Airstrikes hamper relief work

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 21. The relentless bombardment coupled with ground operations inside Afghanistan by the U.S.-led forces is beginning to have its impact on the ordinary citizens and hamper relief operations. Saturday witnessed the single largest influx of people, an estimated 5,000, of Afghanistan into Pakistan.

Reports from the capital city of Baluchistan, Quetta, said that scared people of Afghanistan running away from the battle-ravaged country were desperate to cross over. For a brief while, Pakistan opened its borders and decided to seal it once again.

Pakistan has been repeatedly telling the international community and United Nations agencies that it was no longer in a position to absorb the refugee influx from Afghanistan and they better take steps for relief measures within Afghanistan.

The situation is only expected to worsen in the coming days. A spokesperson of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been quoted as saying that if the borders were opened up to 300,000 people might flood in ``over a very short period of time'' and arrivals could eventually total 1 million.

The Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghan Refugees and Director, UNHCR, Mr. Donini, told correspondents here that there were six million people in Afghanistan who needed urgent humanitarian assistance.

``They (Afghans) face a very uncertain and uneven frightening future as only a few have crossed international border because those borders largely remain closed,'' he told a joint press conference also addressed by representatives of the WFP and the UNICEF.

He said many people deep inside Afghanistan simply could not get out. They were most vulnerable people, those who faced greater risk under the present circumstance. They were suffering from hunger but they were also suffering from fear and exposure. In some cases, they were in areas where there was breakdown of law and order.

Mr. Donini said the ability of the U.N. to continue work in Afghanistan was rapidly deteriorating with the decline of law and order in some urban centres. ``We are receiving reports from various sources almost daily, about the U.N. and aid offices being taken over, items seized, looting and staff beaten in Jalalabad, Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar, Kunduz and parts of the north.'' He said the number of national staff able to work was decreasing among U.N. agencies and some NGOs. The operational capacity was therefore lessening. Under the current circumstance, the U.N. believed that delivering humanitarian assistance was becoming increasingly difficult.

``If the situation continues to deteriorate, opportunities for aid are expected to further diminish.'' He said, on Wednesday again, armed elements broke into a U.N. office in Kabul, beat up the guard and drove away with three vehicles.

The U.N. Mine Action Programme has ascertained that it also lost 80 vehicle so far. In addition, this week all U.N. offices and some NGO office and an IOM office in Kunduz in the north have been looted and occupied. U.N. agencies fear that there will be further looting and occupation of their premises.

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Section  : International
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