Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan now surpasses two million people since August 2008, according to Geneva-based UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees). The figures correspond to those being issued by Pakistan’s government.

The total number of IDPs fleeing the conflict in in northwest Pakistan in the Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts, and registered by UNHCR since the beginning of the month is close to 1.5 million.

Some 100,000 people a day are being registered at 89 points in region. Most of these stay with friends or family, and only 131,000 are placed in now overcrowded camps or in local schools.

Some of the civilians fleeing to safety have recently reported that the Pakistan Taliban militants have laid landmines in the centre of Mingora, capital city of Swat, and a nearby village, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), which has condemned the use of landmines by the Pakistani Taliban in a press release. Human Rights Watch deplored the suffering caused to civilians caught up in the fighting by both the Pakistani army and the Taliban mililtants, in a report issued 18 May.

The UNHCR called attention in a press conference to the critical situations for internally displaced people in three countries – Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Somalia. Massive movements of civilians fleeing conflict zones in these countries are seriously testing the ability of the organization and the countries themselves to assist people, the organization says.

Related: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Pakistan report and “Struggle to aid displaced in Pakistan,” Google/AFP, 20 May 2009

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