Pakistan Rocked

Ijaz,

Excellent article. May god give the victims the succor and strength to overcome this calamity.

Ejaz

Thanks for an informative article.

Even Sargodha has a fault line - that was news to me.

nhk

instead of blaming the central government, pakistanis need to do a bit more introspection if they want to be better positioned to deal with the impact of natural disasters. voters in nwfp voted mma to power. and now, while thousands of quake survivors in the province are fighting for their lives. mma government is busy passing the sickening and the divisive hasba bill. mma supporters might counter that hasba bill will prevent god from causing further earthquakes, my question to them would be what is so un-islamic about iran that caused god to send an earthquake there which took the lives of 18,000 people about two years back? i mean would`nt less people die if the government took steps to design better building codes, more effective regulatory agencies and a viable disaster recovery plan?

i think next time the pathans vote mma to power, they wont have anyone else to blame but themselves for the consequences. people really do get the government they deserve.

Ijaz saheb,

Alslaamo-Alaikum.

I came back from a trip to the USA and decided to read your article and respond to some messages.

Being a civil engineer to start with who had considerable interest in Geology (although I have practiced neither of them after post-graduation), I can relate to the technical aspects of the article. I know that the Government is going to introduce building code required for earthquake resistant structures. However, similar code was introduced in Turkey, yet the designers corrupt their war around it.

Thanks for putting the credit where the credit is due. I believe that Military`s performance post earthquake has been magnificient.

urstruly:

I agree that there is no civil defense structure in the country. But do remember that this earthquake was of such a huge magnitude, that even if there were a civil defense organization in Kohistan and Kashmir, it would have been paralyzed too.

Ijaz,
Great article, many many thanks for this detailed description. I must say, we rarely find such academic presentations in Pakistan and that too so soon after a debacle. Hats off dude, keep it up.

Thank you Ijaz gul for the information,..I also found that the catalogue of Indian earth quakes , was compiled by Oldham T,....in 1893 ,.and it was published by geological Survey of India,....and it contained useful history of Indian earth quakes...

Unfortunately in The corrupt setup of Pakistan,...these libraries,..reference materials have deliberately been destroyed by the mafia, ....

District council and municipal committee Abbottabad inherited a wonderful library from Britishers,..which contained all kind of gazetteers, hand books,..building codes and conservation manuals,...

Before partition,..When population of Abbottabad was 18,000....then muncipal committee had a wonderful library,..and it mantained central fire hydrant system and central drainage system ,..but now when we have population of 0.9 million people,and income of Rs 50 million a year..there is no library,...no battery in the fire truck,...and drainage system is half clogged with the gravel, which came from the cement less government constructions.....

The only library, which we have in Abbottabad Cantonment is intentionally filled with books from Naseem Hijazi,Talwar toot gahi....jasoosi digests,....``Ishqia Ashhaar``... ghamgeen novels ,..oor mein ney dhaka dhobtay dhekha,....shahab nama,....

How can a nation learn about emergency preparedness and real life issues with such books,...and those manuals,...and cataloques and building codes,..they are gone with the ``kuffars``....

Government buildings, of Rs 16 billion worth , got destroyed in this earth quake,which killed thousands of innocent children...and government engineers take 40 percent commission (bribe) from the contractors,

Rs 10 billion a year are given for new constructions and development to these ``Engineers``of NWFP,..another Rs 10 billion are given for normal maintenance, salaries, rest houses, jeeps and perks,... ........so rules,...manuals ,..building codes needed to be removed from our society,....

Libraries disappeared ,.....and ``marnay kay bad kiya ho gha``....oor ``qabar ka Azaab``....appeared every where,......We are trapped,....

Mr ijaz Gul

Thanks for the wealth of information you have shared here...

some of it is pretty disturbing.... and I have a nagging feeling that within the next
2-8 years we might witness ,another catastropic event, maybe in the vincity of either
Karachi or somewhere along the Maybe Pothwar AREA....

Can`t pinpoint why am I getting this feeling... But ........

Lets hope for the best.... and I think its time Government wakes up... and start doing something concrete on WAR footing... and lets not waste our stirred up energies....
Yes these are signs from God or Allah or whatever.... But are of a different Nature...
they might be telling us , about more of such catastropies to come...

Jay,
]welcome back after along absence.

Real Rocking,

What happened in POK is nothing compared to what is in store. The fact that laskers and other jihadis have declared a stop to terrorism is the final confirmation of the ISI-jihadi nexus ruling pakistan.
The US trops will not be leaving in a hurry, till the jihjadis are rooted out, and the pak antogonism towards them will increse. In a matter of months there will be attacks against the US troops in pakistn and that is when the real rocking of pakistan will start.

The earth quake has given an excuse for the US to more actively run pakastsan and at last correct the error of judgement of Colin Powells. That stupid man did not include pakitan in its attack on alquida, and now in the pak afghan border US troops are being killed and there is a poerenial threat to peace in Afghanisatn. The source of evil is intact, how long the world has to pay for it.

It will be a slow decimation of teh jihadis, the lack of support from the world powers for eath quake releief is the poof.

India gives 25 milliom, Chna give 0.5 million, US gives 50 million and a whole lot troops.

Wake up YLH and ferozks of pakistan, dogs are p...issing on the swag

Ijaz,

What is important at this stage is not the details of the earth quake, but response to it. Countries have prpmosed money, but no one is giving hard cash, they insist on supplying goods. There is no money for the releif agencies to hire local trucks, to pay for the pocals to support the releif work. Wonder what is the reson...

Well, it is very simple, the donors know that the money will be siphoned off into other budgetary expenses and teh surplus will be diverted to military, and the jihadis. It is time that pakistansi realise that the only country interested in pakistan is india, it does not want it to become a more failed state.

The pak president used the word ``sensitivities` in accepting indian aid. The truth is that it is the most blatant insensitivity shown to the victims in not accepting the indian aid. The poor are suffering, and pakistan si playing politics.

The notion of pak pilots flying indian helicopters shows the total incompetance of the pak military, they have no clue that even when helicopters are of teh same make, they are fitted with wide array of equipments of which the pak pilots will have no clue.

It os true for even cilvil aeroplanes, for example A320 it could come with CFM or V2500 engine, Honeywell or Sundstrand APus, and a whole different range of communication and operational equipments.

There is a high level of ignorence in all walks of life in pakistan, and the earth quake has shown it all.

It is pathetic that the YLH and romairs of pakistn do not recognise the pathetic state of their country in all wlaks of life.

alert,
plz read this and along the way you will find many references.

http://www.davidaspencer.com/1811publicationsscipapersa.html

This is by Pakistan`s only seismologist, Monolisa Khan

http://www.hdip.com.pk/MonaLisa-PJHR.htm

I myself was in Muzaffarabad on 11th Oct. I actually planned to see a friend who lived only 7-8 km away from the main city on the raod leading to Neelum Valley. We could go only less than 1 km in our vehicle as there was no road to be seen anywhere. All we could see was the newly shaped terrain, with coninuous landslides. Those who were willing to continue on feet had to return because of the eminent threat of slides. When the aftershocks would subside, the rain would play its role in making things more miserable.

The next whole week I witnessed no different scenes in NWFP. In Batgram my own family had to spend nights under open skies. Some of them are still in great wide open, exposed to the elements and constant fear of further damage. Least visibel are the psychological scars but u sense them only when you engage them in a connecting conversation. I very rarely find the courage to do it. Now I have returned to Islamabad, bringing few of my klan members to the relative safety. But how safe we really are? or thousands others who have actually become the main characters of this tragic drama, unlike me who just witnessed it from the sideline.
The scale of the devastation makes you dumbfounded.

I`ve seen some satellite imagery on few interacts. Here is another link where you can see Muzaffarabad beofore and after the disaster.

http://www.spaceimaging.com/gallery/AsiaEQViewer.htm

avaishka,
No these are eight hypotheses and the first one on the extreme left is right on target. In terms of probability, it could be calculated at a low rating, but that is how accurate seismologists can get in this discipline. The poineering work on this is attributable to some excellent Indian scientist. However, they were more biased towards Kangra.

As for further North West, I did discuss with my friend Sher Bahadur, who is a geologist. He maintains that it could. My own uneducated view is that the Kohistan Massif has also been shaken and the Nanga Parbat Massif is also moving. So What? I cannot comment.
Cheerios

Re: # 30

Thank you Ijaz gul for an informative article, will you be kind enough to tell us a bit more about Hazara fault, ...did Britishers know about it before 1947...??,...please tell us more about it....I noticed one time, in Abbottabad,.. when PWD people were demolishing a Britishers built single storey government building ,.that it had very broad and deep foundations,..and the upper portion was light weight and flexible..... may be they knew about the quake risks in the area ...please guide us, where can we find more about it ....thank you

Re: # 32

Mr Ijaz Gul you wrote in your article:

``In 1554 another powerful earthquake had hit. Based on this data, seismologists had predicted an overdue earthquake on the Hazara Fault with an intensity of 8, in an area covering Kaghan to Srinagar.``

Mr Gul,.. could you please tell us more about these predictions by seismologists,...I am presently in Canada,..so I don,t have access to local libraries and local experts,.....how many times such reports were submitted to the government of NWFP ...???corrupt government officials ignored all kind of news papers reports,..building codes,..municipal and cantonment bye-laws.... ???situation is completely dangerous....thanks

Ijaz,
Can you throw more light on the first picture? Does it mean that the next earthe quake would happen further North west of the latest one (somewhere in the border of Pakistan/Afghanistan)?

Thanks,
Avkrishna

Original Caption Released with Image:
This image acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer on NASA`s Terra spacecraft on October 11, 2005, depicts a 30-kilometer (19-mile) wide region southeast of the epicenter of the magnitude 7.6 Pakistan earthquake on October 8, 2005, between Muzaffarabad and Uri in the Pir Punjal range of Kashmir. The center of the image is at about 34 degrees, 13 minutes North; 73 degrees, 42 minutes East. A large landslide is visible (brown color) to the south of the main river (Jhelum River) crossing the image. The landslide appears to have blocked the flow of a small river. A number of smaller landslides are also visible, mostly along the main river and other valleys. For a 3D perspective view of this image, see PIA03030.

[img src=``http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/KASHMIR/LandslidesKashmir.htm``]

{img src=``http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/KASHMIR/KashmirHazardBig.jpg``}


This is the hypotheses

#10 faisal

``pak has the lowest tax to gpd ratio in the world. in layman terms, this means that the biggest tax cheats in the world are pakistanis. ``

This is collosal bullshit myth that is being drilled into the minds of Pakistani people by the international monetary institutions (aka aalmi soodkhor) and their appointed agents like Musharaf and Shortcut Aziz, Mouinuddin and other assorted Chawals and dallals. The fact of the matter is that these institutions have made tremendous ``investment`` in Pakistan by lending it huge amount of debt. They want their return on investment. The only way to do it is by taxing the society. That is the reason our second largest expense, after spending on defense, goes to debt servicing. It is like a credit card, in layman terms. So the military i.e. Na Pak fauj is used to collect revenue and to make sure that no populist civilian government may emerge who would refuse to pay the debt further. In order to serve these two purposes if military has to raise its weapons agansit its own people then so be it. This is the core reason that this corrupt regime, even though it has rendered extraordinary services to America in its War of oppression on helpless countries, it has not even initiated the matter with Americans that our debt should be forgiven. This debt business is the cash cow for corrupt generals and vulture like poilticians on two sides. One one sides they obtain debt in the name of Pakistani nation, benefits of which never reach to Pakistanis, and on the other hand they can impose any taxation on people without impunity.

The truth of the matter is that Pakistan is one of the most heavily taxed countries on this planet. In some case the tax is several hundered percent. For example about 10 years ago the cost of 1 kilo of sugar at factory gate was 25 paisas. The millowner decalred its wholesale price to be about six rupees and after tax the consumer was getting it at Rs. 18 in the market. Similarly at the same time, a sac of cement at factory gate was costing about Rs. 4, the manufacturers retail price was Rs. 60-80 and after tax the consumer was buying it for Rs. 220. Every product that is produced in Pakistan is similarly taxed. There is tax on seeds, there is tax on fertilizers (several hundered percent); there is exurbitant tax on pesticides (who is there is no agriculture tax); electricity; clothes; petrol every thing yu name it is either owned by state or it is taxed several hunederd percent. This is called indirect taxing. In this case the government reserve the right to not to show how much tax it is collecting from consumer because it is not itemized and fused into the price. The reason is simple. Government does not feel itself obligated to be accountable to people. There is taxation but no representation of the people. Pakistan has become the most unjust and corrupt society in the world for that very reason. Because the fukking napolean bonaparts have no accontability. This is the reason every Muslim in Pakistan has a religious obligation to change this unjest and corrupt system.

Mr Ejaz Gul
somewhere in your article you wrote.

``Satellite pictures show formation of a lake on one of the tributaries of Neelum River which could bring floods in the area.``

and Rogger Bilham has also noted this


http://cires.colorado.edu/~bilham/Kashmir%202005.htm

its full image is at

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA03028_modest.jpg


Now this is quet threatening... It means that after the Winters are over....and Rivers start
filling up.... there is a Chance of a massive Flood.....

Has any one noticed it so far....??

Thank you Ijaz gul for an informative article, will you be kind enough to tell us little bit more about Hazara fault, ...did Britishers knew about it before 1947,...please tell us more about it....I noticed one time, in Abbottabad,.. when PWD people were demolishing a Britishers built single storey government building ,.that it had very broad and deep foundations,..and the upper portion was light weight and flexible..... may be they knew about the quake risks in the area ...please discuss ....thank you

Thank God for Pakistani nationalists. They are the ones who will stand by Pakistan right now.

Hindvi

Most nationalists are good people. Most universalists are either idealists (some would call them fools) or very evil people.

it is interesting to note that while Iqbal was a pan Islamist and a universalist (note Cheen-o-Arab hamara sara Jahan hamara) and decidedly against nationalism (vide: in Taaza khudaon mein) but the Pakistanis are generally nationalist, at the most pan- islamists and rarely if ever universalists.

Faisaluno/Ijaz: Since Army is running the show, and will make the major decisions, I think it should be considered ok to discuss it on an earthquake thread......

I know the military inside out. At all levels. I am even now getting to know them as a businessman. Here are the facts:There are two types of corruptions: Financial corruption and Professional corruption, i.e. stealing money or not doing one`s professional job properly.

- Financial corruption in Pakistan is not dependent on the institution. It is dependent on the opportunity. The military is, hands down, internally, financially, the most honest insitution I have ever dealt with in Pakistan. Never had to pay a penny to get anything done. While even getting a passport or phone connection could cost money in civil.

However, the reason is that uptil the rank of Brigadier, there really isn`t any opportunity to be corrupt in the military. Hence a tradition of corruption has not developed. Corruption is still considered bad, unlike in civil services. However, wherever there is a chance, it does occur. The Army Rangers on the Indian border, controlling smuggling have a chance and are corrupt. The C-130 pilots who make foreign trips are corrupt. The Generals (not all) who sign financial arm deals are corrupt.

In addition, the military has institutionalised corruption. It has made it legal. It is the biggest business entity in Pakistan, and uses great influence and nepotism to run its business. A massive corruption incidence was unearthed in Lahore Defence. It is corrupt there like all businesses are.

Interestingly, in the Army, during Zia`s days, he noticed that all the top grads from PMA were opting to join the Supply branch of the Army, and not the fighting branches. Why? Because one can make money there. So he fired the PMA commadant......

Having said this, the military is still a nunnery in comparison to corruption in Civil Services, Politics etc. However, the same military officer, when he goes into politics and civil services, and gets a chance to be corrupt, does become corrupt.....Notice Ayub Khan and his family. Suprisingly, Musharraf has remained clean so far........

- In professional area, the miltiary is no doubt very disciplined. And not corrupt. Here its achilles heal is that the Army genrals, though professionally dedicated, are not very competent. Everyone else is quite competent.

And everyone is willing to risk their lives for Pakistan, at huge odds, against much more powerful enemies. And will risk it during an earthquake. Even the ones who are corrupt. The miltiary has a very strong tradition of fighting when asked........You are seeing that during this earthquake. The Brigadier who lost his son is on the job immediately, while it is hard to find a single civil servant working in the area. No doubt the civil servants are tending to their family. But the Brigadier is still there...........

ijaz: Thanks for this article which is informative both with respect to the internal geology that caused this earthquake, as well as with respect to the tragedy itself. I have done a tiny bit here in the US (spending a couple of days packing tents, medicines etc. and dropping them off at a warehouse (whose use was donated for this purpose) from where a truck took them to NY and from their to Pakistan). Admittedly that is nothing, but hope to continue doing more in the months and years ahead. And certainly no true Pakistani will ever forget this tragedy as long as he/she lives and continue to do what he/she can to help.

While dropping off the goods to the warehouse mentioned above, I too saw an example of the great heart with which Pakistanis have responded to this challenge: a lady of about 60 years, herself not in good health due to a long battle with cancer, was putting away boxes of clothing to one side - I suggested that maybe she should not exert herself too much, and she smiled gently and replied ``jo thora bahut kar sakti hooN kar rahi hooN``. I had to walk away with tears coming to my eyes.

romair,

since this article is about the quake, i dont wont to carry the discussion too far of course. however let me just say that i dont agree with your comments that pak army is no different from politicians. in my opinion, pak army is the most disciplined, the most effective and least corrupt institution in pak. in contrast pak politicians represent the worst face of pak society. i challange you to list any good deed done by the likes of altaf hussain, bb/zardari, qazi hussain, nawab bugti etc. i for one am very grateful that army keeps a check on these politicians. i think this will be the reality for some time to come because army has seen that its interest are best protected when the country is doing well. army has learnt this lesson after watching the country run into the ground by politicians who exercised power without any restraint in the nineties. i think other institutions will have to emulate the values of the army if those institutions want a say in the affairs of pak. i think going forward, you will see more leaders appear from the business class/professionals because these groups will have more stake in the well being of the country should the pak economy maintain its growth momentum. btw, bhutto embarked upon nationalisation because he did not want other groups to challenge the power of feudals.

ijaz gul,

i used the cell phone numbers just for illustrations. the numbers are the same even if you look at other variable such as numbers of motor vehicles registered etc. btw, your updates are very enlightening. please keep us updated.

Faisal and Romair,
It is not the people but the institutions that are currupt. Cell pre paid costs as low as Rs.3000/ and it bypasses the entire curruption endemic to PTCL land line system. Though you may still be right, your logic is correct.

Yea you perhaps read in my essay Pakistan and Civil Society. Philontrophy is very high amongst the Civil Society.

Its nearly three weeks. Other than Pakistan Armed Forces, we have the Americans, Germans, Japanese, Afghans, Ukrainians, British Amries, UN and WFP apart so many relief organisations working day and night. Yet all areas are not reached.

Let me reiterate that the Army was in action within hours in Bagh, Rawalakot and Muzzafarabad. TROOPS IN AK WERE REINFORCED WITH TROOPS FROM MANGLA ND LAHORE. SUFFICE TO SAY THAT THE ARMY SUFFERED MORE CASUALTIES THAN 1965 WAR DUE TO THE QUAKE. DUE TO THE HEAVEY LOSSES TO THE UNITS, MOST COMMANDERS WHO LOST THEIR WIVES/CHILDREN DID NOT EVEN GO ON LEAVE. THEY STAYED WITH THE UNITS AND TOOK PART IN THE RESCUE.

AS FOR BALAKOT, THE FORMATIONS EARMARKED FOR THIS AREA ARE ENGAGED IN WANA AND TROOPS HAD TO BE MOVED FROM KHARIAN, GUJRANWALA AND LAHORE.

The army has to literally make new roads on unstable hill faces. It seems easier than done.

Cheerios

Ijaz:

You have done a thorough and comprehensive write-up on this massive quake. I remember you were the first to write at chowk about it and to respond to my enquiry about the Margalla Towers.

Two things come out consistently on every write-up I have seen on the relief efforts. One is the tremendous response by private organizations and individuals like you - both Pakistani and foreign. The other is the lackluster response of the government and the army. As someone suggested, Pakistan needs to have a disaster management system, both for natural and man made disasters.

Very vivid description almost like frontline war reportage.
Inclusion of some drawings & maps wud have helped someone who isnt familiar with the terrain..

Faisaluno #10: Your comment is very accurate. As a group, we Pakistanis are the amongst the most corrupt in the world. And in any corrupt society, especially in poor ones, it is the rich elite who are the most corrupt. They are the biggest beneficiaries of the corruption. That is the crowd each and every one of us on Chowk belongs to.

I have tried to make this point at various occassions. As much as we, on this site, cry out for the poor and middle class of Pakistan, those classes view us and our lifestyles as the problem and not the solution. A point I have tried to make, unsuccessfully, on this site......

Your comparison of tax payers and cell-phone owners is interesting, and revealing. We are, indeed, the biggest tax-evaders in the world. Another thing you may want to keep in mind is that the tax from govt. servants is taken straight from the paycheck. So if we include that figure, then perhaps the figure of 1.2 reduces even furthur........There are also more car owners than tax payers in Pakistan. And far more motorcycle owners........

Not only do we not pay taxes. We don`t pay the electricity bill completely, nor do we pay custom duties completely..........This is why Wapda, Income Tax and Customs are amongst the three most sought after jobs in Pakistan.........Apparently, we are corrupt in our building codes, due to which most of the buildings fell, during this earthquake...

However, the worst thing we do is to pass the blame.......No one is willing to blame themselves.........The Army blames the politicians, who blame the civil servants, who blame the businessmen, who blame the Army. And then everyone gets together and blames the mullah. Who then blames Israel and America........

It`s about time we, at least those of us on Chowk - statistically in the group with the top 1% in financial assets in Pakistan - started taking blame, instead of always passing it......... Perhaps it is time someone wrote an article on how we as a group, have failed Pakistan........Whatever failures have occured during the earthquakes are the responsibility of all of us........if for no other reason, then because we evade taxes.......Since we are the most affluent.........

Having said that, I believe, Pakistan has amongst the highest level of philanthrapy in the world. I don`t have a reference for this, but remember reading it. And have experienced it personally. Businessmen who do not pay taxes, will happily donate money for charity......As seen during this earthquake.............

it may be callous to raise this issue at this time but there is no such thing as a free lunch. pakistanis who want better services from govt including more support in case of a natural disaster will have to get their fellow citizens to pony up their share of the tax rupee. otherwise, awam will continue to get what it pays for i.e. very little. all the evidence however shows that pakistanis dont have to live like faqirs.

pak has the lowest tax to gpd ratio in the world. in layman terms, this means that the biggest tax cheats in the world are pakistanis. to put the scale of evasion in perspective, in pak, only 1.2 mn people pay taxes and yet 15 mn people have cell phone connections. assuming that 50% of cell phones are held by people with a steady source of income, the size of pak`s tax revenues would rise by us$ 10 bn a year, if only half of the cell phone users that have a steady source of income paid their taxes. btw pak`s defence budget is a paltry us$ 4 bn a year.

also if my family were to suffer from the impact of a natural disaster, i would rather see army coming to the rescue rather than entities run by the likes of zardari or by losers who run/interact on this website. my evidence: the army jawans are actually putting their lives at stake.

details of pak budget are available at the following link:

http://www.finance.gov.pk/budget/budgetInBrief.pdf

Thank you for sharing this with us. Words of praise seem very trite--and it is hard to convey the emotions that arose because of your extremely lucid and factual coverage. Your suggestions and recommendations should be so useful. Is there some way that you can get involved with the design of the proposed reconstruction? It is so important to build a sustainable community and I hope that those who are knowledgeable or sincere can get involved with the future efforts to rehabilitate the local population. And also, what about training on earthquake preparedness?

Urstruly also raises a point. Do we even have trained rescue teams for such a disaster? Does the military train people to manage natural disasters? The army came across as really, `dheela` I cannot think of a word in English other than that. Perhaps I am being unfair, but they seemed pretty clueless.

S

Very well written article! It does show the character of people living in Pakistan, how they come together in the hour of need irrespective of class, creed, religion, and ethnicity. I do wish that these same attributes, which are the natural inclinations of Pakistanis, are woven into the national and provincial fabric of our country.

Very informative.........

There are very few occassions, in a nation`s history, when it faces something as tragic as this. The immediate reaction of the nation to the event defines the character of the nation. Pakistanis could have just sat back and done nothing. They could have helped a little. The fact that they, simultaneously and instinctively, united and, ``headed into the aftershocks`` so to speak, is a definition of Pakistan. This is going to do far more than anything else in projecting Pakistan`s softer side, to the world. I think the world is in a bit of shock after seeing this reaction. It has been forced to re-evaluate its views of Pakistan. As have many Pakistani cynics........

Kashmiris basically have no political influence in Pakistan. The Prime Minister of Kashmir has about as much influence in Pakistan as an MNA; if that. Kashmiris have nothing in common with Muhajirs from Karachi. Yet the fact that Karachi was the first city to mobilize and set up its lines of communication to Kashmir, says a lot.

It seems like the govt. and army have done a lot. As much as they could. The problem seems to be that, over the past decades, no planning was done. The country is paying the price for the lack of planning of the past........

However, the big decisions will need to be made now. I think the recommendations from the author, at the end, need to be carried out. That will return everything to business as usual mode. After that return, much larger core decisions, about social services, need to be made.......If the govt. makes those, it will become extremely popular. If it doesn`t then it will leave a political opening for some other political entity to exploit.........

kis ko pata tha aaj yun aayega zalzala
pairon taley zameen hilayega zalzala

school gaye thay jo roshni k waastey
andheron main yun un ko dubaayega zalzala

barson ki poonji sey jo pichley saawan daali thi
kis ko pata tha chat woh girayega zalzala

kal jis ko tha sajaya barey chaao k saath
hum pay he ghar woh aaj girayega zalzala

kehtey hain qayamat main sab hisaab detey hain
us din tu wajah apni batayega zalzala

aao ab aisey sab dilon main ek hojaain
k phir sey aaya tu mun ki khaayega zalzala.

Dear Ijaz:

Thanks. Would it be possible to incoporate portions of this article into a story I am writing for a local newsletter in Iowa?

Mohammed Amjed
amjed12841@hotmail.com

Mr. Gul

Thank you for writing this article. It is very comprehensive and written very well.

I think the clamity of the earthquack, as horrible as it is, was beyond our control. No country in the world could have survived the force of nature that struck us. But some disasters are man made too. One such disaster is the systematic destruction of civilian institutions by the military dictatorship that plagues our country. One such institution was the Civil Defense. I remember those good old days when volunteering for the Civil Defense and Janbaz force was considered noble and voluteers were looked at with respect in the civil society. The military dictatorship has rendered that fine institution, absolutely defunct. As a matter of fact in the absence of Civil defense the citizens are left completely helpless like sheep in a herd in case of war, flood, or disaster like this. There exists absolutely no system to mobilize the National Cadet Corps either. No records are kept to track the Cadets in case of war or clamity.

On the other hand, the performance of military from organization and structural point of view was beyond pathetic. I am not talking about the rescue efforts or the distrubution of relief but my point of view is from military aspect. Every military in the world today, as a matter of fact, since the the human beings started organized armies, is trained, mobilized, and coordinated thru a supply chain and line of communication. Every military in the world survives as long as the these two chains remain intact. From this point of view the performance of Na Pak fauj has been absolutely pathetic. As a matter of fact I am beginning to think that Na Pak fauj would shit in their pants if Indians or even Afghanis take a border town in a storm, for example, Lahore or Peshawar.

The first course of action from the military point of view would have been to establish secure distribution and communication lines to all the disaster struck area. No matter how musch devistation was in the way but this is what military is trained for. At least no one was going to ambush those lines, so why such disorganization and indiscipline. The people of Pakistan, aboslutely distrustful of this regime, and its political front took the matter in their own hands. But despite their well intentions, they just added to the chaos because there was no one to organize them. If Civil Defense were alive today, we would have at least half the troubles that are being caused by disorganization and chaos.

It is time that Pakistani nation stop making compromises with these incompetent thugs who have descendent upon us like a curse of God in the uniform and civilian dress. The hunger, disease, and chaos that is inching towards Pakistan everyday, must open the eyes of people. Tommorow it could be your child trapped under a slab of concrete.

Rebuilding

Detailed, Disturbing and Inspiring..

Thanks for this great article, Ijaz