'Severe food shortage' in Pakistan conflict zone?: Asia One

By Sajjad Tarakzai

ISLAMABAD, May 20, 2009 (AFP) - Civilians trapped by fighting in northwest Pakistan said Wednesday they were surviving on bread and water as a government offensive against the Taliban closes roads and cuts off food supplies.

What little food is available is becoming increasingly expensive, they told AFP, adding to concerns about the humanitarian situation in a troubled region where hospitals have shut their doors and electricity is erratic at best.

In the Swat valley, once a popular tourist destination of soaring mountain peaks, families are struggling to survive as the military battles to crush the Islamist fighters, with civilians caught in the crossfire.

"We are a family of 10 people, we have started eating bread with water," said Shaista, a 28-year-old housewife from Bahrain town in Swat, who gave a false name for fear of retribution from the Taliban.

"There is a severe food shortage. All roads coming to our town are closed. There are no vegetables, no cooking oil, no flour - you can imagine how we are surviving," she told AFP by telephone.

Her brother said the only bazaar in Bahrain had been closed for two weeks, while other residents - all of whom spoke to AFP by phone under assumed names - said that where food was available, prices were soaring.

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