Displaced by bombs, Pakistanis want peace

updated 6:18 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2008

Some of the women were eating lunch, while others were busy making bread.

Then, the bombs fell like rain.

Pakistan's latest military offensive against Taliban-led insurgents in its northwest had reached 60-year-old Haya Bibi and her extended family. They soon abandoned their mud homes in the Bajur tribal region and joined an exodus of tens of thousands of civilians walking and driving across rugged terrain to escape a 17-day operation some now call a war.

Bibi and some 45 relatives have spent the past week in sweltering, mosquito-infested tents in Pir Piai village near Peshawar city in one of more than 20 relief camps the government says are for the displaced.

'We don't want the fighting'
Like others among the nearly 1,000 people at this camp, Bibi won't utter a critical word about the masked militants in her area. Pressed on whether she blames the government or the Taliban for her current state, she diplomatically says both, and requests the two sides try to work things out peacefully.

"We are the sufferers," a tearful Bibi says, fingering prayer beads while surrounded by a crowd of nodding relatives. "We don't want the fighting."

Aiding — and not disillusioning — those displaced by the war on terror is a huge challenge facing Pakistan as it tries to wipe out the insurgent presence in Bajur, a rumored hiding place for Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

U.S. officials say tribal regions such as Bajur are turning into safe havens for militants involved in attacks on American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Emilio Morenatti / AP A Pakistani man from the Bajur tribal region holds his baby in a vocational school building, one of more than 20 relief camps the government says are for displaced people on the outskirts of Charsadda town, Pakistan, on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008.

Pakistani officials have been reluctant to divulge details of the operation in Bajur. Death tolls given more than a week ago put the number of suspected insurgents dead at more than 460 along with 22 paramilitary troops killed. No civilian death toll was given, though witnesses have reported dozens.

The information has been difficult to confirm because of the remote, dangerous nature of the fiercely independent and deeply conservative tribal areas, where the federal government has long had limited authority.

But if the numbers given so far are accurate, it is one of the bloodiest episodes since Pakistan first deployed its troops along its volatile border with Afghanistan in support of the U.S.-led war on terror nearly seven years ago.

Attempts to reach the army spokesman Saturday were not immediately successful. But previously officials have said army helicopter gunships and jets have been pounding militant positions since Aug. 6, when scores of insurgents attacked a military outpost.

Exceptional political turbulence
The offensive comes amid exceptional political turbulence. Pervez Musharraf, a stalwart supporter of the U.S. in the war on terror, recently was forced to resign as president, and the young ruling coalition is on the brink of collapse.

And in Washington, American officials are worried about the new civilian government's resolve to fight militants.

Estimates vary, but at least 50,000 to possibly more than 200,000 people have fled Bajur and nearby Mohmand tribal region, officials say. Many are staying with relatives, while others are at camps facing difficult conditions and the prospect of disease.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said thousands of people had also shifted across the border into Afghanistan.

The U.S., which has pressed Pakistan to forcefully crack down on insurgents in its tribal belt, has declared the resulting civilian uprooting a "disaster" situation, and given $50,000 for aid such as gas stoves and utensils.

The conditions in the two camps visited by The Associated Press were dismal.

In Bibi's camp, for instance, the nearly 1,000 people, more than half of them children, are crowded into classrooms and tents in a school compound. Babies' skins were red raw with mosquito bites. In the sweltering heat, one woman lay shivering under a blanket — a sign of the malaria medical officials say has sprung up.

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