Pakistan Rocked

Detailed, Disturbing and Inspiring..

Thanks for this great article, Ijaz

Rebuilding

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.

Mr. Gul

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

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

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.

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.........

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.

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

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

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.............

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

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.

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

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.

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.