Muslim based NGOs in Jammu & Kashmir face discrimination

Jammu and Kashmir has 158 NGOs authorised to collect foreign donations, 17 of them Christian religious organisations, besides 10 Buddhist, four Hindu and two Muslim organisations.
And in the last five years, two of the Christian NGOs, most of them working for the downtrodden sections of society and victims of violence, and one of the Buddhist organisations have received foreign donations over Rs 1 crore. The highest donations have gone to Catholic Social Service Society, which is not registered as a religious organisations.

None of the other Buddhist religious NGOs, nor any of the Hindu or Muslim organisations, received over that amount in that period, government figures show.

The top three received over Rs 36 crore between them. According to the Union Home Ministry, which maintains records of these NGOs under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), Jammu-based Catholic Social Service Society got Rs. 15.26 crore from five foreign countries. According to its website, CSSS works in 172 villages of Jammu region.

Diocese of Jammu-Srinagar St Mary’s Church received Rs. 14.74 crore, the donations coming from nine countries. And Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship received Rs 6.06 crore from Canada, USA and UAE in last four years.

The list of Hindu organisations includes the Amarnath Shrine Board, Ramkrishna Mission and two trusts related to Mata Vaishno Devi. The two Muslim religious groups are Madarsa Taleemul Quran and Salfia Muslim Educational Research Trust. Among the 10 Buddhist NGOs, the one that got over Rs 1 crore is Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre.

The CSSS website lists its target groups as “youths, minority, victims of violence, differently abled people, drug users”.

The 17 NGOs got FCRA registration after they had declared themselves “religious, Christian” organisations. The CSSS is registered as a “social” organisation.

Some of these organisations are based in areas that were earlier heavily affected by terrorism, such as Anantnag, Baramula, Srinagar. But the bulk, 10 of the 17, are based in Jammu, which is a Hindu-majority area.

Says the website of Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship, while calling for donations for terror-affected families, “Our missionary families are called by God and resolute in their commitment to reach their world for Christ in the face of great obstacles and under threat of life from terrorist groups.”

The 17 Christian religious NGOs listed as such include Society of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary (Baramula), North India Pentecostal Fellowship (Jammu), St Paul’s Church (Jammu), Diocese of Jammu (Jammu), Jammu-Kashmir Presentation Society (Jammu), Krist Jyoti Social Welfare Society (Jammu), CMI Service Society (Jammu), J&K Darul Fazal Home for the Zoram Evangelical Fellowship (Srinagar), Perfecture Apostolic of J&K Catholic Church (Srinagar), Emmanueal Mission Hostel (Jammu), Indian Pentecostal Church of God (Udhampur) and Samjee Pappy Kallimes Church of Christ.

Reclaiming Pakistan’s Lost Space

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-It is amazing to see the glibness with which the rulers continue to lie to the nation about the drone attacks and the surrender of Pakistan’s sovereignty to the USA. Feigning anger and regret over the drone attacks which have multiplied yearly since the Zardari government came to power, the civil and military leadership continues to give access to the US to kill Pakistanis in Fata through these lethal drone attacks. Even a parliamentary resolution has failed to push the government into acting against these drones and moving to control the free-wheeling, gun-toting and murderous American Rambos in the guise of CIA operatives, US Special Forces and private US mercenaries, who have added to the murder of Pakistani civilians and security personnel. Instead, as the WikiLeaks revealed, Prime Minister Gilani informed the US government that they could continue with their operatives and drones in Pakistan while he made declaratory noises to the contrary for the Pakistani nation’s consumption! Much earlier, Bob Woodward, in his book Obama’s Wars, had put on record how President Zardari, in a revealing cavalier mindset, informed the US leaders that collateral damage in terms of Pakistani lives was of no concern to him. That Pakistani lives are simply irrelevant “collateral damage” shows the utter contempt the “democratic” rulers of Pakistan have for their people.

Meanwhile, despite skilful propaganda to the contrary from Western sources (both through NGOs and officials) and some of their embedded media personnel in Pakistan, the people of Fata are increasingly becoming more vocal and resentful of the drones and therefore more resentful towards the Pakistani state. Even PPP members from Fata have denounced the drone killings as primarily targeting civilians. While only a handful of militants have been known to have died in the drone attacks, the civilian death toll goes beyond 2,000 and includes large numbers of women and children. Beyond those killed, there are hundreds who have been physically disabled and an equal number that is suffering from shell-shock and trauma – with no provision of any medical care and assistance for the entire Fata region. The ratio of militants to civilians killed is around 1:10 – a figure reaffirmed by Gulabat Khan, a Malik from North Waziristan. Reflecting the mainstream tribal view in Fata, he also regretted that no one has bothered to inquire or offer assistance to the locals who have suffered human and material losses as a result of the drones. Worse still, the government has still not inquired into the killing of the 40 Maliks in the recent drone attack against a tribal jirga. Khan vowed revenge against the US and the Pakistani state which would go on for 500 years. Therefore, it is not surprising to find the tribes of Fata announcing a jihad against the US which means more radicalization spreading to the rest of the country.

For Pakistan, the costs of this subservience to the US and surrender of national sovereignty has proven extremely costly and far outweighs any short term gains that may have been made – although that is itself a contentious issue. Terrorism has run riot across the country and President Zardari himself has declared that Pakistan has so far suffered with 33,500 casualties and a $68 billion loss to the economy; hundreds of thousands have been displaced far beyond Fata which has become a devastated region losing its tenuous connection with the rest of Pakistan since the people are now being compelled to acquire food and material from Afghanistan instead. This is how we have destroyed the Fata tribals who were in the forefront of supporting the creation of Pakistan and gave their lives for Kashmir in 1948.

Ironically, Pakistan has also become far more insecure as a result of becoming a surrogate for a US militaristic agenda that is rapidly slipping into a quagmire of confusion and hysteria. By opening up the whole country to the US, our rulers have also allowed all manner of external intruders into conducting low intensity operations in our sensitive areas not only of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but also of Balochistan. Add to this the bombings of shrines and mosques and the accentuating of Shia-Sunni and Deobandi-Barelvi divides, and the costs for Pakistan of the present alliance with the US rise even higher. Even Karachi and, increasingly, Punjab are becoming susceptible to militancy and violence as the provincial governments remain unresponsive to the needs of their people and the federal government remains preoccupied in appeasing the US and the destabilizing IMF.

Not that the US has achieved anything from its military-centric approach to fighting terrorism. All that has happened is that a more conducive environment has been created for extremism and militancy post-9/11. The hope that Obama would bring more rationality to a trauma-ridden US policy-making elite was dashed very early on when the generals prevailed on him in connection with the militarist policies in Afghanistan; and just as the Zardari regime has pushed further the detrimental policies of Musharraf, so Obama has done the same in terms of accentuating the neocon militarism.

We feel it is time for all hues of the Pakistani nationalist leadership to put aside its other differences and come together on a singular platform of reclaiming Pakistan’s sovereignty and national dignity so that we can isolate and fight the militants and extremists in our midst more effectively through a strategy of space denial. Since Parliament has failed in pushing the government into taking the necessary steps to end drone attacks and delink from the deadly US militaristic agenda for this region, PTI has been compelled to bring people on to the streets and take direct action against this loss of sovereignty and drone killings. The PAF chief had declared over a year ago that Pakistan had the technical capability to bring down drones but the political decision was lacking.

The US public has to realize a number of points: One, that they have to extricate themselves from this so-called “war on terror” which is causing a loss of $140 billion a year in Afghanistan as well as undermining the US position in the region. Ann Paterson, the previous US ambassador to Pakistan, admitted the adverse impact on the US of the drone policy. Two, the US is violating its own humanitarian laws with the drone attacks by acting as judge, jury and executioner and incinerating the families and neighbors of suspects. Three, in the long term, the US “war on terror” has added to the radicalization of Muslim youth in the US and Europe.

Today we Pakistanis of all shades and convictions need to come together to support our Fata brethren and protest their killing and displacement. We have to show by actions that they are one of us and we will not allow the US, Nato or our own misguided rulers to continue their military policies against the people of Fata. We also want to show that we are sensitive to their developmental needs and the urgency with which Fata needs to be brought into the mainstream of Pakistan. It is not enough to simply issue statements against US policies and drone killings; we need to act so that the voice of the people becomes a force for the rulers to reckon with. Unless we stand up for our rights no one will protect us. As we gather together the multiple strands of the Pakistani nation to reclaim our territorial integrity, sovereignty and national dignity, the message will go out to the rulers and their foreign masters that they are nothing without the support of their own nation.

Will ‘civil society’ please take a rest?

Ayaz Amir

The lawyers’ movement fostered many illusions, none more powerful than the myth that there was something called civil society in Pakistan, good people out to do good and inspired by the best of intentions. Retired bureaucrats, professors of academia in search of a cause, society girls and begums, and frustrated politicians – a politician who fails to get elected or who has nowhere to get elected from is a study in frustration – became the standard bearers of civil society.

The media which had also come into its own thanks to Musharraf’s TV-proliferation policies – TV anchors, otherwise champions of revisionist history, must never forget their debt to Musharraf – skated over the miniscule numbers of civil society and glorified its image. Civil society became a catchphrase. Everyone was using it. If you were stumped for an answer you mumbled the words civil society and tried to look profound. It was surprising how often the trick worked.

NGOs once upon a time had started saying that they could manage things better than the government. The leading knights and ladies of civil society started suggesting that whereas the political class had failed the nation, they along with lawyers, the media and a rejuvenated judiciary would help fix the nation’s problems.

All these four classes – media, lawyers, judges and civil society – made common cause with each other, feeding upon each other’s prejudices, reinforcing each other’s arrogance. They lived in a world of make-believe. The world of reality was kept firmly at a distance.

Three years down the line we are in a position to judge the consequences of that strange and heady mood. The media is on a perpetual warpath, working itself up into a lather of excitement and anger even when it is pretty obvious that the performance is rather forced and contrived. What Oscar Wilde said of fox-hunting – the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable – comes close to describing the media frenzy which is now part of everyday Pakistani existence. This is Musharraf’s revenge from beyond the seas, not diversity of news and opinion but the sameness of news and opinion delivered in a babble of 64 different voices.

We flatter ourselves by thinking that as a result of media plurality we are a more aware nation. The truth is more mortifying. We are becoming a dumber nation, feeding on trivia and endlessly dissecting it. This is a new kind of addiction which keeps us safely distracted from the consideration of issues which should be more rigorously looked into and more vigorously debated.

On display in the media generally – and this has to be a loose generalization – is the poverty of imagination and smugness of Pakistan’s lettered classes. (One exception, I think, has to be the exchange of articles and letters on economic matters between Prof Ashfaq H Khan and Meekal Ahmed which make for spirited reading, showing how a polemical exchange can be carried on without being crude and vulgar.)

In short, the media is running out of causes or is failing to see what the causes should be. To nourish its frenzy it has to sensationalise things and dig up meaning where none exists.
The lawyers’ movement has successfully transmuted itself into a near-perfect expression of legal hooliganism, leaving other forms of public hooliganism far behind. It has even managed to take on senior members of the higher judiciary and there is little that the concerned judges have been able to do about it. Their lordships having ridden the tiger of lawyerly opinion now find that they cannot get off its back. Such is the way of most movements. And to think that the more starry-eyed amongst us thought that the rampaging black-coats would be the heralds of a new dawn.

If the firebrand of the lawyers’ movement, Ali Ahmed Kurd, of all people can be abused by a section of lawyers then it only goes to show that the Pakistani malaise, born of many things but born primarily of a lack of culture, is more about a poverty of the intellect and the imagination than anything else. Culture is not just song and dance but one’s attitude towards life, one’s innate understanding of what the good life should be. Balance and a sense of proportion, the ability to engage in calm and reasoned discourse, the inculcation of tolerance, the ability to respect differences of opinion, a natural distaste for verbosity, an avoidance of mass hysteria, the shunning of slogans – these are mental attitudes grounded in the right kind of culture.

Their lordships too were affected by the times, their proclivity to indulge in a never-ending bout of judicial superactivism rooted in the belief nurtured by the lawyers’ movement that they had a near-divine duty to lead the process of cleansing the national stables. As a consequence they spread their wings far and wide touching a never-ending range of subjects , throwing things into turmoil but lacking the power to bring matters to a head or a conclusion.

To the paralysis of government many factors have contributed but this hyperactivism, for the most part conducted without bearing or compass, has also played its part. At its restoration the superior judiciary stood on the topmost peaks. Now it is inviting more than its share of cynicism.

The latest imbroglio it has found itself in is a case in point. Where in the world do judges concern themselves with rumours? Where do they go in a huddle, resembling an extended war council, on the basis of an unsubstantiated news report? This should be a sobering moment for the higher judiciary, an occasion to realise that judges allow themselves to be driven by the media only at their peril.

Agitation has its own norms but stability has its own requirements. Most of the expectations raised by the lawyers’ movement lie in ruins by the wayside. But if something is to be retrieved from the mess there has to be a soberer understanding of what the rule of law means.

Behind this mess lies the constant trumpeting and bellowing of civil society: retired grandees, assorted begums and a range of armchair warriors thundering for change even as, most of the time, they remain unclear what the elements of change should be, or how it should be brought about.

It hasn’t helped matters that the symbol of the Republic is a walking disaster, a man of few ideas and little understanding of how government works. But the answer to that is the spelling out of clear alternatives, not the constant fanning of the winds of instability.

The symbol of the Republic as much as the government he symbolises should have been weakened mortally by the burden of incompetence they carry. Ironically, however, through its ill-considered intervention into the media-generated rumour about the removal of judges, the Supreme Court, unwittingly no doubt, has extended a helping hand to a beleaguered president. The Supreme Court wanted a written assurance that nothing was on the cards but the weakness of its position was underlined when Prime Minister Gilani refused to oblige it and it found there was nothing it could do about it. Who looks discomfited and who looks comfortable?

This should be a time for everyone concerned to sit back and take stock of things. We have wasted too much time. Perhaps this was only to be expected but now is the time to leave the past behind and move forward, leaving it to historians to fight over the battles of yesterday.

Tailpiece: A blow for good sense will be the election of Asma Jahangir as Supreme Court Bar President. If there is any true civil society around in Pakistan it should be hoping for this and, to the extent that it can, help bring it about.

Chinese Army Doctors Treat Pakistan Helicopter Crash Survivors

By GULPARI MEHSUD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-No sooner a UN helicopter carrying 12 Pakistani and foreign aid workers crash-landed in Pakistan’s Sindh province today than the medical team of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was ready to save their lives, in an incident that highlights one of the rare humanitarian missions of the Chinese military outside China’s borders.

Normally, the Chinese military has not been known to deploy military equipment outside China’s borders for humanitarian work. But in Pakistan’s case, PLA sent medical teams and military helicopters to help Pakistani authorities in post-flood relief effort.

In addition to the helicopters, PLA also set up a field hospital in Sahwan Sharif in Sindh.

This Chinese field hospital came handy when a UN relief helicopter made a crash landing today. Luckily, all 12 passengers survived with nonfatal injuries.

“A medical team of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) treated 12 injured UN aid workers in the field hospital which it set up in Sahwan of Sindh province of Pakistan on October 1,” a spokesman for the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Islamabad told PakNationalists.com

The UN flood relief helicopter carrying 12 aid workers including Pakistanis and foreigners crashed into a lake in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh on Friday morning due to a technical problem and caused injuries. The injured were sent to the Chinese hospital immediately.

CHINESE AID TO PAKISTAN FLOOD RELIEF: $300 MILLION

In a speech at the UN on 22 Sept., Premier Wen Jiabao of the People’s Republic of China announced that China will, on top of the pledged assistance, provide another $200 million assistance to Pakistan to support its rescue and relief efforts and helping the Pakistan people rebuild homeland.

According to a press statement by Mr. Huang Xilian, Deputy Head of Mission at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad:

“In light of the great loss of lives and property inflicted by the floods that have hit Pakistan since late July, China, as Pakistan’s close neighbor and all-weather friend, feels as much pain as the brotherly country does and has offered sincere, timely and unconditional assistance to the flood-hit brotherly country.

The Chinese government and people have been lending a helping hand in a variety of ways to help their Pakistan brothers and sisters to show love and care. This testifies to the brotherly friendship between the two governments and peoples and writes a new chapter in China-Pakistan history.

First, it is the first time that China provided such an unprecedented large scale of humanitarian aid to a foreign country. China is one of the first countries pledged assistance to Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the floods which took place in late July. On August 1 the Chinese government promptly pledged to provide to the Pakistan government an emergency humanitarian assistance of RMB 10 million including materials of urgent need such as tents and medicine and had them delivered shortly on August 4. The Chinese government afterwards had provided additional humanitarian assistances to its brotherly neighbor for three times, making its total aid stand at RMB 320 million for the moment. The pledge of RMB 120 million has already been fully delivered in the form of relief supplies. They include 13,000 tents, 23,000 blankets and large quantities of power generators, water purification facilities, food and medicine. The Chinese government currently is in the process of preparing for the delivery of the remaining RMB 200 million humanitarian aid based on Pakistan’s needs. The new pledge announced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made China’s total assistance to Pakistan exceed $250 million at the moment. Apart from the efforts of the Chinese government, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) also provided RMB 10 million relief supplies to the Pakistan military in early August. Besides, a broad spectrum of the Chinese society has been voluntarily lending a helping hand to their Pakistan brothers and sisters. The All-China Women’s Federation, the Red Cross Society of China, local governments, NGOs, enterprises and individuals have all made donations in cash or in kind. The total value of these donations amounts to more than RMB 14 million as currently available data indicates. The actual amount would be much higher.

Second, it is the first time that China sent out overseas so many rescue and medical teams in its history. The Chinese government sent a 55-member international search and rescue team to the worst-hit region of Thatta in Sindh province late last month. It is the first international medical team reached the Thatta region. The team, including 36 doctors and 19 technical support personnel, brought 25 tons of high-tech medical equipments and medicine worth RMB 8 million. The medical team has treated more than 12, 000 patients. China’s second medical team consisting of 59 doctors and paramedics arrived in Thatta on September 14th and made remarkable achievements in providing medical services to the local people. On September 20, a PLA 68-member medical rescue team carrying 80 tons of medicine and other relief goods reached Pakistan. The team is at the Sahwan area of Sindh Province right now providing medical treatment to the flood-stricken people there. 20 members of the team are female who are more convenient to offer medical service to the women and children, a record high in PLA’s foreign medical aid history. In total, China has sent to Pakistan some 200 doctors and paramedics in three medical rescue teams by now, a record high in China’s foreign medical rescue history.

Third, it is the first time that Chinese military helicopters carry out an overseas humanitarian rescue and relief mission. To supplement the efforts of the Chinese government in helping the brotherly neighbor fight the mega floods, the PLA has dispatched four helicopters to Pakistan and the team had arrived in Pakistan for relief efforts. The four helicopters from China’s Xinjiang military area command took off from a military airfield in the western region with 64 rescue personnel and adequate relief goods. They were previously engaged in transportation and search and rescue operations in the wake of several major natural disasters in China.

Fourth, it is the first time that China send a large amount of humanitarian aid to the neighbor through land route. Upon the request of the Pakistan government and in response to the call of the United Nations, China sent to Pakistan 101 trucks carrying RMB 20 million humanitarian aid specially designated for the landslide and flood affected people in the upper Hunza area in Gilgit-Baltistan. The aid has reached Sust Dry Port on September 1, 2010 for distribution. The 3190 tons of supplies include 1850 tons of wheat flour, 737 tons of rice, 90 tons of milk powder, 30 tons of table salt, 193.32 tons of cooking oil, 180 tons of sugar, 83.35 tons of diesel, 20 tons of petrol, and 6 tons of medicine.They were dispatched from Kashgar of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to Sust Dry Port via the Khunjerab Pass by land. The aid is conducive to the efforts of the Pakistan government in helping the people in the country’s northern region cope with the incoming winter. They are enough to meet the basic need of the 25,000 local population for half a year.

Last but not the least, the Chinese diplomats in Islamabad are helping their Pakistan brothers and sisters in their own way. Diplomats and staff members of the Chinese Embassy voluntarily donated Rs 600,000 to the people in the flood-inflicted areas in Kyhber-Pakhtunkhwa province on July 28, setting an example for the diplomatic community in Pakistan. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jian traveled to Kyhber-Pakhtunkhwa and handed over the donation to local officials the same day. On September 9, the Chinese Embassy donated Rs. 1.12 million to the Thatta region of Sindh Province when Ambassador Liu Jian visited the worst-hit area. To express solidarity with the government and the people of Pakistan at this time of catastrophe and to pay respects to the flood victims, the Chinese Embassy has decided to cancel the scheduled reception in celebration of the 61th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and saved Rs 1.2 million for the flood-hit Pakistan people. The cash donation was handed over by Chinese Ambassador Liu Jian to Pakistan National Assembly Speaker Dr. Fehmida Mirza when Mr. Liu called on the Speaker on September 22.

China and Pakistan as true friends have always stood together and supported each other in times of need. Despite its own severe natural disasters, China has provided timely, efficient, sincere and generous assistance to Pakistan to the best of its capability. And we have not attached any conditions to our assistance or asked for anything in return. Nor have we taken our own natural disasters as the excuse to escape. China recently has suffered a lot from natural disasters such as floods and landslides whose damage are much more severe than in previous years. According to statistics, this year 27 out of the 34 provincial areas in China were hit by floods which affected more than 110 million people, 7,002 hectares of crops and caused about $21.3 billion in direct economic losses.

China, still a developing country and suffered from severe natural disasters as mentioned above, lends a helping hand to the brotherly neighbor because we value our friendship with Pakistan and we have done so out of an international humanitarian spirit. Facts have shown once again that China and Pakistan are true friends sharing weal and woe.

China will continue to closely follow the flood situation in Pakistan and provide sincere and selfless support and assistance to it within the realm of its capabilities, in accordance with the rehabilitation and reconstruction needs of Pakistan. China will send a reconstruction survey team to the disaster zone in the near future and encourage and support the active participation of Chinese enterprises in the reconstruction efforts. We will cooperate with relevant Pakistan agencies and provide training in disaster prevention and reduction to boost Pakistan’s capacity for early warning and disaster response

We are convinced that under the leadership of the Pakistan government and with the unremitting efforts of the relevant parties in the country and with the strong help and support of the international community, the diligent and brave Pakistan people will prevail over the difficulties and rebuild their homeland at an early date.”

Calamities Are a test of National Resolve

By Air Commodore® Khalid Iqbal

Like the United States, Pakistan has a long history of looking towards the military for help in case of natural disasters and hazards. This interaction of armed forces with common public, during times of distress, earns a perennial good will for the armed forces. Due to their organic characteristic of responsiveness, the armed forces are generally the first agency to reach to the suffering lot and carry out rescue operations. Hence they make the first and lasting impression on the minds of public at large.

People cluster below a heli to collect food

This time around also, it was no different. The three services sprang into action immediately and rescued hundreds and thousands during marginal weather; the effort goes on, involving over 60,000 personnel, encompassing all facets of search, rescue and relief.

Massive damage to rail-road networks and washing away of bridges has made aircraft as the only choice to reach out to the large chunks of stranded population. Transport fleet of Pakistan Air Force and air arms of our Army and Navy were the first flag bearers of hope for the stranded people. Naval commandos and their boats were the only mean of contact when unrelenting torrential rains kept the aircraft from flying.

Prompt provision of a large fleet of helicopters by the Unted States has made a significant contribution in speeding up of relief operations. These days, dual rotor Chinooks symbolise the good will of United States towards the people of Pakistan, during their times of distress. USAID and other American NGO’s already present in Pakistan quickly adapted to the situation and joined the relief effort. Interim halting of drone attacks has been well received in the public; hopefully this will lead to perennial moratorium, even though undeclared. To date, USA is the largest international donor in cash and kind. This wholesome enabling approach by the United States to combat the menace of floods is earning much desired and long awaited public good will towards America.

Simultaneously with the armed forces of Pakistan and the American Chinooks, another community to reach out to the flood affectees were numerous Religious and Social Charities of Pakistan. Due to their perennial participation in the social services field, these charities have the advantage of spontaneous reach to grass root level. Their highly motivated volunteers need no formal order and onset of a calamity is itself an order for them to react. Hence, when torrential monsoon rains flooded the country, sparking Pakistan’s worst-ever humanitarian crisis, religious and social charities moved fast, much faster than the governmental bureaucracy. These organisations are indeed our national pride. This also speaks volumes about our vibrant civil society, whose generous donations provide working capital for these charities.

Banned in Pakistan and on a UN terror list, Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) is one of the numerous religious organisations which are active in providing relief to millions of survivors. This organization was instrumental in filling a void created by the inertia of the civilian government to mobilise. JuD’s newly set up welfare organisation ‘Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation’ is making invaluable contribution towards overall relief operations.

Unfounded fears are being aired that such charities are using soft power to propagate extremism in the state. It would be in the fitness of the things that social services and humanitarian activities of these charities be duly recognised instead of subjecting them to unnecessary stereotyping.

As regards required quantum of resources, the needs inevitably exceed the government’s response capacity, 14-16 million people are in urgent need of help. World community is already involved in relief work through international aid agencies, which are engaged in Pakistan in post-military operations scenario like Swat etc. Aid agencies have food stocks and other emergency supplies but they are facing problems as to how the aid should be transported to the affectees as basic infrastructure is no more there on the ground. Hopefully, arrival of 19 additional US Naval helicopters would significantly enhance the reach of aid workers.

Nevertheless, there is a dire need to restore the infrastructure, at a fast pace, to enable continued access to the affectees. American donation of a number of prefabricated steel bridges have boosted the national effort towards early restoration of access to the stranded people.

Natural calamities are a matter of routine in Pakistan. However, the ongoing spate of floods is of a rare category. Floods were expected this summer but their magnitude was not anticipated to be of such a scale. The monsoon floods that swept across the country have destroyed homes, farms, factories and means of livelihoods for millions of people, at a pretty fast pace. The national response was not geared up to the required level. Likewise, the international response took more than usual reaction time to start cranking.

Now a major international relief operation is in its full swing. More than 160,000 people have so far received UN’s emergency shelter and relief assistance in flood affected areas of Pakistan. This organization launched an initial US$ 41 million appeal to meet the needs of people affected by the disaster. Initial programme of the United Nations aimed at helping 80,000 families. However, realising that the people of Pakistan urgently need the support of the international community at a much larger scale, the UN has launched a flash appeal for additional US$ 460 in emergency aid.

UNHCR component in Pakistan spontaneously retooled it self to flood relief operations, it is focusing its flood relief efforts mainly in Khyber Paktunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, where it is already assisting Pakistani communities and internally displaced persons due to conflict. The agency has also started its relief operations in Sindh.

Aid agencies in Pakistan are warning that unless international assistance increases substantially and soon, many more lives would be at risk. The warning comes as flood waves continue to move further south. Tents, ready to eat meals and medicines for water borne diseases are the top priority requirement.

Pakistani’s are a resilient nation blessed with vibrant civil society. In due course, it will surely overcome the effects of floods. However, as we cope with the calamity, there is a need to put our house in order. Only a short while before the floods, the provinces were at each other’s throat on the issue of scarce water supply for irrigating the crops. And now proverbially, it is ‘water water all round, not a draught to drink’. Effects of this flood could have been mitigated to a large extent had we built adequate rain/flood water storage facilities.

It is time for the national political leadership to do an exercise in soul searching and rise to the occasion to formulate a ‘national water management policy’. It should be a bipartisan approach on the pattern of the ones adopted for the National Finance Commission Award and the landmark 18th constitutional amendment.

While living in the sophisticated 21st century, we can not leave millions of our people at the mercy of recurring natural calamities, for which preventive measures are within our reach and capacity. This event also calls for casting a fresh look at our disaster management strategy. We need to evolve a responsive and proactive disaster management organization, equipped and motivated to be the first agency to reach out to the suffering people.