War has come to Pakistan, according to the international media, and it's the hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the middle of the fighting who appear to be paying the highest price.

Driving hundreds of thousands of people down from the mountains - even pushing some into war-torn Afghanistan - fighting between the Pakistani Army, the Taliban and tribal warlords in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan amounts to an all-out war, according to Britain's Independent newspaper.

Around 200,000 people in the country's semi-autonomous tribal districts in the north west have had to flee their homes since mid-August, and many have been forced into camps the newspaper describes as "wretched", "fly-ridden" and poorly resourced.

"Life here is filled with sadness and grief," one 12-year-old boy told the paper.

Though largely overlooked by the West, this conflict has created chaos and misery for the region's civilian population, Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich write in the paper.

As the Pakistani Army bends to increasing pressure from the U.S. government to take tough action against Taliban militants in tribal areas, the fall-out for civilians will only get worse, they write.

"Every day their lives are threatened both by the pounding jets that sweep into the valleys on bombing runs and by the clattering helicopter gunships that the Pakistan military is using to spearhead its assaults. The people sitting in the dust are the so-called "collateral damage" of Pakistan's own war on terror."

Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper calls this Pakistan's "refugee crisis".

"A flood of internal refugees fleeing from fighting in Pakistan's tribal area now look as if they'll spend the biting winter in tents, in squalid conditions, and may be marooned for years," the paper says.

Around 190,000 refugees have entered North West-Frontier Province (NWFP) from the neighbouring tribal agency of Bajaur where the Pakistani military launched a serious offensive against Taliban extremists at the start of August, according to the paper.

"Bajaur is one of seven "agencies" of the tribal belt and, with the expectation that the operation will move on to other parts of the tribal area, the misery of the people of Bajaur may be replicated across the region, which runs along the Afghan border and is a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters," the paper predicts.

Visiting a camp outside the town of Timergara, the paper says there is a lack of running water, food, blankets and proper toilets.

Three former Afghan refugee camps around NWFP's provincial capital, Peshawar, are being hastily refilled with Pakistanis from Bajaur, according to the paper.

"The refugees' anger is directed mostly at the Pakistani authorities - not the Taliban - both for launching the operation and for the miserable conditions they now endure. They allege that Bajaur is being pounded indiscriminately by jet fighters and helicopter gunships, with most of the casualties being innocent civilians and widespread damage to houses," the paper says.

This anger is a concern for some commentators in the Pakistani press.

"Our terror policy should corner and isolate the militants but it is pushing the ordinary people to join them," Aimal Khan says in Pakistan's Frontier Post newspaper.

"To minimise the civilian casualties, the concerned officials should order its forces to try to lessen their reliance on artillery and air power in clashes with militants where the civilians are believed to be present," Khan says.

Despite the worsening crisis, Pakistan's approach seems to be as tough as ever. The Washington Post reports that the Pakistani government is planning to arm thousands of anti-Taliban tribal militias across the western border regions. The militias will receive AK-47 rifles and other small arms.

This, according to the Post, is one sign encouraging the Pentagon to believe the Pakistani anti-Taliban effort has become more aggressive over recent months.

Read more about Pakistan from AlertNet blogger Mustafa Qadri.

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