Ramadan is a month of peace, care, joy and sharing but not the same for Bashir and his family.

Bashir Iqbal is 32 years old from village Kokarai, Swat. He along with his 16 family members had to flee their home to escape the fighting between army and militants. He has 4 brothers 2 sisters and extended family all living in one small room given to them at a local hospital in Rustam union council, Mardan.

Sharing his story Bashir said “we are staying at the hospital staff quarters here at the Civil Hospital, Rustam, Mardan. There are 16 of us staying in one single room which is very congested and extremely difficult to live in with such a large number of people. It has been 3 months since we came here and are living in this condition for all this time. First we went to Sher Garh but could not find any place to stay in then my cousin told me to come here and luckily we found this room.

“Life before all this started was peaceful, comfortable and though we had financial problems but it was nothing compared to this situation that we are going through. My father was in to agriculture but then he had heart problem so he stopped working in the fields. Then me and my other brother took over we had a small piece of land where we were growing wheat, maze and other vegetables. We were making small amount of money from our agricultural land but each one of us was happy with it.

“The situation started to get worse when the Pakistan military started operation against militants in Swat. In the beginning our village was safe and life was normal but then things started to get serious and situation got worse in our village to the extent where we along with other villagers were left with no other choice but to leave. We first waited for a while to see if there was any possibility of the situation would improve but nothing instead it kept on getting worse so we decided to leave. Our village got cut off from the rest of the country survival was very difficult and that is when we decided to leave. One day luckily the curfew was lifted for a while and that was the moment when we could easily get out of the area so we made a move. We traveled by vehicle but it was extremely hard to find a place luckily we got this place after going through enormous hardship and stress.

“When we got here we had nothing, no food, no household items nothing. It was so difficult to get food for the family. The place we were given was too small for such a large number of people. But we had no other choice but to accept it. Most of my family members got sick soon after they got here, non of us were ill till the time we were in our village but soon after we got here things started to change in many ways. Life became so tough for us to the extent where we were seeing no hope of survival. Apart from the physical pain we have mental stress to go through. We ended up in an area that we are not familiar with and completely strangers around us.

“We were given some kitchen stuff and water cooler but that was not enough for a large joint family of us. Non of us have any work no earning so have no way to support the family.

“We are all willing to go back to our village for Ramadan. We don’t want to be here during the holy month of Ramadan. We are not going to have this Ramadan as we used when the situation was better. We used to have so much food for Iftaar that we would give out to those who had no source of income, poor and marginalized. Now we have got in to that situation where we need help, which we just cant believe. I wonder how and from where we are going to get sufficient food for the month of Ramadan we are totally going to rely on the aid from organizations otherwise this will be a terrible experience during a holy month.

“We are hoping to go back to Swat as soon as we can because we can not stay here for a single moment, life here is too miserable than one’s imaginations. Government has promised to provide us transportation to get back to our village and we are just waiting for that. We have been told situation has slightly improved but not completely the way it used to be. Businesses are open for short while, shops are closed early during the day.

“We could only grow Maze on our land but the government has told every one not to due to the security reasons as per them the militants could use those to hide. And there is nothing else we can grow due to the non-season.

“Now that we can not grow anything on our land I don’t know how we are going to make a living. One of my brother who works in the gulf as labor hardly makes enough to support his own family let alone the whole 16 members. So I don’t know how we are going to survive and I am particularly worried about the coming month of Ramadan. Normally we all fast during this month and this year in a situation like this which we have never faced where we have severe shortage of food it will be a different Ramadan. This year we will not be able to give out any food to the poor people because we are now one of them.

“I owned 6 sheep out of those 3 I sold out before fleeing my village with family and the rest of the three I had to leave behind because there was no way I could take them with me. I have no idea what is happening to them, whether they are alive or dead, I have no clue about them. Another major loss for me and my family as we invested money in it and now there is no return of it.

“Normally we would buy new clothes, cook variety of food, distribute sweets and share joy and happiness of the Eid day with everyone. But this Eid is going to be a different one, we have been through enormous pain, difficulties and faced losses that I wonder if there is any kind of joy going to be there on the Eid day.

“Families like ours need support here and once we are back in our village especially during the month of Ramadan. If each family is given enough food for the whole month this will definitely make sure that they have a joyful Eid day.

I also request for financial support to people like us who have lost businesses to reestablish their businesses this will help in improving people’s lives.