Personally with IDPs

Personally with IDPs.

By the End of April Army operation in Buner, Malakand and Dir had intensified. People in thousands of number had started to flee those areas and moved into safer places of Mardan, Swabi and Noshera. By 13th May, United Nations had declared it the largest internal displacement of people. Around 1.3 million had left behind their houses, and all of their livelihood. They were arriving in hundred thousands daily, while there were no preparation for their food or shelter.

I got myself an assignment from the radio to cover the human story of those; migrating into Mardan. A very dear friend pledged people in his circle to contribute cash and goods for relief of these displaced families. What Abdus Salam started with pennies and pillows transformed into truckload of goods and an endless flow of cash deposits. We arrived in Peshawar on 14th May.

In next 6 days, we met people who we didn't know before. Witnessed hardships, which we imagined humans could bear not. It was a transforming experience. We traveled into areas which everyone thought were inaccessible. We moved into rural areas of Mardan, considering these far off areas hosting almost 8 hundred thousand displaced people from war effected areas; will not see any aide soon. Our estimation was right. We had local support from a group of people whose commitment helped us reach out to the most desperate of these displaced people. Our resources and time was all stretched, still thanks alone to the local population of Mardan, who had opened their doors, to house these displaced people in their homes. They provided food, shelter, shared their homes, and welcomed everyone who was fleeing from the war zone.

While i was reporting live to my radio back in Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad, Abdus Salam was busy purchasing, loading vehicles, reading IDP lists, and delivering these goods to isolated villages of Mardan. While traveling he was busy on phone, arranging medicines from Islamabad, candies for children from Peshawar, Fans from Mardan, connecting other individuals to carry tasks, what not? At some point it was mind boggling for me. But he stood fast.

All this time, I was in for only penning down displaced people's stories. What these people  actually went through? What surrounds their minds and what occupies their hearts? Before leaving, a colleague back at the radio said to me "we are artists, and we are sensitive toward human emotions, specially suffering. So be strong". I didn't know at that time what he meant, and here i was fighting with screaming tell-tales of war effected individuals. For nights i couldn't sleep. First night back in our room in Peshawar, we both fell. But we had an assignment in hand.

We fought with miseries all around of us. People who we thought, we were going to help, taught us important lessons of life. We saw high morals, We saw humanity covered in high values. We cherished their self esteem, and their spirit to sacrifice and live for others. I was an educated fool walking between illiterate people of higher values. With their dignity, honor and hospitality i felt myself "the most deprived".

This journey changed me forever. It doesn't take a bread, cloth or roof to be able to say "i am supplied". Human beings have a vital resource of some higher substance which i knew not, before this trip. Now i know, but don't have capacity to put them into words, at the moment.