A belated cry

A belated cry


by ,.iqbal


Holding the donors conference 42 days after the earthquake was a ridiculous and belated cry for help. Yet more painful was the fact that it was held without adequate preparation. No consensus was evolved within the country on how to best deal with the catastrophe in terms of generating the required funds and spending them with a view to optimum results.

As expected the conference succeeded only in extracting pledges, the majority of which had already been made earlier. For example, India reiterated its promise instead of coming up with something more. What a response to all the flexibility shown by General Musharraf on Kashmir and other disputes.

In any other country this conference would have been held on the fourth day of the disaster. But sadly, the people at the helm of affairs not only failed to ascertain the magnitude of the catastrophe in a timely manner, they also continued to conceal the number of casualties and other losses by misleading the world. This practice continues to this day.

Who can set store by the sincerity and capability of a government that wasted three precious days in rescuing over a million people trapped under debris while its top officials kept contradicting media reports of the death toll, calling them exaggerated. And the criminal negligence in saving the lives and limbs of those wounded is still continuing, in addition to wasting more precious opportunities to attract the world's attention towards helping out the country.

What is more, the government failed to prepare complete and authentic figures for the donors conference. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank put the number of affected people at around 3.5 million and the affected area at 30,000 kilometres. The job we should have done, others did for us.

Unfortunately nobody can correct the so-called spokesmen of this government who kept telling the world that the death toll was much lower than reported. Then, after sharp criticism from the media and concerned citizens, they started maintaining that "enough relief has arrived and the situation is under control. The army has transported relief goods to every nook and corner, and supply has exceeded our requirements." Who will hold these people accountable for damaging 'national interest' despite appeals by the UN and other relief organisations to put an end to the propaganda and reveal the truth?

The National Assembly was in the second day of its session on October 8 but parliament was not taken into confidence. Despite protest by the opposition, quake-relief operations were shielded from parliamentary scrutiny, supervision or management. The 'elected' prime minister who is the constitutional head of government played second fiddle in every decision.

No rules of business were decided for relief measures or use of funds, but what we do know is that funds are not open to audit or subject to accountability and regulations. Particularly questionable is the record and repute of those involved because supervision by controversial figures has made the entire effort contentious by denuding it of public confidence. At the same time, President Musharraf has announced legal immunity for all army officers involved in the relief operations.

Most regretful is the fact that the US and the West, for whose interests Musharraf made Pakistan a front-line ally in the so-called war on terror, sent in relief worth peanuts compared to what was donated by Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries whose citizens Islamabad has been arresting and sending to Guantanamo Bay for detention without trial.

What more glaring proof do we need of the failure of our foreign policy? The same West sent relief worth over $12 billion and one thousand helicopters to the tsunami-hit countries. Although the October 8 earthquake was far more disastrous, the same West refrained from helping out Pakistan and sent only $30 million relief against our demand of $5.5 billion while promises were made to the tune of $150 million. They sent only 40 helicopters for relief work. These double standards of the self-styled champions of humanity and human rights have not only exposed their insincerity towards Pakistan but are also a slap in the face of our rulers.

This reality has also highlighted the shallowness of General Musharraf's slogan of 'Pakistan first'. The response of the Muslim world, before and during the donors conference, was proof enough that Islam played the key role in collecting earthquake-related relief for Pakistan. It is also a glaring fact that a huge amount of relief goods was collected inside Muslim countries but could not be transported to Pakistan because of the red-tapism of our bureaucracy.

At present much uproar is being made for acquiring tents whereas the reality is that the time for tents has come and gone; only concrete houses can now save the people from death in the coming months. Anyone will tell you that a canvas tent cannot protect people from freezing temperatures and snowfall. The government wasted precious time in supplying tents to the affected areas. So far 200,000 tents have been distributed in the quake-hit areas by NGOs while the government has supplied 120,000 against a total estimated demand of 600,000.

Why government officials failed to understand this stark reality is beyond comprehension. In fact, a mafia of tent traders under official patronage is out to make billions of rupees by supplying low-quality tents made of cloth instead of canvas. To protect this mafia the government has put a ban on the private purchase of tents until November 30. The UN, which had called for tenders for tents, had to back out after this ban.

Representatives of donor agencies are justified in their demand that relief funds should be audited by the Auditor General of Pakistan instead of military authorities. Our demands to the government at this juncture are:

1. Instead of handing over operations to the military, relief and rehabilitation of quake victims should be performed under a transparent system and the supervision of a high-powered parliamentary committee, as well as through the collaborative procedure adopted by NGOs.

2. Rulers must cut down their luxurious expenditures and new construction and renovation of the GHQ should be postponed.

3. An appeal should be made to resident and overseas Pakistanis to generously help their fellow people. The spirit of sacrifice is immense in our nation, and it can provide us with enough so that we don't require a world donors conference, provided everyone has the confidence that their hard-earned money will not be embezzled.