As fighting increases between the Pakistan army and Taliban extremists in the Swat Valley near Afghanistan, Samaritan's Purse continues to provide vital assistance to people displaced by the conflict.

Samaritan’s Purse has a team in Pakistan that is working in partnership with Pakistani Christians to provide food, shelter, blankets, and other assistance to thousands of desperate families.

“Most of the displaced are women and children,” a local believer said. “They are very vulnerable. The women cannot work, and the children are currently unable to attend school. Because there is no way to know when the fighting will end, they are feeling very hopeless. To us, there is no better time to show them that Jesus is real and He loves them.”

Samaritan's Purse, through local partners, has begun distributing 7,000 family survival kits in 22 locations. The kits include tarps for shelter, straw mats, mattresses, clothes, hygiene items, and other supplies. Our teams are going home-to-home to do the distributions.

One of the beneficiaries is a doctor whose clinic was bombed by the Taliban because he cared for women and girls.

We also have partnered with a local hospital at the edge of the conflict zone to help Christian families displaced by the fighting. We have distributed 300 kerosene stoves, 10 bolts of cloth, five sewing machines, and 100 food rations.

Pakistan’s remote mountains have been a hideout for the Taliban since U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001. On May 8, Pakistan’s prime minister ordered the army to “eliminate the militants and the terrorists,” saying that peaceful negotiations with the Taliban had failed.

The army is opening a new front in the conflict to build on their success.

Over 3.6 million people were caught in the crossfire and have fled for their lives. The United Nations says this is the fastest displacement of humanity since the Rwanda genocide in 1994.

Most of the refugees are women and children, as many of the men have remained behind to join the fighting or protect their farms and businesses. Some of the families said they had only 20 minutes warning to flee, and had to leave everything behind.

Among the most vulnerable are the small minority of Christians who lived in the affected province. With religious tensions running high and relief supplies spread thin, they are counting on other Christians for prayer and assistance. Only about 2 percent of Pakistanis are Christians.

Please pray for those affected as our staff and Christian partners continue to work in the midst of this tense situation.

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Samaritan's Purse , Pakistan , Emergency Relief , Vital Aid for Families