Human Sufferings Intensify as Donations Decline
By Dr Ghulam M. Haniff
St Cloud , Minnesota
Once again Pakistan faces a disaster of an incredible magnitude. It is partly the making of natural forces but also due to human neglect. A series of dams across the rivers would have slowed the intensity of the water devastating the country.
Flooding of the Indus River had been predicted in context of the Global Warming Theory but no one at the top would stoop to pay attention to a mere scientific forecast.
In fact those at the helm of power would not bother to understand the workings of natural phenomena or even listen to someone who does or to bring in a science consultant. They are just too busy looting the state treasury to be concerned with welfare of the people or to worry about the management of water resources.
The behavior of the democratically elected president, Asif Ali Zardari, has already baffled the public. At the height of the floods he takes-off for Europe to show-off his castle and to launch his son’s political career. After his return he is mostly in hiding and then takes-off for Russia. When you have such leaders at the control how can the country be managed?
The Pakistani leaders over the decades were not about to build water infrastructures for the future of the nation. Their immediate goal has been to use the public money for personal gratification in the style of Zardari. They also want to play the “leader” on the global stage and to be seen as “VIPs.”
Being a leader of a “banana republic” hardly brings honor. Observers in capitals often visited know that almost half of Pakistan subsists on dollar a day.
Pakistani leaders have nothing in their hands except the proverbial “begging bowl.” This time around in the face of an immense disaster the begging bowl remained virtually empty for a long time.
Some leaders have complained of the “image deficit” problem with lenders reluctant to fill the begging bowl. And why not when Pakistan is seen as a “failed-state” by policymakers in Washington and in the Western capitals? It has a reputation for corruption that Islamabad has been unable to clean up.
In productivity it is so deficient that most observers consider it to be one of the least competitive nations in the world.
Nothing in the country shows results for the dollars loaned previously. Corruption is widely believed to have hampered development efforts.
Pakistan could be a wealthy state given its enormous resources. It has more resources than Japan or South Korea and several European countries. Its water resources are the envy of the nations without major rivers but mismanagement in the controlled use of water has impoverished the countryside.
Building a foundation for an industrial economy remains remote though funding is constantly demanded. What happened to dollars given previously? This question was never raised until Senator John Kerry and Ambassador Richard Holbrooke made it into a major issue.
It is only now, well into the 21 st century, that sufficient funds have been allocated for educating the nation. And the only reason for that is because India, its main rival, is rapidly forging ahead.
India is said to have become one of the most innovative nations in the world. Pakistan does not even register on that scale.
Once again, the two American representatives made education a top priority and pushed for its implementation in a dramatic manner.
The failure of the nation to produce electrical power is well known. The solution to that problem is privatization, with awards of contracts in competitive bids to companies throughout the world. Leaders are afraid to follow that procedure because it leaves them with no room for under the table dealings.
There are tangible solutions to every problem but the leaders view the state as a cash machine, an ATM if you will, for themselves and their cronies. Therefore, the control of the economy is kept firmly in their hands.
At this crucial juncture with 20 million people affected by floods and 8 million made homeless the talk of revolution is rife in the streets. The choice is between the generals and the jihadists of the Taliban persuasion. If the jihadists target only the feudal lords (and politicians) they are likely to have enormous following.
Among the masses the necks of the politicians is beginning to looking inviting. If the military stays on the sidelines the revolutionary developments could be very interesting.
On the whole generals are primarily interested in restoration of order to make the state governable, Pervez Musharraf demonstrated that strategy.
Fortunately, the US is engaged in on-the-spot disaster-relief through its distribution of food supplies, medicines, equipment and repair services experts. One can hope that the US stays involved and begins to actively participate in running the country. That would be an enormous boon to the Pakistani people, but perhaps not the leaders.
The only way in which Talibanization can be halted is by building a livable, productive, and a prosperous country. Educating the masses and making the nation governable would boost the forces of sanity.
Bobby Ghosh writing in Time magazine believes that “it may be years before Pakistan is made whole again.” Others think the country may never recover to overcome the calamitous disaster.
