The tragedies of Swat valley<br />

There is something depressingly predictable about the news that extremist groups are filling the void left by the Pakistani government in terms of accommodating the refugees from the Swat valley. Save the Children estimates that only 20 percent of the roughly 2 million refugees are in government run camps. The Washington Post reports that:

‘Outside the camps, groups with radical Islamist agendas are rushing to fill the void left by the paucity of government services. The Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, the successor to a group known as Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has established a major presence in areas near Swat, feeding tens of thousands of displaced people and providing them with quality medical care.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa was banned late last year on suspicion of involvement in the November attacks in Mumbai that killed more than 170 people. After the ban, however, the group simply passed along its facilities and personnel to Falah-e-Insaniat, which continues to use the same insignia and slogan as the old group: “Free service in the name of Allah.