Pakistan 'unprepared' for refugees fleeing operation against Taliban --- Almost half million flee planned army action in North Waziristan, with displaced and others accusing government over relief effort --- That Pakistan's army was likely to unleash a military onslaught against Taliban safe havens near the Afghan border has been an open secret for months. But authorities have been condemned for a lack of preparedness for the inevitable exodus of refugees, now living in miserable conditions after fleeing fighting in North Waziristan. -- About 466,000 people have poured out of the tribal agency bordering Afghanistan following the start on 15 June of a long-awaited effort to stamp out the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups who have made the region their home. There was little infrastructure awaiting the internally displaced people (IDPs) who continue to enter Bannu, a district among one of Pakistan's least developed. -- Soldiers have fired live rounds to deter furious crowds of IDPs, who complain there is no shelter, not enough to eat and that they have been barred from moving to other areas of Pakistan. -- Ghani Rahman, waiting at an aid distribution point in Bannu, said the government had offered nothing. -- "This food is not from the Pakistan government, it is from the WFP," said the 55-year-old, referring to the UN's World Food Programme. "We are very thankful to the WFP because otherwise my family could not survive." -- Other groups stepping in to fill the gap with humanitarian assistance include foreign government aid agencies and wealthy Pakistani businessmen. -- IDPs complain of people charging extortionate rent for basic shelter and Islamabad's failure to hand over promised financial handouts. -- Although a temporary camp has been set up in the nearby "frontier region", few have been willing to move there, arguing it is insecure. Many have instead commandeered space in government schools and colleges. -- Dawn, one of Pakistan's leading newspapers, described the relief effort "as one of the more miserable and haphazard IDP management programmes in memory". - More, Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/26/pakistan-displaced-military-operation-taliban-north-waziristan-humanitarian-assistance