Word: dera
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Under a blistering sun, the tribesmen queue impatiently for attention. Sweat drips from their head as they attempt to edge closer to the doors of the refugee registration center in Dera Ismail Khan, on the edge of the tribal areas in northwest Pakistan. As time slips by, so does their restraint. Waving angry fists with one hand and clasping their documents with the other, the group of men heaves toward the doors. Police officers on duty scatter the unruly crowd with forceful swings of their long bamboo sticks...
...having abandoned his home and possessions, the 30-year-old farmer is filled with uncertainty. As more than 155,000 refugees pour into Dera Ismail Khan, the government seems unprepared for the mounting humanitarian crisis. Diligent aid workers are busy registering the fresh arrivals and distributing sanitation kits. But food aid has yet to arrive. Last week, forms ran out, forcing the NGO-run registration centers to close for three days. There are no plans for camps to be established, even with the fears that the number of refugees could double. Instead, they will have to squeeze into relatives' homes...
...commandos he spoke to inside the compound. Police commandos present elsewhere at the scene said the same, though the claims later appeared to be inaccurate. Still, in recent months there have been reports of groups of militant young women - some once belonging to Islamabad's Lal Masjid - traveling to Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab and deepening ties with groups there. (Read "Palestinian Moms Becoming Martyrs...
...extremist organizations behind the violence are hardly champions of women's equality, but there have been reports in recent months of groups of young women - some of them survivors of 2007's showdown between the army and militant supporters at Islamabad's Red Mosque - traveling to Dera Ghazi Khan in southern Punjab to cement ties with jihadist groups there. The involvement of women fighters may be peculiar to Punjab-based militant groups. The Taliban forces in the northwest don't tolerate women walking out their homes unaccompanied by male relatives or being educated, much less trained as fighters...
...early on Tuesday, in the dusty and wild northwest town of Dera Ismail Khan, Mehsud appears to have struck first. After rising for dawn prayers, Zainuddin returned to sleep, and was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards who fled the scene in a waiting car. Zainuddin's men believe that the assassin had infiltrated the group and killed their leader on Mehsud's orders - an action widely interpreted in Pakistan to as a message to others to avoid following Zainuddin's path. (See pictures of life beneath the surface in Pakistan...