From Responsibility to Response: Assessing National - Brookings

CHAPTER 1 Assessing National Approaches to Internal Displacement: Findings from 15 Countries
major international agencies assisting IDPs in Pakistan,
those returns often were premature because there were
ongoing hostilities in some return areas as well as unexploded
ordnance and damaged infrastructure and public
services. 98 Secondary displacement reportedly occurred
in Swat District in October 2009 when the government
failed to adequately ensure durable returns; 99 however, it
has been difficult to obtain reliable information because
access to affected areas by international relief agencies
has been severely restricted. 100 According to a UN
survey, by July 2010 those still internally displaced cited
lack of security, damaged property and lack of employment
opportunities as the main reasons that they did
not want to return, with many preferring local integration
instead. 101
With respect to those displaced by the 2010 flooding,
Qamar Zaman Kaira, the Minister for Information
and Broadcasting, assured the National Assembly in
February 2010 that “every registered IDP will be settled
[in] his home. Disaster Need Assessment (DNA) has
been completed and everybody will be paid compensation
for damages.” The minister explained that registered
IDPs would receive food rations, relief money and
later 25,000 Pakistani rupees (Rs) (approximately $288)
per family for their return, in addition to the compensation
that would be paid. 102 The compensation package
in the Return and Reintegration of Internally Displaced
Populations, PDES/2010/09, July 2010, pp. 47–48 (www.
unhcr.org/4c4989e89.pdf).
98 Ibid., p. 47; “Pakistan Crisis ‘Far from Over’ as Some
Displaced Return Home,” press release, International
Rescue Committee, 17 July 2009 (http://reliefweb.int/
node/317400).
99 IDMC, Pakistan: Millions of IDPs and Returnees Face
Continuing Crisis: A Profile of the Internal Displacement
Situation, December 2009.
100 Refugees International, Pakistan: Protect People First,
October 2009.
101 IRIN, “Pakistan: IDPs Reluctant to Return” (www.
irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89796).
102 Government of Pakistan, “Pakistan: Government
Committed to Rehabilitate Every Registered IDP: Kaira”
(http://reliefweb.int/node/344864). US dollar equivalents
were made using the exchange rate of PKR (Pakistani
146
announced by the government in September 2010 was
to comprise Rs 20,000 (approximately $230) per floodaffected
family plus another payment of Rs 100,000 (approximately
$1,150) for reconstruction of their homes.
The government had already delayed one cash payment
by September 2010 but Rs 20,000 had been disbursed
to 1.4 million flood-affected families by March 2011
through an innovative practice: electronic prepaid debit
cards called “Watan cards,” totalling nearly Rs 30 billion
($234.5 million). This cash transfer program was
based on two previous cash compensation schemes
the government implemented in response to the 2005
South Asia earthquake and the conflict displacement
in Pakistan in North West Frontier Province (officially
renamed Khyber Pakhtunkwa province in April 2010)
in 2009. Some of the issues in delays in Punjab province
stemmed from the issues the provincial Punjab government
reportedly faced in declaring too many villages as
flood-affected, which eventually became undeclared as
such, according to Pakistani press reports in October
2010; Punjab closed its Watan card registration centers
on 15 December 2010. The World Bank announced
at the end of March 2011 its financial support to the
second phase of the compensation system, the disbursal
of 4 Rs 40,000 (approximately $460) to some 1.1 million
most affected households, or 7.5 to 8.3 million people,
for the reconstruction of homes using the Watan card
scheme. 103 Meanwhile, as of July 2011, these millions of
flood-affected have been left without durable solutions
to their displacement.
rupee) to USD (US dollar) at 86.87 on 30 September 2010.
103 Zeeshan Haider, “Pakistani floods survivors await help
to rebuild,” Reuters, 23 September 2010 (www.trust.org/
alertnet/news/pakistani-floods-survivors-await-helpto-rebuild);
Imran Mukhtar, “NADRA faces problems
in distribution of Watan Cards,” 10 October 2010 (www.
nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-englishonline/Politics/12-Oct-2010/NADRA-faces-problems-indistribution-of-Watan-Cards);
World Bank, “World Bank
Supports Flood Affected Households in Pakistan with
Cash Grants to Rebuild Lives,” Press release no. 2011/397/
SAR, 29 March 2011 (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/
EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22872509~menuPK
:34463~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.
html).