Displacement – Swat

Clashes are continuing in the Swat, Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province with many women and children left homeless and seeking shelter in camps after becoming displaced by the conflict. The severity of the conflict which has destroyed homes and families and left young children parentless is just part of the problem; the rest is the infection and disease in which it is leaving the country. Babies are dehydrated and malnourished while the lack of facilities is causing disease to spread rapidly in a population which has no other choice but to remain where it is and do the best that it can.

War and conflict is often the root of a population’s migration to another country and many from the Swat Valley are fleeing to neighbouring areas to try and find peace. This is why compassion for migrants becomes so important as we need to understand the reason for an individual leaving their home. Often the assumption is that they are intruding on another country but who would leave their home other than for sheer reasons of desperation? This is what is happening now in Swat. It is what has happened before in many countries and will most likely continue to do so all over the World for the foreseeable future.