'Thank God it is over': a town full of corpses begins to come back to life
June 2, 2009
MINGORA, Pakistan: People trapped at home for weeks emerged in search of food at barren shops while corpses lay exposed in the Swat valley's main city, as a Pakistani official suggested the army offensive against the Taliban in the region could end in days.
President Asif Ali Zardari yesterday ordered the immediate release of 500 million rupees ($A7.47 million) in emergency relief to help refugees.
An Associated Press reporter who visited Mingora a day after the army declared it was secured saw many damaged buildings. Two decomposing bodies lay unburied in a cemetery; a third corpse lay near a shopping mall.
"We have been starving for many days," Afzal Khan said. "We have been cooking tree leaves to keep ourselves alive. Thank God it is over. We need food. We need help. We want peace."
Pakistan launched an offensive against militants in Swat and surrounding districts last month after they violated the terms of a ceasefire and advanced into a region close to the capital, Islamabad.
The military lifted curfews yesterday in seven towns in the Swat valley in a further sign of confidence that its military offensive against the Taliban there is making progress, although violence flared elsewhere.
A string of suicide bombings away from Swat were probably retaliatory attacks by the Taliban, officials said. A blast at a bus terminal in Kohat yesterday killed at least two people and wounded 18 others, a local police spokesman, Fazal Naeem, told Agence France-Presse.
Speaking in Singapore, Pakistan's Defence Secretary predicted the army would clear remaining militant strongholds in the valley in "two to three days". Pakistan's military spokesman said that assessment was overly optimistic.
Most of Mingora's at least 375,000 residents fled the offensive. The lifting of curfews allowed some of the 20,000 or so who remained to buy provisions in the few shops that were open.
International Committee of the Red Cross officials who visited other parts of the valley on Saturday were "alarmed".
"People have been blocked for weeks," said a team leader, Daniel O'Malley. "There is no running water, no electricity, and food is scarce. There is no fuel left for generators, and most medical facilities in the district are no longer functioning. Phone lines are down, so people have been cut off from the outside world and are anxious for contact with relatives who fled the area."
brisbanetimes.com.au |
