The timeline that reveals the persistent efforts of Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF) to assist is as follows: May 18th, TSF deployed to Pakistan to respond to the emergency in the North Western Frontier Province. Over 2 million people have been displaced since the latest outbreak of the conflict between the Pakistani army and the Taliban last April.
TSF partnered with a local NGO called Youth Resources Center (YRC) and trained on site 20 local employees for its humanitarian calling operations.
Despite the fact that their team evacuated after the terrorist attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, TSF offered, from June 8th to the 15th, more than 1500 calls to the displaced population in the Mardan district.
The calling operations resumed on July 28th; with the head of the mission returning to Islamabad to coordinate and monitor the mission on the ground that would cover districts other than Mardan, where many IDPs are sheltered, keeping in mind that over 25 refugee camps are installed in the six districts of the region. Additionally, there are a number of “humanitarian hubs” set up to provide help to people who are staying outside of the camps, such as those settled with family, friends or host communities.
Currently there are 10 registration centers and 34 humanitarian hubs, which distribute food to IDPs. Ten more distribution points are inside the camps. Six teams (four teams comprised of male members and two teams of female members) are then covering different camps in Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan districts:
- Chota Lahore and Shah Mansoor Camp-I & II in Swabi, where the activities began
- Jalozai-I and Jalozai-II in Nowshera
- Jalala, Mardan, Shankar College and Tarakai Camp in Mardan district
An example of help provided: Naheed lives in the village of Tahirabad. She now has a new born 3-day-old baby, and in order to reach Jalala camp, 15 kms far from her village, she had to walk, while pregnant for more than 13 hours. Her feet were swollen and legs were aching, but she was grateful for the phone services as she called her husband who is working in Karachi. She was happy to hear he was safe and sound and could reassure him of their situation.
Jalozai-2 is the biggest camp where more than 57,000 people are sheltered. From July 28th to August 1st, using mobile telecommunication equipment provided by TSF, the six teams were able to offer 1,378 calls to the displaced civilians (33 percent of the calls were international). The two teams of female personnel provide phoning services to women displaced in Shah Mansoor, Jalala, Jalozai-I & II and Tarakai camps. TSF is the only organization offering free international calls. Many Pakistanis have relatives abroad in the Middle East, in the UK or in other countries of Asia.
