Jalal Hussain Pakistan is in the midst of a war of national survival as the army seeks to regain large swathes of territory captured by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. So going to the province where all the action is taking place did not really seem a bright idea to a lot of people I came across. My decision to visit the IDP camps in the NWFP was met with quite disparate and interesting reactions. What struck me most was the indifference with which our educated elite were treating the issue of the IDPs. The human tragedy of catastrophic proportions which was unfolding in the Northern areas with more than 2.5 million fellow citizens having left their homes eluded the people I interacted with. At a swanky fundraising event for the IDPs, a fashion designer on being asked whether this whole crisis was being used by various individuals to prop their own brand image replied unabashedly "Well of course, darling, wartime is party time" Pakistani's are pessimistic and for good reason, for more than half our existence, any attempt to unite for a common cause has been met with brute force, so it is not really surprising to see people retreating in a shell when the time comes to show solidarity and to change the status quo. Riding on the wave of the successful citizen's movement, in which I had actively participated, and invigorated and enthused with a sense of patriotism and passion to turn things around in the country, I along with three friends decided to go to the Northern areas to visit IDP camps to conduct surveys and to assess the ground situation to ascertain what relief goods were required and how we could distribute them efficiently. The first thing we noticed when we reached Mardan was tents as far the eye could see. It was then that the true scale of the tragedy dawned upon us. Millions of people forced to leave the comfort of their homes, with a few bare essential possessions, at the mercy of donors, living in conditions one wouldn't wish upon anyone. Each camp provided an abode to at least 50 families all cramped in small rooms like sardines. Each family had horrific stories to share; about the atrocities committed by the Taliban regime; their journey from their homes to the camps; their current state of affairs and their expectations from the future. I listened in horror and shock as families gave detailed accounts of the rise of the Taliban in Swat and the adjoining areas and their treatment of the peace-loving people of the picturesque valley. What started as radio sermons preaching about the value of embracing "true Islam" quickly turned to forcibly converting people to the Taliban viewpoint using the most barbaric and inhuman means possible. A highly charged man from Mingora remarked: "Islam is spread through peace and love, not through the Kalashnikov, the Talibans are the scum of the earth, they are not even worthy of being called human beings." During the course of our visit we heard stories of people watching loved ones being murdered in front of their eyes by the Taliban; any signs of disobedience being met with irrational and brutal force by the ruthless Taliban; bodies of relatives of dissenting families being dug up and hung in the town square; the Taliban taking charge of police stations and using their power to steal from their helpless subjects; the Taliban forcibly marrying women of their liking and threatening to kill the entire family if the parents objected. Their ordeal reminded me of an old Omer Khayyam verse: "O' preacher, though drunken we are more sober than you, the blood of grapes we drink, you that of men, be fair, who is more bloodthirsty, we or you?" Handling the largest migration of people since partition was never going to be an easy task as seen by the plethora of problems being faced in the camps. The relief effort is riven with corruption as with most facets of Pakistani society. In the face of a humanitarian tragedy of this scale, there are people who stoop low enough to seek personal gain at the expense of the IDPs. Relief goods meant for the IDPs are being sold in the wholesale market. It is imperative for all those involved with the relief effort to ensure that relief goods actually reach the IDPs and that the process of distribution is efficient. Moreover a lot of camps are receiving excess aid which is then being sold on to the wholesale market. Ironically we also got to witness class divides within the camps. The relatively well off managed to secure accommodation in local schools, while those without any connections and resources had to make do with roadside camps. The problem lies therein; aid is hardly reaching those areas where it is most required. The medical situation was deteriorating due to lack of medicines, medical equipment, and insufficient number of doctors. The lack of clean drinking water has led to the rapid spread of various waterborne diseases in the camps. The unforgiving heat combined with flimsy shelter and hardly any fans results in regular cases of severe dehydration, especially amongst children. The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) has been supplying camps with wheat, pulses and oil but the camps have no cooking utensils and gas cylinders to cook with, which make the commendable efforts by the UNWFP quite useless. This crisis could very easily escalate beyond control if the relief efforts are not sustained. The government has been overwhelmed by the number of people pouring into the urban areas and it does not yet have adequate resources to cater for everyone. It might take years for families to become self-sufficient again and until that time every helping hand counts. Pakistan was envisioned to be an egalitarian state where every citizen had equal opportunities irrespective of their social background. More than sixty years after its independence Pakistan is known as a state which caters for the tiny elite, where the elite sponge off the poor and where the poor subsidise the rich. It is now time for each one of us to stand up and be counted and prove this notion wrong. Pakistanis have time and again proved that they are capable of extraordinary things. Let us show the world what it really means to be a Pakistani. The writer is a freelance columnist E-mail: jalal.hussain@gmail.com