Pakistan's displaced families begin to return home

After weeks of being forced to live in sweltering camps, refugees from Pakistan's Swat Valley have begun heading home. Monday was the first day of an official repatriation programme for people uprooted when the army fought to take the valley back from Taliban militants this spring.

A Pakistani girl displaced by the military operation against the Taliban, looks out of a bus as she leaves to return home from the Jalozai Camp in Nowshera. Only a fraction of nearly two million Pakistanis displaced in an onslaught against the Taliban went home on the first day of an organised return Monday, with many fearful about security.(AFP photo)

A small fraction of the refugees began their journey home on Monday. Thousands more tried to return without official permission. They were blocked by the military.

Some families refused to return unless they are given money, food and other government-promised aid. But many people are desperate to go home.

Upon arrival in Barikot, they were greeted by neighbors and relatives. But they now live in continuous fear.

The government has declared Swat cleared of militants. But Washington-based advocacy group Refugees International says Pakistan is moving too quickly in reopening Swat.

The Chief minister of the North West Frontier Province says the government is working to establish a stronger police force to help keep out the Taliban.

Pakistan's military launched an operation this spring to clear Swat of Taliban insurgents. The fighting drove some two million people from their homes in the country's northwest.