UNHCR Airlifts Emergency Aid to Pakistani IDPs

The UN refugee agency is airlifting emergency supplies to northwest Pakistan.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres appealed for international support for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by fighting between the government and Taliban in the Swat Valley.

The fighting has sparked a civilian exodus from the former tourist destination. In recent days 360,000 people have left their homes and in all about 500,000 are expected fo flee, joining about 600,000 people displaced earlier from Swat and other areas.

Guterres said many people were arriving with only what they could carry on their backs.

"These are the same people who for decades showed great generosity to millions of Afghan refugees," he said.

"Now it is time for the international community to show them the same generosity by supporting humanitarian programmes for the Pakistani displaced," the former Portuguese prime minister said in a statement.

The agency is setting up three new refugee camps and helping the Pakistan Red Crescent set up a fourth, and looking for suitable sites for further camps. It is also working with the authorities to expand the number of registration centres for displaced people.

BBC News has three first-hand accounts from IDPs who have fled the Swat Valley.
(Image from BBC story.)