Crossfire
Senator Tariq Azeem has the credentials and the integrity to do a much better function for the Government of Pakistan (GOP) than the likes of Muhammad Ali Durrani. His present job description as Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting seems limited to requesting the Minister of Information and Broadcasting to request the President to speak. At the Iftar/Dinner hosted for the media at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad on Wednesday Oct 11, 2006, Durrani’s courtier-like introduction of the President was positively embarrassing. He went overboard with his unadulterated flattery. A hard-bitten Pakistani media does not take kindly to such public displays of fawning and servility. This clouds the Pervez Musharraf-image of a blunt, no-nonsense soldier who speaks his mind and is not given to such public displays of adulation.
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.