For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Jan Powell, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva,

Preview extract

Date, location: Mardan, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, September/October 2008
Production: Jan Powell, Marco Succi, Inam Rehaman
Sound: English, PashtoCopyright: ICRC
Access All length: 09'50"ref: CR-F-01008
Please credit ICRC where possible


Since the beginning of the armed conflict in Bajaur (August 2008), more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee to neighbouring districts in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Around 5,000 families have gone to Afghanistan.

In the districts of Lower Dir and Mardan, new waves of displaced people continue to arrive in camps which are already stretched to the limit. In Mardan Camp, now sheltering 5,000 people, there is no clean water supply and the camp's medical centre reports many cases of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases.

Over the past two weeks, the conflict has intensified and the security situation in the border areas of north-west Pakistan remains extremely tense. Some of the displaced have tried to return to their homes but bombing and continued fighting make it too dangerous to stay and they have returned to the camps.

Sahid Zahab from Raghagan near Khar, capital of Bajaur Agency, has fled his home with his family, in a group of around 50 people. They are now living in Mardan displaced camp in the North West Frontier Province. They want to go home but dare not. " The forces are cheating us. They say come, and the very next day they are starting bombing again, as if they were calling us to come and get killed! " he says.

Dr. Muhammad Jan, who fled Bajaur early August after walking with his family for 60 km, had to leave his own parents behind. He lost his precious cows and buffalos in the bombings. "The most important thing we ask of the government is to stop bombing civilians and to enable us to go back to our homes," he says.
The displaced are gathering in public buildings and overcrowded areas which are often without basic facilities. The Mardan Camp Medical Centre treats around 600 patients a day. According to Dr. Salah Ud Din, "Water is very dangerous because of microbes, and clean water is not available in this camp".In NWFP, the ICRC works in close partnership with the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, giving out food and essential household items in camps in Lower Dir, Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan, as well as to families hosting the displaced in Mardan and Swat. Further distributions are planned to help the worst affected. ICRC teams are improving the water supply and building latrines in camps in Lower Dir. Mobile medical teams are also being sent to Mardan and Lower Dir camps to cope with the rapid increase in numbers. According to Olivier Jenard of the ICRC in Geneva, the fluid and changing situation, where large numbers of people are on the move, makes it particularly difficult to get assistance where it is most needed.

The ICRC maintains contact with all parties to the conflict, reminding them of their obligation under international humanitarian law to spare and protect civilians from the effects of hostilities.

SHOTLIST

00:00 Mardan IDP camp, Bajaur agency, one of seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), North-west Pakistan, GVs
00:12 people, children near tents, various
00:41 Children trying to pump water
00:52 Top shot tents
01:04 INTERVIEW Yaar Muhammad, (Pashto, from Bajaur)

"First, I would like to pray for stability in my homeland. Secondly, the weather here is very hot and this heat makes the children ill . Therefore, many of these children are so ill they are in hospital. Some of the people who have just arrived in the camp have almost nothing to sleep on, many of them have brought nothing with them, they don't have any carpets, water barrels or anything, not even glasses to drink out of."

01:23 Children outside tent, girls fanning themselves
01:28 Children and elderly person inside tent
00:49 Dr. Muhammad Jan inside his tent listening to his radio transistor
01:53 INTERVIEW Dr. Muhammad Jan (Pashto)

"Because of the government, people are getting sick living in these conditions. We would like peace to return and life to be easier in the camp. We need peace because we are tired of these tents. We get medicines but we still get sick all the time. What's the use? The most important thing we ask of the government is to stop bombarding civilians and to enable us to go back to our homes".
02:30
We could not bury our dead according to our custom. Sometimes we had to leave the bodies where they fell on the roadside. We couldn't find anyone to dig the graves. No one wanted to take the risk. Some people were killed while they were burying the dead. They think we might be preparing an ambush, so when people start to dig the grave, the jets could target you."

02:53 Girl giving water from barrel to her brother using her bare hands
03:00 Women in burka walking
03:10 Health centre and dispensary inside the camp, set up by the Ministry of Health
NWFP Government

03:25 Consultations by provincial doctors and delivery of drugs
04:16 Close-up medicines
04:26 INTERVIEW Dr Walid Rehamn Masood, Manager, Mardan Camp Medical Centre (English)
"Actually a lot of people are facing a lot of problems. The main problem on a medical point of view, they have diarrhoea , vomiting ,chest infection, like … other infection and malaria."
04:40 INTERVIEW Dr. Salah Ud Din (English)

"Water is very dangerous because of microbes and clean water is not available in this camp."

04:48 Dr. Salah Ud Din examining patient and prescribing drugs
05:13 Colourful Pakistani trucks transporting ICRC goods
05:22 Unloading of merchandise by volunteers from the camp
06:03 Merchandise being piled up ready for distribution to 32 families
06:19 Explanation of the distribution process
06:51 Sahib Zada goes back to his tent with blankets, buckets and utensils
07:19 INTERVIEW Sahib Zada

"At first, the Taliban and the security forces were targeting each other. But when the Air Force started bombing, we saw that it was dangerous to remain there. We preferred to save ourselves rather than our belongings. That is why we left everything behind."
07:33
"When they called us from home, they told us not to come back because the bombing is still going on. The forces are cheating us. They say, come, and then the very next day they start bombing again. It is as if they were calling us to come and be killed!"

07:41 Sahib Zada eating with his family and closing his tent
08:06 children running in camp
08:14 Close up young girl in yellow

08:22 INTERVIEW Olivier Jenard, ICRC, Geneva (French)
"Les difficultés dans le camp c'est la concentration de gens, le concentration des gens qui se connaissent pas, c'est le problème de promiscuité, les problèmes de santé au sens large, le problème d'accès ä l'eau, problème d'organisation, un population qui est inquiète et qui se fait avec enormement de rumeurs qui circulent sur situation dans les villages qu'ils ont quitté. Et aussi cette inquiétude fait que un certain group de population tent de retourner à la maison reste quelques jours et puis reviennent."
09:04 (English)
"There are groups arriving every day coming from their own villages and then they would stay a few days in the camp and then would try their luck to go back home. In the meantime there are other groups who have been caught by the hostilities and forced to flee the areas. So it's a very fluid, changing situation."
09:27
"We do receive information and we collect information about the situation in the conflict areas which is of concern to us of course. And we do remind the authorities about their obligations, that they have to spare the civilian populations."
09:51 ENDS