Uprooted Pakistanis returning home under government repatriation program

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) - A trickle of Pakistanis who fled their homes during the fighting in the country's volatile northwestern region have begun returning under a government operation, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Around 900 displaced Pakistanis headed back home Monday and more than 5,000 were scheduled to return Tuesday as the government began its "voluntary return operation," an official from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a briefing in Geneva, Switzerland.

More than 2 million people have been displaced during fighting in recent months between government forces and militants in the Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts of the North-West Frontier Province.

Around 260,000 people have been staying in 21 camps in Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Peshawar and Charssada districts. The agency said the "vast majority " of internally displaced people have been staying with host families, rented houses or in schools.

The government plans to return people first from camps and then will return others staying in schools, rented facilities and host families.

The Monday returnees left the Jalozai camp. Escorted by government troops, they got on buses and trucks and went back to their villages in the Landakai, Barikot, Guratai and Kota areas of Swat. Around 5,200 people were to be taken back to Swat from camps in Mardan and Swabi districts.

"Returnees told UNHCR that they felt safe going back to their villages after contacting neighbors who had already safely returned on their own. Returnees mentioned the unbearable heat in the camp as one of their main reasons they registered to go back. They said many of their children fell sick and contracted skin diseases because of the heat," the U.N. agency said.