Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan:
In Pakistan's biggest battle against terrorists in South Waziristan, it is women who suffer the most.
At a registration centre in a stadium in Dera Ismail Khan, displaced people from war-torn South Waziristan line up to get food. There are only men in the queue, no women. Not because there are no women left here, but because according to custom, they are not to be seen in public, come what may.
Salahuddin Mehsud, spokesperson of the Mehsud community says: "We never let women out of the house according to our customs. That is why our committee decided that our women will not be allowed to come to get food. And we are thankful to the army who have respected our custom by allowing the male members to get food by showing the women's ID cards."
Asked what a woman who has no father, brother or husband would do, Salahuddin Mehsud says: "According to our tribal ways, her cousin or any other relative will help her. We will make sure no woman goes without her share of ration."
For the Mehsud tribe this is not the first military operation in their area. Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's enemy No. 1, hailed from here. There have been clashes between his gang of militants and the Pakistan army for many years.
Many believe that women suffer the most in conflict zones and in conservative societies like this one, their voices are never heard. So though the women from the Mehsud tribe are not allowed in public places, let alone give TV interviews, NDTV managed to get permission to speak to one woman who traveled for two days on foot from South Waziristan to the IDP registration centre in Dera Ismail Khan. For her own safety she has requested that her name or location not be revealed.
At a relative's house, where she has taken refuge, she relates how she escaped the fighting: "There was firing in our hometown, there were bombs. So we had to run, dodging the bullets and the bombs. A lot of people died. Our children had no warm clothes, it was bitterly cold. Some buildings collapsed due to the bombing and people were buried under the rubble. There was no way of getting them out, they died trapped under the rubble."
The woman is from Laddah, where the Taliban have their command and control structure. But Laddah has now been pounded by the army's jet fighters.
She describes life there: "My children used to get very scared when they used to see jet fighters hovering over our homes. They used to scream and run out of the house into the jungles. At night they would be scared to stay at home, they feared being bombed. Every time they heard an aircraft they used to scream and run out of home.
She also recounts how pregnant woman fleeing the fighting gave birth on the highway. Most of them died during childbirth along with their newborn babies. Families would leave the bodies there, covered by a sheet as there was no time for a burial. And if the mother survived, she would often abandon her child, for fear that she would not be able to provide for it.
The trauma of war for this mother has been so severe, she never wants to return home. "We are happy here, we do not want to go back to our homes. We cannot go back to war. My children's eyes have been spoilt due to all the gunfire and the smoke after the bombings. Their eyes are always red and watery. Everyone who was caught in the crossfire needed medical help. Some people got pneumonia from the cold, others were injured due to the bombings. But there were no doctors, no hospitals."
Her husband died in the fighting. She will have to depend on her male relatives to bring her handouts from the government, to feed her nine children.
At a registration centre in a stadium in Dera Ismail Khan, displaced people from war-torn South Waziristan line up to get food. There are only men in the queue, no women. Not because there are no women left here, but because according to custom, they are not to be seen in public, come what may.
Salahuddin Mehsud, spokesperson of the Mehsud community says: "We never let women out of the house according to our customs. That is why our committee decided that our women will not be allowed to come to get food. And we are thankful to the army who have respected our custom by allowing the male members to get food by showing the women's ID cards."
Asked what a woman who has no father, brother or husband would do, Salahuddin Mehsud says: "According to our tribal ways, her cousin or any other relative will help her. We will make sure no woman goes without her share of ration."
For the Mehsud tribe this is not the first military operation in their area. Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan's enemy No. 1, hailed from here. There have been clashes between his gang of militants and the Pakistan army for many years.
Many believe that women suffer the most in conflict zones and in conservative societies like this one, their voices are never heard. So though the women from the Mehsud tribe are not allowed in public places, let alone give TV interviews, NDTV managed to get permission to speak to one woman who traveled for two days on foot from South Waziristan to the IDP registration centre in Dera Ismail Khan. For her own safety she has requested that her name or location not be revealed.
At a relative's house, where she has taken refuge, she relates how she escaped the fighting: "There was firing in our hometown, there were bombs. So we had to run, dodging the bullets and the bombs. A lot of people died. Our children had no warm clothes, it was bitterly cold. Some buildings collapsed due to the bombing and people were buried under the rubble. There was no way of getting them out, they died trapped under the rubble."
The woman is from Laddah, where the Taliban have their command and control structure. But Laddah has now been pounded by the army's jet fighters.
She describes life there: "My children used to get very scared when they used to see jet fighters hovering over our homes. They used to scream and run out of the house into the jungles. At night they would be scared to stay at home, they feared being bombed. Every time they heard an aircraft they used to scream and run out of home.
She also recounts how pregnant woman fleeing the fighting gave birth on the highway. Most of them died during childbirth along with their newborn babies. Families would leave the bodies there, covered by a sheet as there was no time for a burial. And if the mother survived, she would often abandon her child, for fear that she would not be able to provide for it.
The trauma of war for this mother has been so severe, she never wants to return home. "We are happy here, we do not want to go back to our homes. We cannot go back to war. My children's eyes have been spoilt due to all the gunfire and the smoke after the bombings. Their eyes are always red and watery. Everyone who was caught in the crossfire needed medical help. Some people got pneumonia from the cold, others were injured due to the bombings. But there were no doctors, no hospitals."
Her husband died in the fighting. She will have to depend on her male relatives to bring her handouts from the government, to feed her nine children.
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