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Pakistan: Return of displaced people must be "sustainable"

161 views · Published 15 July 2009 · 4:32 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: United Nations · 2009 · News & Politics

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United Nations, New York, 15 July 2009 - Chief of the United Nations Humanitarian programme, John Holmes says a  huge displacement crisis has and may continue to result from miltiary operations across Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) region.

Thw world's the fourth largest conflict-induced Internally Displaced People (IDP) population is currently living in make-shift refugee facilities throughout the NWFP. Mr Holmes also pointed out this did not include refugees being housed by host families and by relatives in the region. 

Mr Holmes told a press conference in New York that more than two million people now need to be processed as Internally Displaced People (IDP). This figure does not include the half a million people that have been waiting for processing as IDPs in the region since last year. 

Reporting on his recent trip to Pakistan and the conflict zone, Mr Holmes said the people he spoke to want to return to their homes, however such returns must be "sustainable". According to him, "the worst of all situations would be is that if people went back and are re-displaced again."

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