Removing Perceptions With Facts
In the company of Robert Bellhouse, Executive Director, Disaster Resource Network (DRN), an initiative of the World Economic Forum (WEF), I returned to the high mountains of my PMA Gentlemen Cadet (GC) days (1964-1965), and (later) Army Aviation (1968-1971) on a heli-tour of the affected areas. Thirty five years earlier as an Alouette-3 pilot of 4 Army Aviation Squadron in Dhamial (now Qasim Army Aviation Base) I would be on the roster (the happy fate of being one of three bachelors out of Squadron of 30 pilots) as “Pilot on Duty” to evacuate casualties from Azad Kashmir (AK). Approaching Mansehra in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) I became somewhat disoriented, the thickly wooded area beyond the Siran River from “Khaki” village to Oghi over the “black” mountains was no more. A proliferation of huts and houses dotting the landscape indicated significant increase in population, the tents alongside signifying enough damage to the structure in forcing the inhabitants to sleep outside.
Beyond Mansehra, the damage and devastation was far more visible, the concrete roofs coming down as one slab when the walls caved in due to the severe tremors. Where the houses and huts had not disintegrated, extensive cracks made the structure uninhabitable. Not badly hit Mansehra Town was functioning, Balakot is a very sad story symbolized by the beautiful knoll in the center of the city where more than 200 “posh” (by local standards) concrete houses seemed as if a low-intensity nuclear strike had flattened the area.
The devastation throughout the affected districts of NWFP and AK is heartrending. Whether landing at Garhi Habibullah, Muzaffarabad, Chakoti, Bagh etc, or flying the entire length of the beautiful Kaghan, Neelum, Jehlum River valleys, etc, landslides blocked the roads and tracks, the destruction, and the deaths accompanying, quite apparent. Maj Gen Syed Shakil Hussain, the GOC in-charge of relief of the affected Frontier districts, confirmed over 30000 dead in that area alone. With all the inherent handicaps the relief effort was well coordinated and fully under control. As his father’s (Brig Zair Hussain) adjutant of an infantry battalion from 1966 to 1968, I had seen “Tony” growing up as a 10 year old, his brother Jamil (Jimmy) two years older Tony’s confident description of the challenges encountered (and coped with) symbolizes all that is good and wonderful about the majority rank and file of the Pakistan Army. It is a tragedy that the world takes its perceptions from a handful of aberrations, it is criminal that the media exploits this. The print and electronic media have been very unfair, even misreporting and/or misrepresenting at will.
From Lt Col Arshad Amin, CO 6 Army Aviation Squadron, who flew us in a UH-1H (alongwith co-pilot Maj Saqib), to the jawans who fed us chapatti (bread) and dal (lentils) at Div HQ at Bagh late in the afternoon, the Army’s professionalism was on quiet display. Calm constant activity symbolizing effective efficiency was very much apparent in the forward army aviation bases and various helipads. Helicopters shuttled in every few minutes, casualties were unloaded, and with relief material loaded they were up and away in less than 5-6 minutes. Having the unfortunate experience of flying during the 1970 East Pakistan cyclone memories came flooding back. No relief effort on this scale has ever been mounted at this altitude in such inaccessible and difficult terrain. The Guinness Book of Records has no near comparison.
The US effort has been nothing short of being magnificent, outstanding! Look at the statistics! From Islamabad Airport (Chaklala Base) alone, from 12 Oct to 6 Nov a total of 3725 MT have been heli-lifted, the US accounting for 2400 MT by itself. US helicopters flew 517 sorties, Pakistan 334, and so on! More than 50% of the aid flowing in has come from the US and yet we do not fail to decry the US. Without US support we would have had many more deaths, with their help we may yet win the race against “father winter”. Operating mostly from Qasim Army Aviation Base but counting the three forward Helicopter Bases at Mansehra, Muzaffarabad and Bagh, the Army Aviation has flown over 1500 sorties additionally, lifting 540 MT during the same period from Chaklala Base alone. From the three Forward Bases they have already heli-lifted over 3000 MT to the affectees directly in inaccessible areas. At Chaklala Base 8 Northern Light Infantry (NLI) (CO Lt Col Amjad) is doing tremendous work in loading, unloading and dispatching under supervision of the Army’s Logistics Directorate (Maj Gen Jamil Haider and Brig Imtiaz Sherazi) at Chaklala PAF Base. The activity was one of calm efficiency, Chinooks, M1-17 and CH-53 helicopters coming in at an average of one every 5 minutes, unloading casualties loading relief supplies and were off, supplying the three forward Bases, or in many cases to the affectees directly at heights above 8000 ft. Among the 100 villages Garhi Doppata got 43 sorties receiving 28499 kgs of rations, 1052 tents, 6951 blankets, 19 litres water 1438 boxes of medicine, and 3000 individual survival packs, while Kaghan got 72823 kgs rations, 1160 tents, 5086 blankets, 1969 litres water, 51 boxes medicine and 200 individual survival packs, etc.
All praise for the volunteers who poured in from far abroad and within Pakistan. Excellent effort has been done by the NGOs, both local and foreign. Everywhere that we landed or flew over one could see the great humanitarian effort of persona, material and transportation. The seamless manner in which the international private effort had meshed in with the local NGOs was truly amazing. In such an enormous tragedy in such forbidding terrain much more was needed, one is personally satisfied that what could have been humanly possible was being humanely accomplished. While there may be some room for criticism, those who exploit tragedy for crass motivation, particularly political, are beneath contempt.
One element of concern are the “chiefs” appointed to conduct “Relief” and “Rehabilitation”. A fine, upright officer and a good professional soldier Maj Gen Farooq adequately fulfills the job of being Chairman PM’s Inspection Commission (or even NAB) but within the Army he has a widely held reputation of being “Mr. Rigid”. Excellent for inspections and enquiries but what we need as Federal Relief Commissioner is a “Mr. Flexible”, capable of adjusting to situations and people, a man who does not need a Memo from his Staff officer to take a telephone call. For a Relief Commissioner this inflexibility could be fatal, and guess who will be affected? As a good Engineer officer Lt Gen Zubair, may have all the qualifications necessary to head the rehabilitation effort but as Engineer-in-Chief Pakistan Army he must provide answers for the collapsed building infra- structure of the Army all over AK. What has he done to bring to book all those responsible for the building and maintaining of Military Hospitals (CMHs) that came apart throughout AK in the earthquake? Though many buildings were made by local resources, where were his “inspection” people to ensure safety and adherence to building specifications? We should thank our lucky stars that we have Pervez Musharraf at the helm of affairs at this critical juncture but the President needs to ensure these two critical public appointments are non-controversial. The country needs people of the honesty, integrity and stature of the likes of Maj Gen Hedayatullah Khan Niazi, SJ, who bring both credibility and capability to the table. With a whole lot of vultures circling around, this Army cannot afford further hits on its reputation.
I met Robert Bellhouse for the first time in the morning of Sunday Nov 6, 2005. By the time he left for Geneva 48 hours later to report his personal assessment of the disaster requirements to Dr Klaus Schwab, Chairman WEF (Dr Klaus Schwab immediately spoke to the PM the next day on 9 Nov and gave an outline of what the WEF proposed to do), I felt I had known Bob Bellhouse forever. We seem to speak in unison the same language of relief and rehabilitation. And the immediate response! Despite PIA’s successfully dragging of the feet for 10 days, Kathleen Connolly and he managed a 747 donated by Polar Air flying from New York on Nov 14 carrying 100 tons of medicine, tents, wheelchairs, etc worth nearly US$ 3 million donated by “Operation USA” to “Islamic Relief”.
As a helicopter pilot seeing disaster beyond imagination 35 years to the day in Nov 1970 (Friday the 13th) when over 300000 deaths (estimated 1 million with over 10 million homeless) were confirmed in the coastal areas of East Pakistan due to a cataclysmic cyclone. I can identify with the likes of Army Aviation pilots Arshad and Saqib (and dozens of others) who are putting heart and soul into something far beyond human endurance if not the call of duty. This is matched on the ground by the tremendous toil and sweat of the officers and jawans of the rank and file of three infantry divisions. As someone who has worn the “Khaki” I may be prejudiced in expressing of my feelings but quoting the direct words of (Lt Col (Retd) US Army Reserve) Bob Bellhouse when asked on prime time TV about the relief effort, “I salute the men of the Pakistan Army, they are doing a magnificent job, far more than what I have ever seen”! And Bob has certainly seen many disasters since WEF’s DRN came into being in 2001.
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