By Jehangir Khattak
Pakistan remains in the eye of nature’s fury. Thousands are feared dead and the casualty count is mounting by the hour in much of the mountainous northwest and central plains. The culprit this time around is not a faceless terrorist wearing explosive jackets, rather it’s the swollen rivers bursting their banks that are marooning, displacing and killing Pakistanis. The disaster is humongous in the terrorism-hit north western province of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, half of which is marooned. The rich, the wealthy and the powerful remain as indifferent to the unfolding disaster as they have always been. The country’s President is yet again enjoying his European yatra at the marooned tax payers’ expense. His administration is swept by lack of imagination, inaction, corruption, inefficiency and the raging river water.
Many in Pakistan are still making sense out of President Asif Zardari accepting hospitality of British Prime Minister David Cameron, whom many in Pakistan call a brash for his insensitive remarks in India (that Pakistan is exporting terrorism). Pakistanis are amazed to see Cameron proving the notion wrong that politicians in Pakistan alone receive on-job training to learn the statecraft and diplomacy. His boorish comments about Pakistan have stirred an unusual wave of public condemnation and a firestorm at least in the country’s most powerful military establishment that has already cancelled a high level security delegation’s visit to UK. Cameron must feel happy that if not military, at least Pakistan’s clinically retarded President (remember American doctors’ findings that Zardari was suffering from severe depression, dementia and post-traumatic stress disorder as early as 2007 --- Check out Independent’s report at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/questions-raised-over-zardari-mental-health-909373.html) has chosen to pay his respects to him. Instead of visiting the victims of nature’s fury in KP and Punjab, Zardari has proved an entire nation wrong and a few American doctors correct in their diagnosis about his mental condition. Many analysts are questioning his ability to lead a nation of 170 million people.
It’s not just Zardari who may need medical attention. His pliant deputy and a known Oaf – Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani – is also competing for greater public scrutiny of his questionable conduct when the nation looked for leadership from him. He failed yet again -- preferring first to win votes for his party candidate in a by-election in the Punjab province and then enjoying a helicopter ride over disaster-stricken areas.
The marooned Pakistan presents two contrasting pictures. One is a portrayal of extreme human misery, government breakdown, death and destruction while the other shows a self-centered opulent class that demonstrates a remarkable disconnection with their compatriots and the realities. The Chief Minister of worst-hit Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province says floods have pushed his province back 50 years in terms of development and yet Pakistani leaders do not see enough reasons to help their people in distress.
The scale of destruction in the worst affected regions, especially mountainous Swat, warrants urgent action at the government level. It’s race against time to save hundreds of thousands of people. If they don’t get immediate help, shady groups, including terrorist recruiters, could step in to fill the vacuum. The over-stretched Pakistan’s military knows it well and is handling the relief operation almost single-handedly. Pakistan government and the international community must not give shady groups a walkover in areas such as Swat and wake up to the humanitarian disaster that is taking an ugly shape in Pakistan. They must move fast to save lives and hope.
No comments:
Post a Comment