Ever since people started fleeing the conflict in Swat and Buner two months ago, there has been incessant talk that they are returning home. There has been an almost continuous stream of stories about how people have packed up their scant belongings and are crowding the roads out of Mardan, returning to their former lives and whatever destruction awaits them. But the people I have spoken to in the villages of Mardan District tell a very different story. They say that although they are desperate to return home they will not do so until they are sure that the fighting has stopped and that they will have the support they need.

Nothing to return to:

Bakhtmel is a father of 13 from Buner but is living with his family in the village of Surkh Dheri. He told me that he has no intention of returning home just yet as he fears he will be returning to nothing.

“If we go back we will be living in darkness as the infrastructure has been destroyed. There is no electricity or communication facility,” he said. “My fields and my livelihood have been destroyed so there will be no way that I will be able to make a living when I go back,” he explained. “This means that we will be reliant on external aid and will probably have to live in tents as our homes have been damaged and are uninhabitable.”

Difficult conditions:

At the moment Bakhtmel and his family don’t have to live in a tent as they have been taken in by a local family. But conditions are incredibly difficult. Two families are sharing two small rooms with just mud floors and walls and little in the way of furniture. There is no running water, scarcely enough food, no cooking facilities and just one latrine between more than 20 people. Despite these hardships, Bakhtmel fears that if they return home they will be in a worse position, with no support at all.

Too soon to go home:

Other men from areas such as lower Swat and Buner told me that back home they had seen many families from further north travel down in search of safety. They had returned home a few weeks later when they were told it was safe, only to make the journey south again when the conflict restarted. They said that they did not want to be in this position and so would remain where they were until they could be sure things were stable. Many children have found it difficult to come to terms with their new living arrangements. Others may find the journey back home just as hard. At one of Islamic Relief’s centers in Khaiarabad I met Salma and Sheeba. Salma is an IDP but has made friends with many of the local children like Sheeba. She told me that she had already lost many of her friends from back home and did not want to leave where she was staying now and lose the new friends she had made.

A deteriorating situation:

A few people have undoubtedly made the journey back home. Often these are the younger men who have been sent to assess the security situation and any damage that has been done to their property and land. But driving through Mardan I can see no difference between now and when the crisis first began. There are still queues of people waiting for aid and throngs of people struggling to take their food parcels back home. The only difference is that in the last two months most of the resources of the local communities have been used up. What little they had in the way of food, clothing, blankets and money has been depleted and now both the displaced people and the host families are in a precarious position. As an aid agency we know that it is important not only to provide people with relief items such as clean water and healthcare in the short term, but also to prepare for the time when people do go back home. When that happens however, is out of our hands.

This blog is written by Niyaz Muhammad, an aid worker for Islamic Relief. He is based in Mardan District where Islamic Relief is working with those who have fled the fighting in Buner, Dir and Swat. In his diary he reports on the situation in anarea that is struggling with more than 2 million displaced people. Source: Reuters