Everyone in Washington is talking about Pakistan, but few understand it. Here’s how to dazzle the crowd at your next Georgetown cocktail party.After eight years of a White House that often seemed blinkered by the threats posed by Pakistan, the Obama administration seems to grasp the severity of the myriad crises affecting the South Asian state. The media has followed suit and increased its presence and reporting, a trend confirmed by CNN’s decision to set up a bureau in Islamabad last year. And yet, the uptick in coverage hasn’t necessarily clarified the who’s-doing-what-to-whom confusion in Pakistan. Some commentators continue to confuse the tribal areas with the North-West Frontier Province. And the word lashkars is used to describe all kinds of otherwise cross-purposed groups, some fighting the Taliban, some fighting India, and some fighting Shiites. I admit, it’s not easy. I lived in Pakistan throughout all of 2006 and 2007 and only came to understand, say, the tribal breakdown in South Waziristan during my final days. So to save you the trouble of having to live in Pakistan for two years to differentiate between the Wazirs and the Mehsuds, the Frontier Corps and the Rangers, I’ve written an “idiot’s guide” that will hopefully clear some things up.1. The Troubled TribalsBring up the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at a Washington cocktail party and you’re sure to impress. Tick off the name of a Taliban leader or two and make a reference to North Waziristan, and you might be on your way to a lucrative lecture tour. The problem, of course, is that no one knows if you’ll be speaking the truth or not. A map of the border region is crammed with the names of agencies, provinces, frontier regions, and districts, which are sometimes flip-flopped and misused. With only an unselfish interest in making you more-impressive cocktail party material (and thus, getting you booked with a lecture agent during these economic hard times), I want to straighten some things out. First off, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas are not part of the North-West Frontier Province. The two are separate entities in almost every sense of the word. While the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is, well, a province with an elected assembly, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) are geographically separate areas governed through “political agents” who are appointed by the president and supported by the governor of NWFP (who is also a presidential appointee). Residents of NWFP technically live according to the laws drafted by the Parliament in Islamabad, while the only nontribal law applicable to residents of FATA is the Frontier Crimes Regulations, a colonial-era dictate sanctioning collective punishment for tribes and subtribes guilty of disrupting the peace. Within FATA, there are seven “agencies” and six “frontier regions.” The agencies are Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan; the somewhat more governed frontier regions (FRs) cling like barnacles to the eastern edge of FATA and include FR Peshawar, FR Kohat, FR Bannu, FR Lakki, FR Tank, and FR Dera Ismail Khan, each of them named after the “settled” districts they border. All residents of FATA and the vast majority of those in NWFP are ethnically Pashtuns. Pashtuns also make up the majority in Baluchistan, the vast province bordering Iran and Afghanistan, which is named after the minority Baluch. Besides NWFP and Baluchistan, there are two other provinces in Pakistan; Punjab is populated mostly by ethnic Punjabis, and Sindh was historically dominated by Sindhis until millions of Muslims migrated from India at the time of Partition and settled in Sindhi cities such as Karachi and Hyderabad. Now, Sindh is composed of ethnic Sindhis and the descendents of these migrants, known as mohajirs. Foreigners are prohibited from entering FATA without government permission. If you see a newspaper dateline from a town inside FATA, chances are that the Pakistani Army organized a field trip for reporters. Those traveling unaccompanied into, say, South Waziristan have either a death wish or a really good rapport with the Taliban, who effectively run North and South Waziristan and large portions of the other agencies and frontier regions. The recalcitrance of the tribesmen is hardly something new. In the words of Lord Curzon, the former viceroy of India: “No patchwork scheme -- and all our present recent schemes, blockade, allowances, etc., are mere patchwork -- will settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steamroller has passed over the country from end to end, will there be peace. But I do not want to be the person to start that machine.”2. A Taliban Who’s WhoIn December 2007, the smattering of bearded, black-turbaned, AK-47-toting gangs in FATA and NWFP announced that they would now answer to a single name, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban Movement. For decades, Pakistani jihadists have used such fancy names to declare splinter groups (many of which go unnoticed), but some analysts latched onto the TTP as gospel and postulated that, overnight, the Talibs had become disciplined and united. In the process, such analysts have overlooked important distinctions and divisions within the pro-Taliban groups operating in Pakistan. Let’s start with a little history. In 1996, Mullah Mohammed Omar and his band of “Taliban” -- defined in Urdu, Pashto, and Arabic as “students” or “seekers” -- conquered Afghanistan. Five years later, the United States routed the Taliban government and the al Qaeda henchmen who had been operating under Mullah Omar’s protection. Many of them escaped into FATA, which is of course technically part of Pakistan but truthfully ruled by tribes whose loyalty, in this instance, fell with the Taliban and their foreign guests, al Qaeda. Before long, groups of men from FATA had begun banding together and crossing the border to fight against the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Pashtuns ignore the border separating Afghanistan and Pakistan, named the Durand Line after the Englishman who drew it in 1893; the Pashtun “nation” encompasses wherever Pashtuns may live. Fighting the Americans, therefore, was seen as self-defense, even for the residents of FATA. Meanwhile, al Qaeda was entrenching itself more and more in FATA. These largely Arab and Uzbek outsiders influenced a new Taliban mind-set, one far more aggressive toward the Pakistani military and disruptive toward the local, tribal traditions. So, back to the cocktail party: Someone mentions Baitullah Mehsud, the man accused by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence of masterminding the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Although Mehsud is the nominal chief of the TTP, he has plenty of rivals, even in his native South Waziristan. Two major tribes populate South Waziristan: the Mehsuds and the Wazirs. The Wazirs dominate Wana, the main city in South Waziristan. But the ranking Taliban leader from the Wazirs, Maulvi Nazir, is a darling of Pakistan’s military establishment. You’re probably scratching your head right now, a bit confused. You see, Nazir is only interested in fighting U.S., Afghan, and NATO forces across the border. He is not part of the TTP and has not been involved in the wave of violence sweeping Pakistan of late. Therefore, in the minds of Pakistani generals, he is a “good” Taliban versus Baitullah Mehsud, who is, in their mind, unequivocally “bad.” That’s just one example of Talibs living in Pakistan who do not necessarily come under the title “Pakistani Taliban” or the “Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan” moniker. In Swat Valley, where Islamabad recently signed a peace treaty with the Taliban, the fissures among the militants are more generational. Swat, unlike South Waziristan, is part of NWFP and shares no border with Afghanistan. In the late 1980s, a group calling itself the Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, TNSM or the Movement for the Establishment of the Law of Mohammed, launched a drive to impose Islamic law in Swat and its environs. They resorted to violence against the state in the 1990s on numerous occasions, including once taking over the local airport and blocking the main road connecting Pakistan to China. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the leader of TNSM, Sufi Mohammed, organized a group of madrasa students and led them across the border to combat the Americans. But only Sufi Mohammed returned. The legions who had followed him were “martyred,” or so he told their parents. Sufi Mohammed was thrown in jail by then president and Army chief Pervez Musharraf, and so he named his son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah, to run TNSM in his stead. But Fazlullah had wider ambitions and assembled a several-hundred-man army vowing to fight the Pakistani government. The senior leadership of TNSM soon disowned Fazlullah, who happily embarked on his own and is now Mehsud’s deputy in the TTP. For the past year and a half, Fazlullah’s devotees have bombed, kidnapped, and assassinated anyone who’s dared to challenge their writ in Swat. By 2008, Sufi Mohammed looked like a moderate in comparison to his son-in-law. So the Pakistani government asked him to mediate. Perhaps he could cool Fazlullah down. The recent treaty you’ve heard about in Swat is between the Pakistani government and Sufi Mohammed, who has pledged to bring Fazlullah on board. So far, the treaty has held, unless you count the soldiers who were killed by Fazlullah’s Talibs for not “informing the Taliban of their movements.”3. Kiss My LashkarYou might have heard the word lashkar of late and wondered what a science fiction character was doing in Pakistan. This past fall, two distinctly different stories featured lashkars carrying out two distinctly different missions. In one, Lashkar-e-Taiba was executing a murderous campaign of violence in Mumbai; in another, lashkars were fighting against the Taliban in FATA. In other words, one was having a terrible effect while the other seemed to be doing some good. (Oh yeah, in another, less read story, Lashkar-e-Janghvi was killing Shiites in the southwestern city of Quetta.) So what gives? What’s a lashkar?In Arabic, the language of Islam, a lashkar describes an irregular tribal militia. Say you’re a tribesman in South Waziristan who has beef with a member of a rival tribe. You need a posse. So you raise a lashkar. When news broke in October that the Pakistani government was sending Chinese-made AK-47s to tribesmen willing to defy Taliban rule in FATA, the weapons were said to be sent to lashkars. That’s a lashkar in the traditional sense of the word.But Pakistan’s jihadi groups, to glorify their agendas, have long used the word lashkar in their names. (Other common Arabic names for army include sipah and jaish.) Although Lashkar-e-Taiba is committed to fighting the Indians over Kashmir, Lashkar-e-Janghvi is bent on killing Shiites, and Jaish-e-Mohammed seems ready to attack anyone. The proliferation of these terrorist militias became so bad that in January 2002, Musharraf was obliged to declare, “Our army is the only sipah and lashkar in Pakistan.”4. Border GuardsIf there was so much confusion over who was and wasn’t the real army in Pakistan that the Army chief had to intervene and clarify, perhaps someone from the Pakistani military should set the record straight on who’s fighting whom in FATA. This confusion came to a head last June, when a contingent of Pakistani forces, known as the Frontier Corps, was locked in a gun battle with U.S. soldiers across the border. The U.S. troops were pursuing Talibs attempting to retreat back across the border into Pakistan. The kerfuffle ended -- at least the armed one, the diplomatic one was just starting -- when a few bombs dropped by U.S. planes landed on the Frontier Corps outposts and killed 11 Pakistani border guards. So what’s the deal with the Frontier Corps? Whose side are they on anyway?The Frontier Corps (FC) are a paramilitary force composed of roughly 80,000 men tasked with border security, law enforcement, and increasingly, counterinsurgency in FATA, NWFP, and Baluchistan. (Rangers fill similar tasks in Punjab and Sindh, the provinces bordering India.) By almost any definition outlining the ideal counterinsurgent, the FC would be it: They are almost all Pashtuns, more familiar with the language, the people, the tribes, and the terrain than any regular Pakistani soldier or U.S. troop could ever be. But their biggest advantage also happens to be their biggest liability, because Pashtuns are renowned for their sense of community; asking one Pashtun to kill another, especially when it’s seen as being done at the bidding of an “outsider,” be it Punjabi or American, would be like your boss telling you to kill your cousin. Not gonna happen, right? The Pakistani leadership, and before them, the British, weren’t blind to this issue. To try to limit potential conflicts of interest, they said that Wazirs wouldn’t serve in Waziri areas, Afridis (based in Khyber agency and FR Kohat) wouldn’t serve in Afridi areas, and so on. Questions over ethnic sympathies simply couldn’t be surmounted, but this way at least concerns over clan and family sympathies could. In the past few years, Washington has realized the significance of the FC and tried to enhance its fighting capability. (Traditionally, an FC corpsman would sport a salwar-kameez -- the baggy trousers and tunic get-up -- leather sandals, and an AK-47.) But the problems of getting money to the right FC units have been numerous. First off, the FC falls under the Interior Ministry, not the Defense Ministry, which overseas the half-million-member Army and has received the lion’s share of U.S. aid since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Defense Ministry’s dominance of the aid game means that the money Washington gives Islamabad to reimburse Pakistani security forces for operations against the Taliban and al Qaeda, money known as Coalition Support Funds, hardly, if ever, trickles down to the FC units manning a border post in South Waziristan who are, truly, on the “front lines” of the so-called war on terror. Second, there is an issue of command structure because the FC is officered by regular Army colonels and generals. And finally, there is the problem that, owing to the widespread anger among Pashtuns toward the United States and the Pakistani establishment, no one can say whether the FC won’t simply hand over night-vision goggles and new weapons to the Taliban, especially when oversight by U.S. officials in FATA, parts of NWFP, and Baluchistan is so scarce.5. Finger on the TriggerThere is some leeway in the grooming standards and fitness levels expected by the Pakistani Army -- especially for officers. Mornings are for praying and sleeping; lunches are for buffets; and evenings are for gallons of tea. Not much time for exercise, is there? And mustaches? The thicker, the better. Beards? The longer, the better. Does that mean that the Pakistani Army is composed of Islamic fundamentalists salivating at the opportunity to fire some nukes? Yes and noFirst a disclaimer: Most Pakistani soldiers consider India to be their mortal enemy and would like nothing more than to incinerate their neighbor. They get that from the grade-school textbooks. And they will usually frame the conflict between them and India as one between Islam and Hinduism. This ground has been pretty well covered by others who write about Pakistan. But we should realize that anti-Indianism doesn’t translate to Talibanism, what with locking up womenfolk and caning criminals and all. Consider the serving chief of Army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who is beardless, reportedly enjoys an occasional Scotch and a game of bridge, chain-smokes cigarettes through a long plastic tip, and is a favorite of the Americans. In other words, he’s not likely to declare himself “Commander of the Faithful” anytime soon. But what about the ISI? We hear so much about the ISI, or Inter-Services Intelligence, being manned by al Qaeda sympathizers, sponsoring regional terrorism, and forming the vanguard of Islamism in Pakistan. Aren’t they Islamist? Let’s complicate matters before we take up this question. The ISI is the intelligence wing of the military. The Army, meanwhile, has its own intelligence wing, confusingly named Military Intelligence (MI). The Interior Ministry has its own: Special Branch. And so on and so forth; there are more intelligence wings in Pakistan than there are varieties of dal. And when Pakistanis on the street suspect that they’re involved in something nefarious, they simply refer to “the agencies.” That way, there’s no need to specify which agency was responsible because no one has any idea who is behind what, frankly. Are people within the ISI any more Islamist than any of the others? I don’t see why they would be. The ISI draws from the ranks of the regular Army (in addition to some civilians), the same Army that is commanded by Sandhurst-educated, Johnnie Walker Black Label-loving Anglophiles. What makes the ISI different is not so much its personnel as its agenda, an agenda that might, on any given day, include ferrying money to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan or training Lashkar-e-Taiba fighters to wage jihad against India in Kashmir. These programs are considered to serve Pakistan’s national interests, not the religious preferences of its generals. Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any kind of soft corner for the agencies and certainly don’t want to seem an apologist for them. They kicked me out of the country once via deportation and chased me out another time by planting stories in the local press that I had been kidnapped. I feel no love for the ISI, MI, Special Branch, or any of their shady affiliates. But they’re not all the same. Keep that in mind at your next cocktail party. We should know what we’re talking about when we talk about Pakistan.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4782&page=0
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
انڈيا کی اب بھی آنکھیں کھليں گی؟ سر مارک ٹلی
پولیس ، خفیہ اداروں اور سکیورٹی فورسز کے درمیان تعاون کی بے حد کمی تھی
کچھ لوگوں کی جانب ممبئی پر حملے کو ’ہندوستان کا نائن الیون کہا جا رہا ہے۔ چھبیس نومبر کے اگلے روز کی صبح سرکردہ اخبار انڈین ایکسپریس نے سرخی لگائی :’ آور نائٹ میئر، آورویک اپ کال‘ یعنی برے خواب کے بعد ہماری آنکھیں کھولنے کا وقت۔
ہندوستان کی مثال ایک ایسے مسافر بردار بحری جہاز کی جو خطرناک طوفانوں میں گھرا رہتا ہے لیکن کبھی ڈوبتا نہیں ہے۔
لیکن یہاں سوال یہ اٹھتا ہے کیا واقعی اب ہندوستان کی آنکھیں کھل جائیں گی۔ لیکن اگر اس سوال کے جواب میں ماضی کا جائزہ لیں تو اس کا جواب ’نہ‘ ہی ہوگا۔
ماضی میں ہندوستان کو جن طوفانون کا سامنا کرنا پڑا ہے ان میں مختلف جنگیں، نسلی فسادات، قتل، اور دہشت گرد حملے شامل ہیں۔
مجھے یاد ہے جب ہندو شدت پسندوں کی جانب سے ایودھیا میں واقع بابری مسجد منہدم کر دی گئی تھی تو مجھ سے یہ سوال کیا جا رہا تھا کہ کیا اس واقعہ کے بعد ہندوؤں اور مسلمانوں کے درمیان زبردست تلخی پیدا ہو جائے گی اور ہندوستان لبنان یا پھر شمالی آئرلینڈ کی طرح ہو جائے گا۔
میرا خیال تھا کہ ایسا نہیں ہوگا کیونکہ ہندوستان میں جس رفتار سے کشیدگی بڑھتی ہے اسی رفتار سے کم بھی پڑ جاتی ہے۔
اس کا ایک منفی اثر یہ ہوتا ہے کہ ہندوستانی اس قسم کے کسی بھی واقعہ کے بعد واپس اپنی پرانی زندگی میں لوٹ آتے ہیں اور آنے والے خطرے کے بارے میں بے خبر ہو جاتے ہیں اور اس پر غور نہیں کرتے کہ آخر کس نے ایسے حالات پیدا کیے؟
ممبئی پر ہوئے حملوں نے ایک بار پھر پولیس اور خفیہ اداروں کی ناکامی واضح کر دی ہے۔
ممبئی حملوں کے بعد متاثرہ افراد کو خراج عقیدتممبئی حملے کے وقت پولیس کو کچھ اندازہ ہی نہیں تھا کہ اسے کس طرح ایکشن لینا ہے۔ وہاں صرف افرا تفری کا ماحول تھا۔
انسداد دہشتگردی دستے کے چیف جنہیں کنٹرول روم میں ہونا چاہیے تھا وہ مقابلہ کرنے چلے گئے اور مارے دیئےگئے۔
ٹی وی چینلز کو پولیس آپریشن کی تصاویر نشر کرنے کی پوری آزادی دی گئی جس نے ہو سکتا ہے کہ دہشتگردوں کو اہم معلومات فراہم کی ہوں۔
اب تو یہ بھی صاف ہو گیا ہے کہ کوسٹ گارڈ ، پولیس ، خفیہ اداروں اور سکیورٹی فورسز کے درمیان تعاون کی بے حد کمی تھی۔
وزیر اعظم نے وعدہ کیا ہے کہ اب دہشتگردی سے لڑنے کے لیے مرکزی ایجنسی تشکیل دی جائے گی۔
موجودہ ایجنسی (سی بی آئی) کے سامنے کام کاج میں سب سے زيادہ دقت سیاسی حلقوں کی جانب سے مداخلت کے سبب آتی ہے۔
میں نے ایک بار مرکزي تفتیشی ادارے کے ریٹائرڈ چیف کو یہ کہتے سنا کہ سیاسی مداخلت کے سبب یہ ادارہ حکومت کے ہاتھ کی کٹھپتلی بن چکا ہے۔
اب سوال یہ اٹھتا ہے کہ کیا نئی ایجنسی سیاسی مداخلت سے آزاد ہوگی۔ اگر مجھے غلط قرار دینا ہے تو سیاستدانوں کی ذہنیت میں زبردست تبدیلی کی ضروت ہوگی۔
بی بی سی کے نامہ نگار مارک ٹلی نے ہندوستان میں کئی برسوں تک صحافت کی ہے۔ حالیہ ممبئی حملوں کے لیے خفیہ ادارے کو ہی بظاہر ذمہ دار ٹہرایا جا رہا ہے ۔اس پس منظر ميں حفیہ ادارے کی ناکامیوں اور ملک کے مستقبل کیا نظر آ رہا ہے، ان پہلؤوں پر مارک ٹلی نے روشنی ڈالنے کی کوشش کی ہے۔
Monday, December 1, 2008
Sajid Hussain Turi Chairman Standing Committee SAFRON strongly condemned the drone’s attacks in FATA .
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Sajid Hussain Turi, Chairman Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions stressed that the elected representatives from FATA may be involved in the projects and development schemes underway in FATA.
He made this observation while chairing the Standing Committee meeting held here, says a press release here on Saturday.
The Committee strongly condemned the drone’s attacks in FATA and sought Government’s intervention for the stoppage of these attacks.
The Committee recommended that an independent legislative council on the pattern of Northern Areas may be established to empower the people at large in FATA.
The Committee further recommended that the FATA Secretariat may be allowed to make new recruitment so that the development projects may be accomplished in time.
The Committee also recommended that the budgetary grant of Rs. 30 billion allocated for the ongoing projects in FATA may be released so that the area may get benefitted from it.
Earlier, Muhammad Sharif, Secretary, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions briefed the Committee on the overall performance of the Ministry highlighting its objectives and scope of activities.
He apprised about the steps being taken by the Ministry for repatriation of Afghan Refugees.
The Additional Chief Secretary, FATA Secretariat informed that the Secretariat was functional from November, 2007 with a vision to bring the Tribal areas into the mainstream and to use socio-economic development and people empowerment to combat extremism.
Najam-ud-Din Khan, Minister for SAFRON abstained to answer any question about FATA Secretariat and stated that it does not fall under the domain of the Ministry of SAFRON.
The meeting was attended by Najam-ud-Din Khan, Minister for SAFRON and MNAs Mr. Shaukatullah, Muhammad Tariq Tarar, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Sardar Muhammad Mushtaq Khan, Fiaz Muhammad Khan, Engineer Amir Muqam, and Ehsarullah Reki, Senior Officers from the Ministry of SAFRON as well as FATA Secretariat were also present in the meeting.
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - NA Standing Committee on SAFRON condemns drones attack in FATA
He made this observation while chairing the Standing Committee meeting held here, says a press release here on Saturday.
The Committee strongly condemned the drone’s attacks in FATA and sought Government’s intervention for the stoppage of these attacks.
The Committee recommended that an independent legislative council on the pattern of Northern Areas may be established to empower the people at large in FATA.
The Committee further recommended that the FATA Secretariat may be allowed to make new recruitment so that the development projects may be accomplished in time.
The Committee also recommended that the budgetary grant of Rs. 30 billion allocated for the ongoing projects in FATA may be released so that the area may get benefitted from it.
Earlier, Muhammad Sharif, Secretary, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions briefed the Committee on the overall performance of the Ministry highlighting its objectives and scope of activities.
He apprised about the steps being taken by the Ministry for repatriation of Afghan Refugees.
The Additional Chief Secretary, FATA Secretariat informed that the Secretariat was functional from November, 2007 with a vision to bring the Tribal areas into the mainstream and to use socio-economic development and people empowerment to combat extremism.
Najam-ud-Din Khan, Minister for SAFRON abstained to answer any question about FATA Secretariat and stated that it does not fall under the domain of the Ministry of SAFRON.
The meeting was attended by Najam-ud-Din Khan, Minister for SAFRON and MNAs Mr. Shaukatullah, Muhammad Tariq Tarar, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Sardar Muhammad Mushtaq Khan, Fiaz Muhammad Khan, Engineer Amir Muqam, and Ehsarullah Reki, Senior Officers from the Ministry of SAFRON as well as FATA Secretariat were also present in the meeting.
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - NA Standing Committee on SAFRON condemns drones attack in FATA
Sunday, November 30, 2008
shafiqueahmed110.com - کرم ایجنسی اور فاٹا میں ایڈز کی صورت حال Silence on HIV/AIDS Since 199
At least two labourers died from AIDS there in the past year. Both had been deported HIV-positive from the United Arab Emirates.
"We don't know whose turn will be next because people tend to hide the disease. If people die of AIDS, his relatives don't confirm their death from the disease," said Dr Habibullah Jan, who runs an NGO and a blood bank offering free screening to people in Kurram Agency.
Since 1990, 110 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in federally administered tribal areas (Fata) that have a population of six million in its seven tribal units over 27,224 square kilometres.
Located along the 1,600-km border with Afghanistan are the Fata areas administered by the federal government of Pakistan. Many Fata residents migrate abroad for work and send remittances back home as the areas are impoverished.
"Not many suffered from AIDS. Only deportees from foreign countries died from it. The deportees are often HIV-infected and local people are aware of it," Dr Habibullah said.
A Middle Eastern country deported a driver last year because he was tested HIV-positive in medical screening, which is mandatory for visa renewal. Workers with HIV are deported straight away without being allowed to take luggage from home, he said.
"This is an inhuman act on the part of the officials of these countries. They should inform the Pakistan government about the expulsion of HIV patients so that others can be protected from infections," said Dr Quaid Saeed, HIV/AIDS programme officer for WHO. "Lack of screening facilities at airports has intensified fears of infections among patients' wives and children," he said.
Dr Quaid suggested that patients back from UAE and other Middle Eastern countries should be examined at airports and -- if tested positive -- authorities should inform their relatives, especially their spouses.
Two patients from Fata, including a woman, tested positive for HIV at Pakistan Medical Research Centre under Khyber Medical College in Peshawar in July.
"A woman, 34, was tested HIV-positive on July 14. She came from Mohmand Agency, one of Fata's tribal units. Her husband, who had worked in Dubai for 20 years, was deported to Pakistan a year ago," a pathologist said.
The lives of the workers' wives and children are at risk because they often are not told that their loved ones have HIV.
Often too, people do not usually come for an HIV test, but doctors refer them to AIDS screening when the patients see them for other diseases, he said.
The same woman was operated on for miscarriage in hospital in Peshawar and her husband asked the doctor to carry out an HIV test on his wife, which turned out to be positive.
Such patients are harmful to other patients who are routinely operated on in the same operating theatres. Oblivious of AIDS infections, the surgeons might have used the same operating table for other patients without fumigation.
Another person, 45, who came from Khyber Agency, was tested positive at Pakistan Medical Research Centre the same day. More than a month ago, a young woman in Kurram Agency died after her husband, who worked as a porter in Dubai, died last year of AIDS. He had been expelled after an HIV test.
Doctors insist that the disease did not turn endemic. But some pathologists in the city said they recorded 20 HIV/AIDS cases in the last two years and all patients had been deported from the Middle East.
"The number of patients might be higher as people avoid blood tests for HIV in fear of social stigma. Nor do they inform their friends and relatives as it is a sex-borne disease," said Dr Muzaffar Tareen, a clinical sexologist.
Dr Tareen, who earned a degree from California in sexually transmitted infections, said the deported people are aware of the disease. But they often keep it secret, and transmit it to their unsuspecting wives and children. He said the workers living abroad -- away from their wives -- often end up in risky sexual behaviour, including commercial sex.
Unfortunately, officials said non-governmental organisations involved in building anti-AIDS awareness are not operating in the region.
Dr Iftikhar Ali, programme manager of the HIV/AIDS control programme for Fata, said the project planned a campaign to train medical staff and build awareness through community mobilisation as part of preventive measures. Doctors, women health-visitors, paramedics, health workers and dispensers trained in preventive and palliative methods in the first phase of the programme, he said.
The second phase will cover Kurram Agency, Bajaur, Miranshah and frontier regions of Peshawar and Kohat and focus on building awareness through special group sessions, workshops and gatherings for tribal elders, councillors, barbers, journalists and religious leaders, Dr Ali said. Organisers will distribute AIDS kits among hospitals and information literature as part of the programme.
The Fata health directorate laid out a plan to control the disease in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and the federal and NWFP governments.
He said that 49 HIV cases were recorded in Kurram Agency, 27 in North Waziristan, 18 in South Waziristan, seven in Orakzai Agency, six in Khyber and three in Bajaur Agency.
Of 34 million U.S. dollars earmarked for the countrywide awareness campaign, only 70,000 dollars has been allocated to Fata.
Pakistan recorded about 2,800 HIV/AIDS cases. The figure will reach 80,000 if all the people are screened for the disease, a WHO official said. He blamed the increase in AIDS cases on the low literacy rate, poor socio-economic conditions and risky sexual behaviour among mobile populations such as truckers, barbers, quacks and Fata expatriates in common destinations for migrant work such as the Gulf states.
Dr Hussein A Gezairy, regional director for WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region, said in a message to mark World AIDS Day: "The theme of this year's campaign is HIV/AIDS: Stand up for the challenge. It's everyone's responsibility. Through this theme, the World Health Organisation (Regional Office of the Eastern Mediterranean) is trying to motivate all members of the community to play their roles in response to HIV/AIDS."
He said that by the end of 2004, the number of people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in the region reached more than 715,000. The number of new infections occurring in that year was 92,000, the second highest proportional increase in the world, compared with other regions. "This situation should force us all to realise the size of the challenge and to stand together in facing it," he said. "We all need to share the responsibility."
DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION
AIDS patients suffer also from lack of treatment in hospitals, a doctor told ‘The Dawn', an English-language newspaper in Pakistan. Most patients are denied admission to hospitals as they have no separate wards for them.
"Neither of the three teaching hospitals in the city admitted a 20-year-old woman, who contracted the disease from her husband. Her husband died of AIDS in May," a doctor said.
Five years ago, the Khyber Agency-based woman married the 30-year-old man, who worked as labourer in Saudi Arabia. "Now she and her two minor daughters are running from one place to another for treatment. She needs symptomatic treatment, which is not forthcoming," he said. Her daughters, one aged three years and the other four months, have also been diagnosed with HIV. "My mother did not approve of my marriage with a married man, but my father forced me into it," the doctor quoted the woman as telling him.
"The woman cannot afford the education and upbringing of her daughters, let alone medicines," he said. The woman said the hospital doctors refused to eve examine her.
Another doctor, who works for an NGO, said he sent two AIDS patients to hospital, but doctors and nurses did not take care of them. "Health professionals were afraid of touching the patients," he said.
Patients in need of emergency treatment are often denied treatment in hospital. "Dozens of health workers, doctors, nurses and technicians have been tested positive for hepatitis-C and are paying for their treatment themselves," a pathologist said, explaining this behaviour.
The provincial AIDS Control Programme requested hospitals in Peshawar to allocate isolated rooms for AIDS treatment three months ago, but the request went unheard, he said. Authorities closed the isolation room of a local teaching hospital for fumigation after an HIV-positive mother gave birth there.
A 17-year-old woman from Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency was brought to the labour room, but was shifted to the isolation room when it was discovered that she had AIDS, said a doctor who attended to the woman. The room where she delivered the baby was closed for fumigation afterwards, the doctor added.
According to other doctors of the hospital, the woman's relatives tried to get her admitted to other hospitals, but none of the gynaecologists agreed to treat her there. "We knew she had AIDS, but we have the means to help all sorts of patients coming here for treatment," said a gynaecologist who was part of the team that attended to the woman. This is the second time that an HIV-positive mother gave birth at a Peshawar-based hospital - a 34-year-old from Miranshah was tested HIV-positive whose husband worked in Dubai for 20 years before being deported back to Pakistan.
HOPE AGAINST HOPE
A woman who got HIV from her husband is running a public awareness campaign besides pushing for better treatment facilities.
Amina Bibi, whose husband died of AIDS last year, said she wanted to work to remove the social stigma associated with the disease. "I will contact people with HIV or AIDS to form an association and launch a joint struggle to force the government to make appropriate drugs available, at least in government hospitals," the 35-year-old woman said.
A five-year programme was launched in 2003 to check the spread of the disease through unscreened blood, commercial sex and syringe reuse. Despite its several recommendations, no province has a functional HIV/AIDS clinic. Hospitals are ill-prepared and do not have proper treatment facilities, said WHO's Dr Quaid.
Amina, who is from Kurram Agency, 270 kilometres west of Peshawar, contracted HIV from her husband who was deported from the UAE because of his HIV infection three years ago. He did not disclose it to his wife. Amina stressed the need for changing people's attitude toward HIV patients and urged the government to open treatment centres at government hospitals.
Because of the stigma attached with sexually transmitted diseases, patients avoid visiting hospitals, fearing a public disclosure, Dr Tareen said. "The situation is alarming. Drivers, sex workers, homosexuals no longer constitute a vulnerable group. We have patients who have never strayed but have been tested HIV-positive," he said.
Amina said: "It is a depressing situation. I feel it is my responsibility to lead the way or at least give hope to the people living with the disease."
Prof Fazle Raziq, a haematologist who heads the pathology section at Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, said many of those living with HIV were migrant workers back from the Middle East - some have stayed away from home for up to 20 years.
She expressed concern over the unfriendly attitude toward HIV/AIDS patients, especially women and children, who are looked down upon by their relatives.
Women who contracted the disease from their husbands and children from their fathers should be treated with love, Amina emphasised. She cited the example of relatives' hostility toward a two-year-old girl from Kurram Agency whose father had been sent back home from the UAE after he was diagnosed with AIDS three years ago.
"The women and children are not responsible for the infections. Treating them harshly makes no sense," she said.
"I was all right three years ago. My husband returned home, seriously ill, from Dubai. We took him to a doctor in the city. He had full-blown AIDS," said a woman from Khyber Agency.
Her husband died a month later and she gave birth to a girl a few months afterwards. "Now, my daughter and I are HIV-positive. Our family and neighbours have distanced themselves from us," said the 40-year-old woman, her daughter in her lap. (END/AMF/IPSAP/AY/BB/JS/011205)
http://www.theasiamediaforum.org/node/381
PESHAWAR, Sept 7: Twenty-three orphaned children in Hangu district and Parachinar Agency are unable to undergo HIV tests because they cannot pay the fee. “Their one or both parents have died of Aids. We need to ascertain if these children have been affected by the disease,” said Shahrayar Khan of the NGO, Roshan Development Society, which had so far registered 53 patients in Hangu and 102 in Orakzai and Kurram Agencies. He said that they had recorded 11 children in Hangu and 12 in Parachinar, Kurram Agency. Fathers, mothers or both of these children had died of HIV/Aids and now they are at the razor’s edge of being positive for the killer ailment. Most of these children are destined to having had HIV/Aids, but tests are urgently required, he said “We have conducted their Aids tests in the antiretroviral (ARV) therapy centre in Peshawar. All were negative. But they require HIV test, which is not available in Peshawar,” he added. In addition to the children, there are 31 HIV positive women, who needed treatment. He said that he had already informed that National Aids Control Programme (NACP) about the problem of these children. The HIV test costed about Rs4,000-5,000 but these children could not afford it. He said that all children were below four years of age and did not know about the disease, but the government and donor agencies were reluctant to extend assistance to them. “There may be more such children because most of the people deported from Middle Eastern countries after being tested positive for HIV/Aids belong to this area,” he said. He said that the NGO had also registered 31 women Aids patients, who needed treatment, adding that they had lost their husbands because of Aids and were now dependent on charities. “These poor women cannot afford expensive diagnosis and treatment,” he said.
News Source:http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/08/local30.htm
"We don't know whose turn will be next because people tend to hide the disease. If people die of AIDS, his relatives don't confirm their death from the disease," said Dr Habibullah Jan, who runs an NGO and a blood bank offering free screening to people in Kurram Agency.
Since 1990, 110 HIV/AIDS cases have been reported in federally administered tribal areas (Fata) that have a population of six million in its seven tribal units over 27,224 square kilometres.
Located along the 1,600-km border with Afghanistan are the Fata areas administered by the federal government of Pakistan. Many Fata residents migrate abroad for work and send remittances back home as the areas are impoverished.
"Not many suffered from AIDS. Only deportees from foreign countries died from it. The deportees are often HIV-infected and local people are aware of it," Dr Habibullah said.
A Middle Eastern country deported a driver last year because he was tested HIV-positive in medical screening, which is mandatory for visa renewal. Workers with HIV are deported straight away without being allowed to take luggage from home, he said.
"This is an inhuman act on the part of the officials of these countries. They should inform the Pakistan government about the expulsion of HIV patients so that others can be protected from infections," said Dr Quaid Saeed, HIV/AIDS programme officer for WHO. "Lack of screening facilities at airports has intensified fears of infections among patients' wives and children," he said.
Dr Quaid suggested that patients back from UAE and other Middle Eastern countries should be examined at airports and -- if tested positive -- authorities should inform their relatives, especially their spouses.
Two patients from Fata, including a woman, tested positive for HIV at Pakistan Medical Research Centre under Khyber Medical College in Peshawar in July.
"A woman, 34, was tested HIV-positive on July 14. She came from Mohmand Agency, one of Fata's tribal units. Her husband, who had worked in Dubai for 20 years, was deported to Pakistan a year ago," a pathologist said.
The lives of the workers' wives and children are at risk because they often are not told that their loved ones have HIV.
Often too, people do not usually come for an HIV test, but doctors refer them to AIDS screening when the patients see them for other diseases, he said.
The same woman was operated on for miscarriage in hospital in Peshawar and her husband asked the doctor to carry out an HIV test on his wife, which turned out to be positive.
Such patients are harmful to other patients who are routinely operated on in the same operating theatres. Oblivious of AIDS infections, the surgeons might have used the same operating table for other patients without fumigation.
Another person, 45, who came from Khyber Agency, was tested positive at Pakistan Medical Research Centre the same day. More than a month ago, a young woman in Kurram Agency died after her husband, who worked as a porter in Dubai, died last year of AIDS. He had been expelled after an HIV test.
Doctors insist that the disease did not turn endemic. But some pathologists in the city said they recorded 20 HIV/AIDS cases in the last two years and all patients had been deported from the Middle East.
"The number of patients might be higher as people avoid blood tests for HIV in fear of social stigma. Nor do they inform their friends and relatives as it is a sex-borne disease," said Dr Muzaffar Tareen, a clinical sexologist.
Dr Tareen, who earned a degree from California in sexually transmitted infections, said the deported people are aware of the disease. But they often keep it secret, and transmit it to their unsuspecting wives and children. He said the workers living abroad -- away from their wives -- often end up in risky sexual behaviour, including commercial sex.
Unfortunately, officials said non-governmental organisations involved in building anti-AIDS awareness are not operating in the region.
Dr Iftikhar Ali, programme manager of the HIV/AIDS control programme for Fata, said the project planned a campaign to train medical staff and build awareness through community mobilisation as part of preventive measures. Doctors, women health-visitors, paramedics, health workers and dispensers trained in preventive and palliative methods in the first phase of the programme, he said.
The second phase will cover Kurram Agency, Bajaur, Miranshah and frontier regions of Peshawar and Kohat and focus on building awareness through special group sessions, workshops and gatherings for tribal elders, councillors, barbers, journalists and religious leaders, Dr Ali said. Organisers will distribute AIDS kits among hospitals and information literature as part of the programme.
The Fata health directorate laid out a plan to control the disease in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF and the federal and NWFP governments.
He said that 49 HIV cases were recorded in Kurram Agency, 27 in North Waziristan, 18 in South Waziristan, seven in Orakzai Agency, six in Khyber and three in Bajaur Agency.
Of 34 million U.S. dollars earmarked for the countrywide awareness campaign, only 70,000 dollars has been allocated to Fata.
Pakistan recorded about 2,800 HIV/AIDS cases. The figure will reach 80,000 if all the people are screened for the disease, a WHO official said. He blamed the increase in AIDS cases on the low literacy rate, poor socio-economic conditions and risky sexual behaviour among mobile populations such as truckers, barbers, quacks and Fata expatriates in common destinations for migrant work such as the Gulf states.
Dr Hussein A Gezairy, regional director for WHO's Eastern Mediterranean Region, said in a message to mark World AIDS Day: "The theme of this year's campaign is HIV/AIDS: Stand up for the challenge. It's everyone's responsibility. Through this theme, the World Health Organisation (Regional Office of the Eastern Mediterranean) is trying to motivate all members of the community to play their roles in response to HIV/AIDS."
He said that by the end of 2004, the number of people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in the region reached more than 715,000. The number of new infections occurring in that year was 92,000, the second highest proportional increase in the world, compared with other regions. "This situation should force us all to realise the size of the challenge and to stand together in facing it," he said. "We all need to share the responsibility."
DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION
AIDS patients suffer also from lack of treatment in hospitals, a doctor told ‘The Dawn', an English-language newspaper in Pakistan. Most patients are denied admission to hospitals as they have no separate wards for them.
"Neither of the three teaching hospitals in the city admitted a 20-year-old woman, who contracted the disease from her husband. Her husband died of AIDS in May," a doctor said.
Five years ago, the Khyber Agency-based woman married the 30-year-old man, who worked as labourer in Saudi Arabia. "Now she and her two minor daughters are running from one place to another for treatment. She needs symptomatic treatment, which is not forthcoming," he said. Her daughters, one aged three years and the other four months, have also been diagnosed with HIV. "My mother did not approve of my marriage with a married man, but my father forced me into it," the doctor quoted the woman as telling him.
"The woman cannot afford the education and upbringing of her daughters, let alone medicines," he said. The woman said the hospital doctors refused to eve examine her.
Another doctor, who works for an NGO, said he sent two AIDS patients to hospital, but doctors and nurses did not take care of them. "Health professionals were afraid of touching the patients," he said.
Patients in need of emergency treatment are often denied treatment in hospital. "Dozens of health workers, doctors, nurses and technicians have been tested positive for hepatitis-C and are paying for their treatment themselves," a pathologist said, explaining this behaviour.
The provincial AIDS Control Programme requested hospitals in Peshawar to allocate isolated rooms for AIDS treatment three months ago, but the request went unheard, he said. Authorities closed the isolation room of a local teaching hospital for fumigation after an HIV-positive mother gave birth there.
A 17-year-old woman from Miranshah in North Waziristan Agency was brought to the labour room, but was shifted to the isolation room when it was discovered that she had AIDS, said a doctor who attended to the woman. The room where she delivered the baby was closed for fumigation afterwards, the doctor added.
According to other doctors of the hospital, the woman's relatives tried to get her admitted to other hospitals, but none of the gynaecologists agreed to treat her there. "We knew she had AIDS, but we have the means to help all sorts of patients coming here for treatment," said a gynaecologist who was part of the team that attended to the woman. This is the second time that an HIV-positive mother gave birth at a Peshawar-based hospital - a 34-year-old from Miranshah was tested HIV-positive whose husband worked in Dubai for 20 years before being deported back to Pakistan.
HOPE AGAINST HOPE
A woman who got HIV from her husband is running a public awareness campaign besides pushing for better treatment facilities.
Amina Bibi, whose husband died of AIDS last year, said she wanted to work to remove the social stigma associated with the disease. "I will contact people with HIV or AIDS to form an association and launch a joint struggle to force the government to make appropriate drugs available, at least in government hospitals," the 35-year-old woman said.
A five-year programme was launched in 2003 to check the spread of the disease through unscreened blood, commercial sex and syringe reuse. Despite its several recommendations, no province has a functional HIV/AIDS clinic. Hospitals are ill-prepared and do not have proper treatment facilities, said WHO's Dr Quaid.
Amina, who is from Kurram Agency, 270 kilometres west of Peshawar, contracted HIV from her husband who was deported from the UAE because of his HIV infection three years ago. He did not disclose it to his wife. Amina stressed the need for changing people's attitude toward HIV patients and urged the government to open treatment centres at government hospitals.
Because of the stigma attached with sexually transmitted diseases, patients avoid visiting hospitals, fearing a public disclosure, Dr Tareen said. "The situation is alarming. Drivers, sex workers, homosexuals no longer constitute a vulnerable group. We have patients who have never strayed but have been tested HIV-positive," he said.
Amina said: "It is a depressing situation. I feel it is my responsibility to lead the way or at least give hope to the people living with the disease."
Prof Fazle Raziq, a haematologist who heads the pathology section at Khyber Medical College in Peshawar, said many of those living with HIV were migrant workers back from the Middle East - some have stayed away from home for up to 20 years.
She expressed concern over the unfriendly attitude toward HIV/AIDS patients, especially women and children, who are looked down upon by their relatives.
Women who contracted the disease from their husbands and children from their fathers should be treated with love, Amina emphasised. She cited the example of relatives' hostility toward a two-year-old girl from Kurram Agency whose father had been sent back home from the UAE after he was diagnosed with AIDS three years ago.
"The women and children are not responsible for the infections. Treating them harshly makes no sense," she said.
"I was all right three years ago. My husband returned home, seriously ill, from Dubai. We took him to a doctor in the city. He had full-blown AIDS," said a woman from Khyber Agency.
Her husband died a month later and she gave birth to a girl a few months afterwards. "Now, my daughter and I are HIV-positive. Our family and neighbours have distanced themselves from us," said the 40-year-old woman, her daughter in her lap. (END/AMF/IPSAP/AY/BB/JS/011205)
http://www.theasiamediaforum.org/node/381
PESHAWAR, Sept 7: Twenty-three orphaned children in Hangu district and Parachinar Agency are unable to undergo HIV tests because they cannot pay the fee. “Their one or both parents have died of Aids. We need to ascertain if these children have been affected by the disease,” said Shahrayar Khan of the NGO, Roshan Development Society, which had so far registered 53 patients in Hangu and 102 in Orakzai and Kurram Agencies. He said that they had recorded 11 children in Hangu and 12 in Parachinar, Kurram Agency. Fathers, mothers or both of these children had died of HIV/Aids and now they are at the razor’s edge of being positive for the killer ailment. Most of these children are destined to having had HIV/Aids, but tests are urgently required, he said “We have conducted their Aids tests in the antiretroviral (ARV) therapy centre in Peshawar. All were negative. But they require HIV test, which is not available in Peshawar,” he added. In addition to the children, there are 31 HIV positive women, who needed treatment. He said that he had already informed that National Aids Control Programme (NACP) about the problem of these children. The HIV test costed about Rs4,000-5,000 but these children could not afford it. He said that all children were below four years of age and did not know about the disease, but the government and donor agencies were reluctant to extend assistance to them. “There may be more such children because most of the people deported from Middle Eastern countries after being tested positive for HIV/Aids belong to this area,” he said. He said that the NGO had also registered 31 women Aids patients, who needed treatment, adding that they had lost their husbands because of Aids and were now dependent on charities. “These poor women cannot afford expensive diagnosis and treatment,” he said.
News Source:http://www.dawn.com/2006/09/08/local30.htm
فاٹا کے لوگ ایڈز کے علاج سے محروم
ایڈز کے مریضوں سے ہاتھ نہیں ملایا جاتا اور انہیں گناہگار کہا جاتا ہے
پاکستان کے صوبہ سرحد اور وفاق کے زیرِ انتظام قبائلی علاقے کے سنگم پر واقع ضلع ہنگو کے ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا پچاس سالہ وقعت شاہ سے جب پوچھا جاۓ کہ طبیعت کیسی ہے اور علاج کس مرحلے میں ہے تو جواب میں کئی مرتبہ سر کو نفی میں ہلا ہلا کر کہتے ہیں کہ ’حکومت نے کچھ نہیں دیا ہے ۔‘
وہ کہتے ہیں: ’گذشتہ دو سال سے علاج کرانےکے وعدوں پر گزارہ ہورہاہے۔ایڈز کی دوائیاں مہنگی ہیں اور ساتھ میں بچوں کو بھی تو پالنا پڑتا ہے بس زندگی کے دن ہیں گن رہا ہوں۔‘
نو سال سے ایڈز کے مرض میں مبتلا وقعت شاہ اس لیے خوش قسمت ہیں کہ پشاور میں پاکستان دیہی ترقیاتی پروگرام کے نام سے ایک این جی او کے ساتھ کوہاٹ میں ایڈز پروجیکٹ میں بطور ملازم کام کرتے ہیں اور انہیں کچھ حد تک علاج کاموقع میسر آجاتاہے۔
مگر صوبہ سرحد بالخصوص سات قبائلی ایجنسیوں کے غریب ایڈز زدہ افراد جن میں بچے اور خواتین بھی شامل ہیں ہر قسم کے علاج سے محروم ہیں۔ سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے مطابق اس وقت صوبے میں چارسو ساٹھ مریضوں میں سے ساٹھ سے ستر فیصد مریضوں کا تعلق قبائلی علاقوں سے ہے جن میں زیادہ تر کرم ایجنسی اور شمالی اور جنوبی وزیرستان سے تعلق رکھتے ہیں۔
سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے ڈاکٹر بلال کا کہنا ہے کہ قبائلی علاقوں میں اس وقت ایڈز کے حوالے سے صورتحال اس لیے تشویشناک ہے کہ وہاں پر ایچ آئی وی ایڈز سے بچاؤ، آکاہی اور علاج کیلئے جامع اور سنجیدہ بنیادوں پر کوئی کام نہیں ہوا ہے۔
ان کے بقول اگر مزید غفلت برتی گئی تو مریضوں کی تعداد میں پانچ سے سات فیصد مزید اضافہ ہوسکتاہے۔ قبائلی علاقوں کے لوگ کافی تعداد میں محنت مزدوری کے لیے خلیجی ممالک بالخصوص ابوظہبی اور دبئی جاتے ہیں اور ڈاکٹر بلال احمد کے مطابق وقت کے ساتھ ساتھ جنسی سرگرمیوں میں ملوث ہو کر ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا ہوجاتے ہیں۔
ڈاکٹر بلال کے مطابق وہاں کے حکام خون کی سالانہ تشخیص کے بعد انہیں ایچ آئی وی پازیٹیو پاکر پاکستان واپس بیج دیتے ہیں۔ پاکستان واپس آ کر سماجی دباؤ کے تحت یہ لوگ کسی کو کچھ نہیں بتاتے اور ایچ آئی وی وائرس اپنے بچوں کو منتقل کردیتے ہیں۔
سرحد ایڈز پروگرام کی ڈپٹی ڈائریکٹر ڈاکٹر نسرین کا کہنا ہے کہ قبائلی علاقوں کے خاندان کے خاندان ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا ہیں لیکن خوف کی وجہ سے کوئی بھی سامنے نہیں آرہا ہے۔
اس بات کی تائید کوہاٹ میں غیر حکومتی ادارے پاکستان دیہی ترقیاتی پروگرام کی ایڈز پروجیکٹ کی انچارج غزالہ بھی کرتی ہیں۔مس غزالہ کے بقول سماجی دباؤ اور قدامت پرستی کے معاشرتی رجحانات کیوجہ سے ایڈز کے مریض سخت ذہنی دباو کا شکار ہیں۔
انھوں نے ایک خاتون کے حوالے سے بتایا کہ اس کے گھر والے اس سے ہاتھ نہیں ملاتے اور اسے باورچی خانے میں جانے سے روکتے ہیں۔
یہ صرف اس خاتون کی کہانی نہیں جس کا ذکر مس غزالہ کرتی ہیں بلکہ وقعت شاہ بھی اس قسم کا گلہ کرتے ہوے نظر آئے اور کہا کہ گاؤں کے لوگ ان سے ملنے سے گریز کرتے ہیں اور انکو گناہگار کہتے رہتے ہیں۔
گرچہ قبائلی علاقوں کیلئے حکومت نے ایڈز کنٹرول کا ادارہ بنایا ہے مگر اسکی فعالیت نہ ہونے کے برابر ہے۔سماجی دباؤ کے علاوہ مریضوں کو علاج کیلۓ دوائی تو دور کی بات ہے تشخیص کیلۓ ایجنسی کےسطح پر بھی کوئی انتظامات نہیں کۓ گۓ ہیں۔
ڈاکٹر افتخار علی فاٹا ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے سربراہ ہیں اور انکا کہنا ہے کہ حکومت کیلۓ وہاں کام کرنا اس لیۓ مشکل ہے کہ سیکس اور کنڈوم اور دیگر جنسی اصطلاحات پر کھل کر بات نہیں کی جاسکتی۔
انکے بقول حکومت مستقبل قریب میں ایڈز کے بچاؤ کے حوالے سے آگاہی مہم شروع کررہی ہے جسمیں علماء اور قبائلی عمائدین شامل کیۓ جائیں گے۔انکے بقول خلیجی ممالک سے آنے والے افراد کیلۓ خون کی تشخیص لازمی بنانے پر بھی بہت جلد عملدرآمد کیا جائیگا۔
دیکھا جاۓ تو اس وقت فاٹا ایڈو کنٹرول پروگرام اور سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے علاوہ بہت سی غیر حکومتی ادارے ایڈز سے بچاؤ کیلۓ کام کرنے میں مصروف ہیں جنکے اہلکاروں کی تعداد صوبہ اور قبائلی علاقوں کے ایچ ائی وي ایڈز میں مبتلا چارسو ساٹھ مریضوں سے زیادہ ہے۔
لیکن پھر بھی ایڈز کے بارے میں آ گاہی کے پروگرام اور علاج کا بندوبست مؤثر نہیں ہے اور ایچ ائي وی ایڈز کی ادویات اسلام آباد تک پہنچنے کے باوجود ضرورت مندوں تک تاحال نہیں پہنچ سکی ہیں
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2005/12/051130_aids_fata_rza.shtml
shafiqueahmed110.com - کرم ایجنسی اور فاٹا میں ایڈز کی صورت حال Silence on HIV/AIDS Since 199
ایڈز کے مریضوں سے ہاتھ نہیں ملایا جاتا اور انہیں گناہگار کہا جاتا ہے
پاکستان کے صوبہ سرحد اور وفاق کے زیرِ انتظام قبائلی علاقے کے سنگم پر واقع ضلع ہنگو کے ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا پچاس سالہ وقعت شاہ سے جب پوچھا جاۓ کہ طبیعت کیسی ہے اور علاج کس مرحلے میں ہے تو جواب میں کئی مرتبہ سر کو نفی میں ہلا ہلا کر کہتے ہیں کہ ’حکومت نے کچھ نہیں دیا ہے ۔‘
وہ کہتے ہیں: ’گذشتہ دو سال سے علاج کرانےکے وعدوں پر گزارہ ہورہاہے۔ایڈز کی دوائیاں مہنگی ہیں اور ساتھ میں بچوں کو بھی تو پالنا پڑتا ہے بس زندگی کے دن ہیں گن رہا ہوں۔‘
نو سال سے ایڈز کے مرض میں مبتلا وقعت شاہ اس لیے خوش قسمت ہیں کہ پشاور میں پاکستان دیہی ترقیاتی پروگرام کے نام سے ایک این جی او کے ساتھ کوہاٹ میں ایڈز پروجیکٹ میں بطور ملازم کام کرتے ہیں اور انہیں کچھ حد تک علاج کاموقع میسر آجاتاہے۔
مگر صوبہ سرحد بالخصوص سات قبائلی ایجنسیوں کے غریب ایڈز زدہ افراد جن میں بچے اور خواتین بھی شامل ہیں ہر قسم کے علاج سے محروم ہیں۔ سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے مطابق اس وقت صوبے میں چارسو ساٹھ مریضوں میں سے ساٹھ سے ستر فیصد مریضوں کا تعلق قبائلی علاقوں سے ہے جن میں زیادہ تر کرم ایجنسی اور شمالی اور جنوبی وزیرستان سے تعلق رکھتے ہیں۔
سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے ڈاکٹر بلال کا کہنا ہے کہ قبائلی علاقوں میں اس وقت ایڈز کے حوالے سے صورتحال اس لیے تشویشناک ہے کہ وہاں پر ایچ آئی وی ایڈز سے بچاؤ، آکاہی اور علاج کیلئے جامع اور سنجیدہ بنیادوں پر کوئی کام نہیں ہوا ہے۔
ان کے بقول اگر مزید غفلت برتی گئی تو مریضوں کی تعداد میں پانچ سے سات فیصد مزید اضافہ ہوسکتاہے۔ قبائلی علاقوں کے لوگ کافی تعداد میں محنت مزدوری کے لیے خلیجی ممالک بالخصوص ابوظہبی اور دبئی جاتے ہیں اور ڈاکٹر بلال احمد کے مطابق وقت کے ساتھ ساتھ جنسی سرگرمیوں میں ملوث ہو کر ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا ہوجاتے ہیں۔
ڈاکٹر بلال کے مطابق وہاں کے حکام خون کی سالانہ تشخیص کے بعد انہیں ایچ آئی وی پازیٹیو پاکر پاکستان واپس بیج دیتے ہیں۔ پاکستان واپس آ کر سماجی دباؤ کے تحت یہ لوگ کسی کو کچھ نہیں بتاتے اور ایچ آئی وی وائرس اپنے بچوں کو منتقل کردیتے ہیں۔
سرحد ایڈز پروگرام کی ڈپٹی ڈائریکٹر ڈاکٹر نسرین کا کہنا ہے کہ قبائلی علاقوں کے خاندان کے خاندان ایچ آئی وی ایڈز میں مبتلا ہیں لیکن خوف کی وجہ سے کوئی بھی سامنے نہیں آرہا ہے۔
اس بات کی تائید کوہاٹ میں غیر حکومتی ادارے پاکستان دیہی ترقیاتی پروگرام کی ایڈز پروجیکٹ کی انچارج غزالہ بھی کرتی ہیں۔مس غزالہ کے بقول سماجی دباؤ اور قدامت پرستی کے معاشرتی رجحانات کیوجہ سے ایڈز کے مریض سخت ذہنی دباو کا شکار ہیں۔
انھوں نے ایک خاتون کے حوالے سے بتایا کہ اس کے گھر والے اس سے ہاتھ نہیں ملاتے اور اسے باورچی خانے میں جانے سے روکتے ہیں۔
یہ صرف اس خاتون کی کہانی نہیں جس کا ذکر مس غزالہ کرتی ہیں بلکہ وقعت شاہ بھی اس قسم کا گلہ کرتے ہوے نظر آئے اور کہا کہ گاؤں کے لوگ ان سے ملنے سے گریز کرتے ہیں اور انکو گناہگار کہتے رہتے ہیں۔
گرچہ قبائلی علاقوں کیلئے حکومت نے ایڈز کنٹرول کا ادارہ بنایا ہے مگر اسکی فعالیت نہ ہونے کے برابر ہے۔سماجی دباؤ کے علاوہ مریضوں کو علاج کیلۓ دوائی تو دور کی بات ہے تشخیص کیلۓ ایجنسی کےسطح پر بھی کوئی انتظامات نہیں کۓ گۓ ہیں۔
ڈاکٹر افتخار علی فاٹا ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے سربراہ ہیں اور انکا کہنا ہے کہ حکومت کیلۓ وہاں کام کرنا اس لیۓ مشکل ہے کہ سیکس اور کنڈوم اور دیگر جنسی اصطلاحات پر کھل کر بات نہیں کی جاسکتی۔
انکے بقول حکومت مستقبل قریب میں ایڈز کے بچاؤ کے حوالے سے آگاہی مہم شروع کررہی ہے جسمیں علماء اور قبائلی عمائدین شامل کیۓ جائیں گے۔انکے بقول خلیجی ممالک سے آنے والے افراد کیلۓ خون کی تشخیص لازمی بنانے پر بھی بہت جلد عملدرآمد کیا جائیگا۔
دیکھا جاۓ تو اس وقت فاٹا ایڈو کنٹرول پروگرام اور سرحد ایڈز کنٹرول پروگرام کے علاوہ بہت سی غیر حکومتی ادارے ایڈز سے بچاؤ کیلۓ کام کرنے میں مصروف ہیں جنکے اہلکاروں کی تعداد صوبہ اور قبائلی علاقوں کے ایچ ائی وي ایڈز میں مبتلا چارسو ساٹھ مریضوں سے زیادہ ہے۔
لیکن پھر بھی ایڈز کے بارے میں آ گاہی کے پروگرام اور علاج کا بندوبست مؤثر نہیں ہے اور ایچ ائي وی ایڈز کی ادویات اسلام آباد تک پہنچنے کے باوجود ضرورت مندوں تک تاحال نہیں پہنچ سکی ہیں
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/story/2005/12/051130_aids_fata_rza.shtml
shafiqueahmed110.com - کرم ایجنسی اور فاٹا میں ایڈز کی صورت حال Silence on HIV/AIDS Since 199
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