Allah, Please Help Sindh
By Air Marshal (Retd.) Ayaz Ahmed Khan
Los Angeles, CA
The four heavy spells of rain during the last one month - mid-August to mid-September, flooded and inundated half of rural Sindh. The southern Sindh districts have become virtual lakes. Four million people have been rendered homeless. Hungry and destitute men, women and children are in need of urgent help. With President Asef Ali Zardari getting “treated” in London, Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani cut short his Tehran visit, and tried to comfort the flood victims with kind words. But action is required more than appeals for aid. Mian Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shabaz Sharif reached Badin and other flood-hit areas with hundreds of food trucks. But their one time visit is not enough. It must be followed by large scale food and medical assistance.
Leading PPP leaders and stalwarts like Zulfikar Mirza, Amin Fahim and Dr Asiq Awan were not with the flood victims. Reportedly, Zulfikar Mirza was in Dubai. with DCO Badin, and with other buddies-both politicians and officials, who found it convenient to disappear from their posts and duty. The callousness of the rulers and the rich and the powerful to leave the stricken people to their fate is shameful. The helpless people of Sindh have been left at Allah’s mercy. Allah please help them. Allah please save the destitute and starving men, women and children from disease, hunger and death.
After last year's flood havoc, no lesson was learnt, and no preparations made to save the people from the repeat tragedy. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority was not only napping but has remained in slumber, and has failed to rescue, aid, shelter or feed the afflicted people. There are reports of in-fighting and feuds between the Federal and the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities. It will be better to sack all feuding and work-shirking officials and disband the Sind DMA. Last year the Army, Air Force and the Navy had launched massive rescue and relief operations, which included provision of food and medical aid to the affected millions across Pakistan. This time the armed forces are engaged in rescue operations in some areas of the province and no more.
The armed forces must move into Sindh immediately and initiate operations to rescue, shelter and feed the flood-afflicted people. The Pakistani military has the expertise, capability and motivation to save the people during floods, earthquakes and natural disaster. They need to move in, as they did last year. The Prime Minister should order the armed forces to rescue and assist the flood victims without delay. The Sindh government remained confused and hesitant to call in the army, while the target killers in Karachi were decimating hundreds every week. Assistance and aid of the flood victims is beyond the capability of the demotivated, and inefficient provincial government. Chief Minister Sindh must immediately request the Prime Minister to order all federal agencies, especially the armed forces, to set up camps to provide shelter, medical and food aid, and security to the flood victims. And this must be done without dealy.
While the officialdom is in a state of paralysis as usual, the top leaders have not gone beyond appeals to the nation to help the afflicted millions. Prime Ministers Gilani’s television address to the nation and his widely published appeals should move the heart of the masses, and must not be ignored. He said, “Recent heavy rains in Sindh have rendered four million people homeless, and hungry. On their behalf I appeal to every one of you to come forward and help your brothers and sisters in this hour of need. I request you to deposit your cash in Prime Ministers Relief Fund-2011 Account No: G 12145.”
People of Pakistan are not heartless, and need to step forth as they did last year. While the NGOs have yet to get organized and set up camps in the flood hit villages and towns, people at large seem to be hesitant to give donations, suspecting that the donations will be pocketed by corrupt officials and donation collectors. This reflects lack of faith of the people in the establishment. Politicians and officials need to develop a new sense of urgency and get down to work, sincerely and selflessly. The homeless and starving people of Sind, do not know to whom to turn to in their hour of need. With homes and hearths ravaged, crops destroyed, stored grain, cattle and hay swept away by the merciless flood, the plight of the people will lead to thousands of deaths and large scale disease and epidemics. According to reports, eight million cattle have been swept away by the flood. Students, doctors, nurses need to volunteer and set up their own NGOs to take care of the flood victims. They did it last year. They could organize rescue and aid on self-help basis to avert deaths from starvation and disease.
In a moving interview on DAWN TV, celebrated anchorman Talat Hussian who had visited Badin, Tharparkar, Umar Kok, Mirpur Khas, Tando Allahayar, Tando Mohammad Khan, and Hyderabad, narrated vividly the plight of the people, and the heartlessness of politicians and officials. His description of men, women and children wading through neck deep water towards safety with their few belongings should have caused grief, remorse, and anguish at the suffering of fellow countrymen. The sight of starved people with hollows round their eyes pleading for food, helplessness of starved children unable to ward off flies from their faces, should stir our conscience; and forgetting our own comforts, as Muslims, we need to go out into interior Sindh to save the lives of our brothers and sisters, and kids, who will die if we do not help them at his critical moment.
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