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The ICRC in Pakistan
01-06-2011 Overview
The ICRC began working in Pakistan at partition, in 1947, and has since been active during the conflicts with India and during the 1971 war of separation from what is now Bangladesh. Since 1981 the ICRC has had a permanent presence in Pakistan, initially concerned with helping victims of the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Its current operational focus is on assisting victims of the armed violence affecting the north-west, Balochistan and other areas. It provides medical care for wounded and disabled people and visits detainees in some areas. The ICRC supports the Pakistan Red Crescent Society and promotes international humanitarian law.
Following the record floods that struck Pakistan in 2010, some northern areas of Sindh province remain flooded and ICRC still supports these communities as they seek to re-establish livelihoods. The disaster took a massive toll on the country’s population, particularly on remote rural communities already disrupted by the effects of armed violence.
Armed violence that began in north-western Pakistan in mid-2008 has had a dramatic effect on the humanitarian situation, there and elsewhere in the country. Fighting between the Pakistan armed forces and armed opposition groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) since 2009 has caused successive rounds of displacement, leaving tens of thousands of residents without basic services. Fallout from the fighting in KP and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has worsened the violence affecting major cities such as Karachi and Lahore. Sectarian and ethno-political violence in these major cities has further affected the living conditions of civilians.
The armed conflict in Afghanistan continues to be felt in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan, with scores of casualties crossing the border in search of medical care.
Population movements
Access to people in need remains hampered by the fighting and related security measures, such as checkpoints and curfews, and by frequent population movements. However, working with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, the ICRC maintains high levels of assistance to civilians in areas affected by the fighting and to internally displaced people (IDPs) who have found refuge in safer areas – among host families and, less frequently, in camps.
The ICRC continues to provide significant health support to district hospitals in KP and the FATA, including pharmaceutical and infrastructure support and training. Pakistan Red Crescent Society health units operating in KP, the FATA and Balochistan are also given material support by the ICRC.
Since early 2010 the ICRC has provided emergency relief to over 200,000 IDPs each month and has helped families restore contact after they were dispersed by the violence. The ICRC supports the return of IDPs to their home areas by providing seeds, fertilizer and basic farm tools to enable them to re-establish their livelihoods.
Aid for the disabled
In Peshawar the ICRC's surgical field hospital treats weapon-wounded patients. Its physical rehabilitation programme gives disabled patients a chance of resuming an active life.
The ICRC has access to some detainees in Sindh, Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. It runs a programme that helps families keep in contact with relatives held in jails in Pakistan and abroad.
In order to increase awareness of international humanitarian law (IHL) and its own mandate, the ICRC maintains contact with senior officers of the armed and security forces and the police and, to a lesser extent, with members of armed groups. In particular, it urges respect for civilians and Red Cross/Red Crescent workers. Other partners in the ICRC’s communication plan are the media, tribal and religious leaders and academics.
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