Armed Conflict in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan and the Role of NGOs in Restoring Health Services

Abstract

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan have been a hotbed of terrorists' violence since 9/11. The unremitted armed conflict in the region and limited role of the government in delivering fundamental health services has left the people at the disposal of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This research aims at empirically substantiating the successful strategies adopted by the NGOs to run their projects under threats and to know the perceptions of the community toward NGOs and their services. Triangulation methodology was adopted in collecting data. Based on results, the research found that health care is a highly demanded service in the study area, and the government does not have the capacity nor the resources to ensure decent health coverage for all the people of the region. NGOs indeed have a crucial role not only in building the capacity of the government and the community but also in restoring and providing health services in the region, but still many efforts are required to overcome the challenges they are facing. By implication, the research places forward some recommendations.

Keywords::

• Armed conflict
• militancy
• NGOs
• health services
• FATA

Notes

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandf.com/whsp.

^1.Complex emergencies often refer to the designation of complexity reflected in the multiple political, economic, social, ethnic, and religious factors that lead first to the conflict, and then, prevent its resolution (Burkle, 2002).

^2. The incidence of terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center, New York, USA on September 11, 2001.

^3. In 1893, British civil servant Sir Henry Mortimer Durand and the ruler Amir Abdul Rehman Khan demarcated boundaries between Afghanistan and British India that was named as “Durand Line” (Aslam, 2008).

^4. The seven agencies of FATA are Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan, and the six frontier regions (FR) are Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Lakki, Tank, and D.I. Khan.

^5. In Pakistan, particularly in FATA, women are largely dependent on men (family members), and access to health services is nothing more than a nightmare to tribal women during pregnancy. The Lady Health Visitors (LHVs), therefore, visits the homes for women counselling, provide basic health care assistance and family planning advices.

^6. The health facilities included the agency headquarter hospital, tehsil headquarter hospitals, rural health centers, basic health units, community health centers, dispensaries and clinics, and so on.

^7. Humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence form the basis of the “Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief.” The code provides a set of common standards for organizations involved in humanitarian activities, including a commitment to adhere to humanitarian principles. These principles provide the foundations for humanitarian action and are central to establishing and maintaining access to affected people, whether in a natural disaster or a complex emergency, such as armed conflict.

^8. Peshawar is the nearest settled city to FATA and also the capital city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.