Refugees: Living in a minefield: the refugee camp where Pakistanis are a step from death

Gulan refugee camp, home to Pakistanis fleeing North Waziristan, is on the site of an Afghan battlefield

When Niazullah left his home in the tribal areas of Pakistan in June, he figured he would be gone for five days, a week at most. The army had given a three-day warning before an offensive against Islamist militants in North Waziristan and had banned vehicle travel, so many families left in a hurry with just the clothes they were wearing.

Niazullah, 23, and his wife carried their two daughters and son through the mountain passes into Afghanistan, where they settled in a refugee camp in a flat and dry desert than 10 miles from the border. It wasn’t arable, but the land was vast and empty. A stream and craggy hills provided a natural defence.

Gulan refugee camp in Khost province is located on a former battlefield where the mujahideen resistance mounted its last defence against the advancing Soviet army in the late 1980s. To protect their supply routes, the mujahideen planted anti-tank mines, the size of large dinner plates, across an area of 100,000 square metres.

The fact that none of the 24,000 refugees in the camp has died is “fortunate and surprising”, said Tom Griffiths of Halo Trust.

Over the past three decades of war, nearly three million Afghans have fled toPakistan, where they share a language, religion and culture. Now the migration is being reversed.  Read More at Guardian