The unprecedented flash floods in Pakistan, with no early warning, have only meant much more than insult after the injury of undisclosed collateral damage of thousands of people killed and displaced by the Pakistan Army “clamping down” with artillery and aerial bombardment on Taliban and other terrorist groups (almost all raised and
supported for long by it). While about 14 million people got washed away and their homes, schools, hospitals, workplaces as well as their farmlands providing food became history as the mighty Indus changed its course, Pakistan’s leaders — civilian and military alike — yet again showed utter callousness in organising speedy rescue and relief operations (R&R).
While there aren’t enough helicopters in the country for R&R, President Asif Ali Zardari was touring Europe in private helicopters and luxury aircraft. He lost his toothy smile only after a shoe was hurled at him in Birmingham, UK, while back home in Pakistan’s Punjab, his economic affairs minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s convoy got pelted with stones for delayed or insufficient relief.
Nearly one-fifth of Pakistan is reported to be badly hit by the devastating floods. Till August 20, 2010, over 1,700 people were reported to have died and according to the United Nations, more than 6,50,000 people are without basic shelter while six million desperately need emergency aid.
The floods that have ravaged the northwest have yet again exposed the weakness of a government, heavily dependant on foreign aid and with a poor record in crisis management — whether fighting Taliban insurgents or easing chronic powercuts. “We have lost everything. We only managed to save our lives. Nobody has come to us. We have become beggars, asking people for a piece of bread… We are being treated like orphans, animals,” Mihrajuddin Khan, a school teacher in Swat Valley, is reported to have said. Rescuers are struggling to distribute relief to tens of thousands of people trapped in the submerged areas, where destroyed roads and bridges make access difficult.
More than 30,000 Pakistani Army troops have rescued — till a couple of days ago — some 19,000 people from the marooned areas, but the Army has its own problems. In Nowshera, 100 km northwest of Islamabad, military bases used for staging attacks against militants were flooded. The government’s failure to help victims has only reinforced the long-held view that Pakistan’s civilian authorities are ineffective, leaving the military to step in at troubled times.
The government, with no control over the military, undermined by tussles with the judiciary, ineffective in tackling corruption and reforming the economy and no longterm strategy to deal with such catastrophes, is almost in total paralysis and unable to mobilise the resources.
The Pakistani establishment’s tardy response has, in fact, provided terrorist-related groups the opportunity to play the timely saviour. The Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation, a charity organisation with alleged links to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, and other such groups providing aid to thousands of people, have indeed further complicated matters for the Pakistan government and its internal security operations.
Dithering for a week owing to its major India hangup, Pakistan finally accepted Indian aid of $5 million as goodwill gesture made to express solidarity with the people of Pakistan, who have been hit by the worst floods in 80 years. New Delhi, which has offered even more help to Pakistan, welcomed its delayed decision, announced by Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the special session of the General Assembly on Pakistan at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The acceptance obviously came after a “prod” from the US, which conveyed that politics should have no role in disaster response and it “expects” Islamabad to accept the assistance. Mr Qureshi thanked Dr Manmohan Singh and external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, who he had recently browbeaten, for this “very positive” gesture of extending aid and said it was highly appreciated by Pakistan.
It may be relevant to recall that in 1998, the day then Pakistan Army Chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, launched a coup to usurp the elected Pakistan Muslim League government under Nawaz Sharif, it took less than half-an-hour for 111 Brigade to take over control of Pakistan.
Yet, when Pakistan was struck by a massive earthquake on October 8, 2005, the same brigade took eight hours to commence providing help for the citizens of the capital. The situation was even worse in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where Muzaffarabad, the capital, was reduced to rubble within minutes of the earthquake. It took three days for the Pakistan Army to commence its relief efforts there. The Army was apparently too busy looking after the comfort and well-being of its soldiers and officers to be bothered about the country’s ordinary citizens, leave alone those of PoK.
Interestingly, Pakistan troops deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) were instructed not to venture out of their barracks to help people in nearby villages, as the highest priority was given to preparations against a possible Indian attack. It took well over a week for the Pakistan Army to commence relief work even in devastated border towns like Rawalkot in PoK. Instead of urgent rescue and relief, there were reports of people in the earthquake-affected areas being robbed and abducted.
Even up to seven weeks after the earthquake, in some remote parts of PoK, thousands of victims had not been reached by the relief effort. Of an estimated three million homeless, only 1,00,000 are in official government relief camps and according to the latest UN estimates, 8,00,000 are still sleeping in the open. UN relief official Darren Boisvert warned that 90 per cent of the 4,20,000 tents handed out in PoK were no good for winter use, though some people strengthened them with plastic sheets and blankets.
Assistance by the Indian security forces beyond the LoC was also unacceptable owing to the Pakistan Army’s “sensitivity” — far more important than saving innocent human lives. The Pakistan Army refused the aid of helicopters from India as it did not want Indian Air Force and Army aviators to fly in Pakistan/PoK. Instead, groups like the LeT had stepped in where they could and its boss man promised to constuct 40 madrasas in PoK — a bonanza for expanding the “hate India” campaign.
It is indeed shameful that for over six decades Pakistan’s military establishment, always in power, spent undisclosed billions on arming itself to fight three conventional Kashmir-centric wars against India and then raising more terrorist groups (globally connected to 9/11 and so many attacks since) for waging an endless proxy war against India since the 1980s. Instead of building enough hospitals and civic amenities, thousands of madrasas were raised for preaching a twisted, medieval version of Islam of hate and intolerance of non-Muslims.
So, while poor baby Noor and so many other ailing people, who can afford to, need to come to India for life-saving medical treatment in the best of times, one shudders to imagine the plight of those affected by the floods urgently requiring medical attention.
And finally, neither did the aid given by India in 2005 improve Pakistan’s attitude towards it, nor is it going to now, when it is majorly igniting Kashmir — yet again.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi