Compassion And Callousness
If anyone in Pakistan thinks that we have seen the worst of the great disaster that has engulfed northern Pakistan, they ain’t seen nothing yet! As the cold of the winter sets in, the race against time is to provide minimum shelter, warm clothing and adequate nourishment, particularly for children. Seventy-five heavy lift choppers are already operating, another 75 are on the way. Adding about 30-40 light-helicopters the total should top 175 in the air in the affected areas. Field hospitals are now more in number and better equipped to forward the injured to well appointed recovery and recuperation centers, not to exclude sophisticated trauma units. For the many amputees the cold is devastating, without proper medical care and supervision it could be fatal, more field hospitals are required.
Against the harsh freezing conditions, tents and blankets provide (at the very least) something better than nothing! According to President Musharraf 228000 tents have been provided and by the end of November 500000 tens would be in place. That by itself will be a remarkable achievement. Many of the mountain villages will have to be evacuated, the inhabitants brought to tented villages and/or cities. A Herculean task logistically, one has to convince the inhabitants to leave behind their possessions, particularly animals. The confusion of the first few days spawned another parallel tragedy, a social evil invented by the wicked. With the dispersal of families, and parents and children separated, human vultures started circling around to “adopt” children, to eventually force them into prostitution. These vultures need to be made “permanently” accountable, aren’t looters summarily shot on sight?
The people of Pakistan have responded magnificently. Dedicated volunteers flooded in to help, doctors taking leave from their duties to brave the harsh conditions in providing medical help to the affected. Countrywide a vast amount of relief material was gathered and dispatched post-haste, haphazardly perhaps, but in satisfactory quantities. The number of NGOs involved would fill a small directory. Those who decry political entities like the MQM and the religious organizations like Jamaat-al-Dawa, etc should take another look at the superb way they have organized both relief goods and volunteers. Altaf Hussain has been constantly urging his followers to render succour, both in cash and kind, MQM’s educated cadres have made a difference. The President’s initiative in launching the “National Volunteer Organization” under Muhammad Ali Durrani should certainly make a long-term impact on the affectees and affected areas. Durrani successfully organized and ran Imran Khan’s youth movement to gather initial funds for Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (SKMH).
The US brought in Chinook heavy lift choppers, indispensable in those inaccessible, forbidding areas and many more are on the way. The US Navy has been constantly ferrying in tents, bulldozers and heavy lifting equipment, their help has been magnificent, generous in all spheres, money, material and manpower. President Bush has launched a private sector initiative to help Pakistan, with some heavyweight CEOs as core members. The saving of thousands of precious lives should shut the strident voices that regularly protest anything the US does. Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Iran etc have air-shuttled in relief goods. EU countries, with honourable exceptions like UK and Germany, have not been so generous.
Mention must be made of the Airport Emergency Team (AET) working in Islamabad within 72 hours organized by Disaster Resource Network (DRN) of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF), with Mr. Robert Bellhouse and Ms Kathleen Connolly (both in New York) deserving full credit in working around the clock organizing, coordinating and dispatching volunteers doctors from as far away as California, and gathering many tons of relief goods, including medicines. The DRN AET from Dubai is a composite group consisting of Emirates, DNATA, DHL, ARAMEX, TNT, Chapman-Freeborne and Dubai Aid City etc, all of whom have collectively contributed expertise, manpower and hard cash. They did excellent work during the Tsunami disaster. On the ground in Islamabad (and the affected areas) DHL Pakistan and ARAMEXSMS Couriers have provided the local logistics. While charity and relief work should usually remain faceless, it would be unfortunate if motivated misrepresentation is made to get crass commercial mileage with the country’s leaders and the establishment by the exploiting of human misery.
Exploiting adversity and human tragedy is a favourite pastime for some. But how can we satisfy people who don’t want to be satisfied? The disaster paralyzed the entire civil administration, the sheer expanse momentarily shell-shocked, because of the severe losses they suffered themselves, the Armed Forces. Within hours and days, the khakis got to work, the entire relief effort is based on their backbone. Maybe a hundred things need to be done which are not being done, what about the thousands and thousands of things that the Army is doing to save lives and provide relief, providing the core of the desperately needed aviation effort. Certain areas may seem to be neglected, not due to any design but due to resource constraints and impassable roads/tracks. Instead of suggesting ways and means to mitigate shortcomings, the only focus of some people is criticism, and mainly for criticism’s sake. One or two trips to the disaster areas have made them “experts”. Remove the “armchair” qualification from the “strategist” pretensions of these “armchair cynics”. Educated officers will understand the motivation behind the cynicism and absorb the unfair criticism, how does one explain this down the ranks to the common jawans who are literally breaking their backs (even man-packing relief) working around the clock to bring succour and support to the affected? Despite this unfair targetting the ultimate tragedy is that the poor soldiers will continue to do their duty as Pakistan expects them to do.
Not discounting the generosity of the people of this world, it is really a core of expatriate Pakistanis in every country who are putting precious time into this effort around the world. During the Tsunami last December, both the government and people of Pakistan responded generously, the private response from South Asia to our day of tragedy could have been more forthcoming. The Govt of India has been generous in offering assistance with trucks and trains of relief goods coming through the Wagah border, the pledge of US$ 25 million at the Donor’s Conference in Geneva is most gracious. During my visit to Dhaka and Delhi as the Special Emissary of the President Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to the respective counterpart organizations, the genuine anguish was well reflected. How much of this feeling will be translated into actual relief material or hard cash remains to be seen! The (three) FPCCI counterparts in India were already into the task of mobilizing relief material. Will their commitment be proforma, mere lip-service, forgotten as soon as I was out of the door? That would be most unfortunate.
People beset with disaster never forget those who come forward to help them, the body language of support is important. As a committed South Asian I support businessmen wanting free trade between India and Pakistan, appealing to emotional ties of yesteryear as well as proximity to foster economic togetherness. Businessmen from South Asia now need to put their money where there mouth is! If the stated friendship is taken by both the intelligentsia and the public as proforma lip-service in the face of our great setback, and the only motivation to be crass commercial exploitation, the public will want the Govt to be bloody-minded about economic arrangements. On the other hand, adversity is a great unifier. While one cannot expect the people of South Asia to full over themselves to help us, rhetoric must be translated into reality. A perception of the feeling of callousness would be tragic, it is the perception of compassion that must be apparent!
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