Refugee crisis unprecedented in modern times unfolding in Pakistan

by: Salaam

Sat May 09, 2009 at 20:57:31 PM EDT

A young boy cries as he waits for his father, in a truck at a refugee camp in Mardan.

ABC News tonight reported that the Pakistani military's assault on the Taliban has engendered the largest refugee crisis in South Asia since the partition of British India.

Al Jazeera's correspondent said:

...there is "no contemporary precedent" for such a large number of people moving at one time.

"This is a huge humanitarian crisis; the largest number of internally displaced people in the world, and in the smallest possible time.

"Even in Darfur it took a considerable amount of time for the [number of internally displaced people] to swell up," he said.