Pakistan mobilising for displaced

Pakistan mobilising for displaced

巴基斯坦决定安置流离失所人员

Authorities in Pakistan say they are mobilising to

 receive as many as half a million people displaced by fighting in the Swat Valley.

A minister in North West Frontier Province told the BBC that officials were trying to deal with one of the world's "huge" internal displacements².

Pakistan's president has promised all-out war against militants⁴ in the area.

The army said its "full-scale" assault（攻击，突袭） had killed more than 170 militants in 24 hours, with the loss of 10 troops.

It accused the Taleban of trying to stop civilians⁵ leaving the area.

The government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law to be locally imposed.（课征，强迫，征税）

But in the face of territorial⁶ advances by emboldened（给。。壮胆，鼓励） Taleban forces, the strategy came under increasing fire from Washington, a key ally.

See a map of the region

As jets and helicopters pounded（击打） targets in the valley, the UN said it was threatening to become one of the world's biggest displacement¹ crises.

'Complex situation'

The Pakistani offensive against militants has already displaced some 200,000 people, while a further 300,000 are estimated to be on the move or about to flee, the UN says.

Sitara Imran, minister for social welfare（社会福利）in North West Frontier Province, called the exodus（大批的离去） "one of the huge displacements, internal displacements in the world".

"We are preparing ourselves with the help of the federal government（联邦政府）, we asked international donors," she told the BBC's Newshour programme.

She said all her department's doctors and social welfare staff had been mobilised and that holidays had been suspended as they worked to prepare for the influx⁷.（流入，涌进）

"The whole Swat is coming out from [the Swat Valley] so, naturally, it is a very difficult and complex situation," she said.

Despite now abandoned（被抛弃的，无约束的） attempts to secure a peace deal in and around Swat, the area - close to the border with Afghanistan - has long been riven by tensions.

Some 550,000 people had already been displaced by fighting since August, before the current crisis, the UN refugee agency said.

Those displaced over recent days have been forced to flee（逃避，逃跑） with very little preparation, aid workers say, with families often separated, and doctors in displaced camps report widespread psychological trauma⁸.（心理创伤）

'On the run'

The US says the militants in the area pose a direct threat to its security, and has demanded they be confronted.

In an interview during a visit to Washington, President Asif Ali Zardari confirmed on Friday that Pakistan wanted to "eliminate" the militants it is fighting.

"This is an offensive - this is war," he told PBS television. "If they kill our soldiers, then we do the same."

Militant³ strongholds were hit from the air on Friday as troops conducted operations on the ground.

Pakistani military spokesman Gen Athar Abbas said troops had killed 143 rebels in Swat, 25 in Lower Dir and six in Buner, losing seven soldiers in Swat and three in Lower Dir.

Militants were "on the run and trying to block the exodus（大批的离去）of civilians from the area", he said.

Earlier, he told the BBC the military's objective was to eliminate some 4-5,000 militants from the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner.

The Pakistani military says it is trying to help displaced civilians by establishing camps where they can seek shelter.

But reports suggest many thousands of civilians under threat from the fighting are unwilling¹⁰ or unable to move.

Roads have been blocked or reportedly mined by the rebels.

The Pakistani military has also imposed an indefinite curfew（宵禁） over swathes（紧绑） of the region.

A local journalist in Mingora told the BBC that electricity and water had been shut down and markets had been closed since Thursday. There was, the journalist said, a real threat of food shortages in the coming days.

While the army accuses the Taleban of holding the people left in the Swat Valley hostage, those who have escaped blame both sides for the conflict and the dire⁹ position of the civilians caught between them, correspondents say. (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

 

1 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

2 displacements   

n.取代( displacement的名词复数 )；替代；移位；免职

参考例句：

• The laws of physics are symmetrical for translational displacements. 物理定律对平移是对称的。 来自辞典例句
• We encounter only displacements of the first type. 我们只遇到第一类的驱替。 来自辞典例句

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

7 influx   

n.流入，注入

参考例句：

• The country simply cannot absorb this influx of refugees.这个国家实在不能接纳这么多涌入的难民。
• Textile workers favoured protection because they feared an influx of cheap cloth.纺织工人拥护贸易保护措施，因为他们担心涌入廉价纺织品。

8 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

10 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。