has influenced the lives of displaced women and children.
The short documentary is aimed at giving a human face to the bitter experiences faced by the internally displaced people of Bajaur who have been in agony since the military operation launched in the tribal agency on August 6 that has killed scores and displaced almost one third of the population of the agency.
The film brings forth some of the moving stories shared by refugees at a camp set up at Pirpai, Nowshera. A woman had to leave her two children in Bajuar to tend to the animals while the woman and other family members had to flee. Nihar, 8, and her 9-year-old brother risked their lives to protect the only means of income of the family amidst bombings and devastation. It is the poverty and lack of development in the tribal areas that forces people to choose between their children and livestock.
Another person, Abdur Rehman, lost his 4-year-old daughter and a niece to cholera due to unhygienic conditions at the camp. They could not take the two bodies back home for burial.
A displacement at such a large scale is somehow not being highlighted in the western media, why? Are these lives not as precious as any other people of the world? Why is the international community not responding to the plight of the innocent civilians who have been forced to live as refugees in their own country?
Indeed innocent civilians are bearing the brunt of the war against terror. By the time we get to the militants one hopes that an entire generation is not lost.
The 17-minute-long documentary has been produced and directed by anthropologist and documentary filmmaker Samar Minallah of Haripur to raise awareness on the present situation in Bajuar and how it has influenced the lives of displaced women and children.
The short documentary is aimed at giving a human face to the bitter experiences faced by the internally displaced people of Bajaur who have been in agony since the military operation launched in the tribal agency on August 6 that has killed scores and displaced almost one third of the population of the agency.
The film brings forth some of the moving stories shared by refugees at a camp set up at Pirpai, Nowshera. A woman had to leave her two children in Bajuar to tend to the animals while the woman and other family members had to flee. Nihar, 8, and her 9-year-old brother risked their lives to protect the only means of income of the family amidst bombings and devastation. It is the poverty and lack of development in the tribal areas that forces people to choose between their children and livestock.
Another person, Abdur Rehman, lost his 4-year-old daughter and a niece to cholera due to unhygienic conditions at the camp. They could not take the two bodies back home for burial.
A displacement at such a large scale is somehow not being highlighted in the western media, why? Are these lives not as precious as any other people of the world? Why is the international community not responding to the plight of the innocent civilians who have been forced to live as refugees in their own country?
Indeed innocent civilians are bearing the brunt of the war against terror. By the time we get to the militants one hopes that an entire generation is not lost.