United Nations, August 26: A high-level UN delegation has wrapped up its mission to discuss the strengthening of humanitarian assistance to those uprooted by military operations in Swat district of North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan, the United Nations has said.
“We met district authorities and national and international non-governmental organisations, and established the need for early recovery activities to start as soon as possible,” Martin Mogwanja UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan said.
Mogwanja, who led the UN delegation to Pakistan’s NWFP said: “So far the humanitarian community has distributed food and health kits but we want to expand our assistance.”
Due to the increased presence in the region, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was planning to open a satellite office in Swat which will work closely with the district authorities and other humanitarian actors on the ground.
“So far the humanitarian community has distributed food and health kits but we want to expand our assistance,” he said.
As of last week, the Pakistani Government estimated that around 1.6 million of the over two million people displaced by conflict in NWFP had returned to their villages.
–Agencies