Over 4 lakh uprooted in Pakistan military operations

Geneva, June 24 (IANS) Over four lakh people have been displaced amid the on-going Pakistani military offensive against Taliban militants in the northern parts of the country, with figures expected to rise, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Tuesday.

Citing official registration figures, UNHCR's spokesman Dan McNorton said in a press conference here that as many as 435,429 people, including some 183,000 children, have escaped fighting from combat zones in North Waziristan since mid-June, Xinhua reported.

Most families have sought refuge in different parts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-western Pakistan, and almost all the internally displaced people (IDPs) are being hosted by local communities, McNorton said.

"The government of Pakistan and our UN and humanitarian community partners expect up to half a million people could be displaced by the current military operations," said McNorton.

He warned that this would bring the total number of displaced people from the tribal regions of the country to 1.5 million (including 930,000 uprooted in various waves since 2009).

The UN refugee agency and partners called for full and immediate access to the affected populations so as to allow the delivery of humanitarian aids to those in need.