The Khan effect as Pakistan battles with floodwaters

When the Indus became the Yellow River of sorrow

By Frank Huzur reporting for mags4dorset from Islamabad, Pakistan

Whilst preparing to visit Lahore for the seventh time in three years, my mind was occupied with the frightening wave of terror attacks experienced during my previous tour in October and November 2009. Since then, terrorism had bedevilled life on the streets of Pakistan and I anticipated my August 2010 visit would be similar to the last.  What I had not foreseen was the huge number of fatalities caused by the rising currents of the Indus and Chenab. 

As I travelled from my home in India, to the airport, the Indus River was fast turning into the 'Yellow river of sorrow' and was wreaking far more havoc and destruction than the suicide bombings. 

The flood-waters began their rage of terminal fury in the early hours of 29 July, 2010.  News had trickled through the Indian media about the devastating deluge destroying village after village in all the four provinces of Pakistan.  But somehow, it did not have that shocking punch that I was about to experience first hand. 

When I arrived in Pakistan, I had no idea of the gargantuan scale of the water-borne human tragedy.  It wasn't until I stared into the make-shift relief camps, which had sprung up at almost every traffic corner and market square in Lahore, that I began to absorb the size of the disaster and the misery it had created. 

Whenever my host's car came to a halt at an intersection, young boys and girls knocked at the windows, holding out square paper boxes for donations for the suffering millions. In a swift departure from the suicide blasts, drivers of vehicles no longer feared the threat of terrorists inching closer in the garb of a mendicant s or hawkers.  Instead they welcomed the advancing bands of fund-raisers on the streets.

The holy month of Ramadan  had just begun and I soon realised that amidst the fear and panic caused by the floods, there was something else.  It was created by the helter skelter of people seeking food water and shelter.  It evoked  ghostly memories of the bloody month of Ramadan sixty-three years ago, in 1947, when the largest migration of Hindus and Muslims bloodied the water of the Indus.

Civilisation has thrived on the banks of the Indus for over 5,000 years.

The deluge of August 2010 has threatened to devour the sanctum sanctorum of the Indus valley civilisation, Mohan Jadero in Sindh.  Stories of displacement and death are unravelling daily in the cruel mathematics of a humanitarian disaster of monumental proportion.  30 million people are suffering agonising despair: loss of homes and hearths, families, friends and livelihoods; yet their lamentation has few takers.

As the catastrophe hit, President Asif Ali Zardari, was visiting Paris and London.  He defended his time away from Pakistan by claiming his visit brought more publicity and triggered a healthy largesse from the international community.  Many of his people scoffed at these claims.

There are countless tales of pillage and plight.  Around 50,000 Hindus in the Jacobad, Thund, Sultanpur and Khanpur areas of upper Sindh have been displaced.   To add more misery, there is a reported increase in the kidnapping of young Hindu girls in the age group 10-16 who are compelled to convert to Islam.  There is a similar fate affecting young Christians in Punjab.  The mysterious disappearance of young girls and boys is a real cause for concern in the middle of this humanitarian disaster.
 
The Sikhs of North West Frontier Province are also living in disquietude and despair. The newly christened province of Khyber may have won reprieve from suicide and car bombings, but the angst of living through bomb blasts, has given way to flood waters and the business of saving houses, livestock and human lives. 10,000 Sikhs are bearing the brunt of the catastrophe. Temples and Gurudwaras in Larkana and Peshawar are transformed into rehabilitation camps and community kitchens.

Christians in Punjab are in equal misery. The scale of tragedy has, for once, blurred the religious divide in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Communities are reaching out to each other in distressing moments.

With millions homeless and millions marooned, the population is losing faith in the democratic dispensation of President Zardari.

Umar Khayyam, a Lahore-based advocate and political analyst, sums up the misery of his people. “As the tip of the iceberg continues to swell, the State's capacity to meet the challenge continues to shrink. To reach out to the people, in a time of crisis, to express solidarity with them while pulling out all the stops in ameliorating their distressed lot is the hallmark of a functional, effective Government. On all these counts the incumbents have failed miserably. While strategic foresight, administrative finesse and political acumen have never been the strengths of the Zardari-led cabal of novices; but never have their failings been exposed as brutally before, as during this dire crisis. Pakistanis are being crunched in the pincer of monstrous calamity coupled with ineffectual and criminally negligent Governmental response. Only a historic and unprecedented aid programme can save millions of imperilled lives, or else Pakistan is all set to plunge into the deepest crisis of its national life.”

The leadership vacuum is palpable like the floating rags of the poor swept away by the rage of Indus. 'Will the flood's fury sink Zardari? This is the question on the streets of Pakistan.

Even as the waters began to breach barrage after barrage, it was American military aircraft that airlifted hundreds of thousands to safe banks. The Pakistan military followed.  About 60,000 Pakistani military personnel are deployed in the floodwater-battered areas, providing impetus to the relief and rescue operations.

Clearly, the misuse of funds during the previous natural disasters and contingency funds released during the displacement of millions of people in tribal areas during Pakistan army's offensive against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban has been a stuff of local nightmare and international disenchantment.  Corruption is high and people are right to question where the relief aid goes.

I spoke to Liverpool-based activist friend, Shirley Rohan, who was sceptical of her donation reaching the poorest of poor victims in backwaters of Pakistan. She told me, “I fear my money will end up in hands of Taliban. Instead of bringing smiles to faces of innocent country folks, it might fund a suicide vest of a potential suicide bomber. Who should I trust to for my money?”

Even when aid gets through, food riots are rampant.  A convoy of trucks carrying food materials and clothes was attacked by burqa-clad women in Dera Ismail Khan and this is just one of many instances.

Aid is coming in from around the world.  Britain is one of the world leaders with a £30M contribution so far. Internally, the Prime Minster Relief Fund (PMRF) has been set up.  Other organisations  and charities have sprung up to help and Imran Khan, leader of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has set up the Imran Khan Flood Relief Fund.

Pakistan needs not less than Rs 150 billion from the world community for rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction works.  The floods have created a disaster of monumental proportions.

I was jostling among the milling crowds of admirers and battery of press persons at Islamabad Press Club on 19 August. There was optimism in the air.  Imran Khan arrived and  announced that he was going to raise funds through his Imran Khan Flood Relief Fund in collaboration with Mir Khalilur Rahman Foundation (MKR)-Pukaar of Jang Group, because the Pakistan government has failed yet again.

He told me, “There is no disaster that can't become a blessing, and no blessing that can't become a disaster. I have no faith in the much touted talk of the Flood Relief Commission which Nawaz Sharif is trying to push. This national disaster needs a national mobilisation. We should not expect 'dollar rain' every time a calamity strikes. There are 30 million Khandan (households) in Pakistan and I am confident these 30 million households can look after 30 million people displaced in the flood fury.”

The Imran Khan Flood Relief Fund is the brainchild of Nadeem Iqbal, the group director of Geo TV. The creative genius  who conceived the MKR Foundation during the turbulence of the tsunami.

As Umar Khayyam in Lahore noted: these, indeed, are calamitous times for Pakistan; the most humongous deluge in recorded national history has unleashed its ferocity across vast swathes of its land, engulfing huge masses of humanity; swallowing up thousands, displacing millions while devastating over 15 million livelihoods. Natural monstrosities have come visiting this land before too, but this is the mother of all disasters. It has wiped out school after school, electrical transformer, roads and bridges and house after homes. The sheer magnitude of the destruction, the mere scale of wreckage strewn across Pakistan leaves one benumbed. Such is the volume of devastation that despite several days of its unleashing, the monster is refusing to abate to preclude any pertinent damage ascertainment.

Imran's thoughts at end of my meeting, which left me with something to ponder over were: “Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the aeroplane and the pessimist the parachute.”

Indeed, Imran is a complex being in his battered country and he does have the reputation of making deserts bloom.  Once again, Pakistanis are looking up to his philanthropic brilliance to rebuild their homes, children's schools and fire their hearths.

Donations to Imran Khan Flood Relief Fund can be made through Facebook.  Search Imran Khan and on his official site and click DONATE.   Cheques should be made payable to 'Imran Khan Flood Relief', PO Box 58511, London, SW13 3AA, UK.


Any other accounts in the UK other than the Lloyds TSB PTI UK account or the Imran Khan Flood Relief Account are UNOFFICIAL accounts and Imran Khan Flood Relief and PTI take no responsibility/ownership of these accounts.

(Frank Huzur is a biographer of Pakistan legendary cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan. His upcoming book, Imran Versus Imran: The Untold Story is expected soon. He can be reached at frankhuzur@falcon-falcon.co.uk. Website link: www.falcon-falcon.co.uk)