South Asian Earthquake: Don’t care… or don’t know?

Abdul Hafeez, a young Kashmiri man, is known to me for over 6 months or so.

His family has suffered a major loss ... all their houses and belongings have been destroyed. He wants to reconstruct his house but hasn`t received any aid because his village is located north of Rawalakot.

If you can help please contact me.

Even with the pathetic coverage recently, the emphasis is on Kashmir. What about the devastated villages of the NWFP? Even the BBC website has Kashmir Relief, because it`s so attractive - NWFP is an unkown and Balakot mourns alone.

Media reportage on the Kashmir earthquake is not something that can exist in isolation.

For decades, large parts of Pakistan have been absolutely out of bounds for external and neighbouring media, leave alone visitors. How do you expect them to suddenly form the required lines of service delivery?

What little internal media there is in Pakistan can be divided into neat little self-interest groups, to my knowledge and experience. Their credibility is close to zilch internationally.

Another reason for the media follow-up and subsequent high level of aid post-Tsunami was the direct involvement of the world media in being part of an audit on how the aid was being spent. Can you point out something similar in Pakistan please? Most foreign media soft-pedal around the misuse of aid and most Pakistani media try to tone down the realities of misuse of air, if not apologising for pointing it out.

To blame the world for Pakistan`s problems is something which the world has now got tired off. Please look within and fix your own house before wondering why others are giving it a wide berth.

(For the usual shouting brigade, please try to ignore my nationality and respond only on the points raised, especially the regular suspects?)

The rather indifferent response to Earthquake is on two accounts. The earthquakes do not create sensation like Tsunami or for that matter even Volcanic Eruptions. The earthquakes happen every now and then so the world so the world remains indifferent. Second thing is that South-east Asia does not figure prominently in the world map. At best it is seen as poor and dirty place where people die often and on due to epedemics, riots and other internal violence and conflicts. It is unlikely that the world is going to do more than what it has already done for the quake victims. The resources required for rehabilitating the quake victims will have to be arranged by Pakistan itself internally. There seems to be no other alternative.

Bravo,Appna NJ eid dinner raised $100,000 11/12/05 in one night.

The executive committee of Appna NJ chapter and it`s president raised $ 100,000 in cash for earthquake victims(besides, $22,000 donated by President of NJ chapter out of pocket which will be spent in December for homes construction) during Eid dinner at Royal Albert Palace NJ, and donated Medicine(2000 doses of Tetanus Toxoids), Approximatley, $28,000 were contributed by th ephysicians and employees of Barnabas Health care system, and the drive still continues. Most impressive were the teenagers there who contributedTHE from their savings and pocket money. Malahar and Javed entertained the attendees in to the wee hours of the night. Malahar donated their time for the evening.The program was covered by Geo TV. Slides and Video clips to follow. You can also see the news clips on Geo TV tomorrow.

Beena Sarwar
Now, I am giving this news. Sadly, majority of chowkies discourage such media coverage. They think in their own lil minds that I am bragging.
When, you have the intentions of spreading the good deeds like this, which we really need at this moment, God loves such acts of open kindness and mass advertisement.
You raised very good points. Thanks for bringing this up. We need this at this time of trouble. We are going to arrange same earthquake reunion and dinner donation fund raisers in December in Islamabad Pakistan.........................

Beena Sarwar
My husband is the current Appna president , NJ chapter, he worked day and night to arrange for this fund raiser. His efforts succeeded and we were able to raise $ 100,000 in one night during eid dinner.

I donated $22,000 out of my own pocket out of my personal savings. God will give me health to work harder for their future help. Inshallah.

`For weeks she’s pounced on all the small change from grocery shopping and deposited her pocket money into the ‘hurricane jar’ in her classroom.`

Yaar, is there such a thing as `pocket money`? kaka has read so much about these stipends little kids get for godknowswhat.. especially from mothers who are busy reporting while raising kids. kaka used to have to beg for money everyday and was explained that.. `agar aap ko maheenay kay maheenay pocket money day dee jaee tau, for the rest of the month, aap apni ammi ko peechat muR kay bhi na daikhaiN gay..`

Anyways, kaka thinks that these `pocket money` mentionings are just a prelude to the rest of `shaming of the non-donors` essay. Unless kaka sees the receipts about these `pocket moneys`, they are a urban legends like opera lovers and Oprah haters.

Zeena,
your husband and you did a commendable job, bravo.
if every pakistani donate rs50 each in pakistan a lot of money can be raised.

The world might be a bit more responsive if the collection boxes had a picture of victims.

May I suggest a photo of Daniel Pearl with his throat cut?

Harimau
Tragic & shameful as was the incident of Daniel Pearl`s murder and such incidents as well as the Jihadi groups operating in Pakistan you surely cannot be suggesting that those poor innocent children and villagers had anything to do with that?
And you may hate Mush and all Pakistanis (as seen from your comments throughout this site) but surely you have some tiny speck of humanity left in you. One basic thing you fail to understand - the general public does not love support and admire these extremist murderers....but getting suchg a poor response from the world is likely to radicalise those who have lost their families and everything in their lives.
What about the number of people killed by the Maoist rebels in India. They number in the thousands do they not? Just as lethal really except they are killing exclusively their own country people whereas Jihadi groups kill both their own people and outsiders....truly these disgusting pakis dont deserve to live according to your mindset.

Lack of accountability is certainly a major reason why the international donors are shying away from cash donations. I think the Pakistanis have to look to themselves in order to come up iwth the necessary resources for re-habilitation and re-construction. We would be better of utilising our energies to put our own house in order and tightening our belts (at all levels and not only the common man) rather than blaming the international community.

How filled were the Jars in Maha’s class in Karachi when Tsunami or the Hurricane struck?

Last night a segment on 60 Minutes showed a bunch of Paramedics from NYC working in the remote EQ hit areas, where no Pakistani medics or Military rescuers were to be seen. Where 60% of the population still believes that 9/11 was a Jewish doing, don’t be surprised over the empty Jars, sooner or later someone will come up with the same rotten theory that it were Jews who stole money from the Jars. Stay tuned.

This piece is particularly insensitive in light of the fact that Americans are doing more than the rest of the world combined in relief efforts. If only a few wealthy Pakistanis broke their Bakree-Banks (Piggy Bank is Haram) to help the EQ victims, no one will be looking for foreign Jars.

OPEN Earthquake Relief Fundraiser featuring Imran Khan Friday Nov. 18 in San Jose

Dear Friends,

We invite you to join us on the evening of November 18th for a fundraiser benefiting the survivors of the South Asian Earthquake and featuring Imran Khan, former Test Cricket Captain, Founder of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, and Member of the Pakistan National Assembly. As you know over 80,000 lives have been lost, 3.3 million people have been made homeless, and over 100,000 lives are at high risk as the Himalayan winter arrives in the devastated region in just weeks. The most important needs by far are shelter and medical supplies.
The aim of the event is to raise funds for specific relief and rehabilitation initiatives launched by Imran Khan and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital (founded by Imran). The two focal points are:

1. SHELTER & FOOD
- Tent Cities have been established in Mansera, Dader, and Muzafarabad
- Approx 800 tents in total in the above cities have been already set up.
- In addition to the above, 400 tents have been distributed in other areas.
- Another 1200 tents have been ordered and are planned to be deployed in these tent cities
- Food for all residents of the tent cities for the next 2 – 3 months
- Permanent housing will be developed in these areas as soon as the weather permits.

2. MEDICAL AID
- Surgical/medical teams from Shaukat Khanum are already working in Abbottabad with planned follow up stints in collaboration with other hospitals
- A Primary care hospital is to be setup near Bagh for six months.
- Plans are underway to open more hospitals in other areas as well.
The event is being sponsored and organized by HDF (Human Development Fund), TCF (The Citizen’s Foundation), TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), ICC (Indian Community Center), and OPEN (Org. of Pakistani Entrepreneurs):

Date and Time:
Friday, November 18, 2005
7:30pm - 10:30pm

Venue:
Corinthian Room at the Silicon Valley Capital Club and Athletic Club
196 N. Third Street
San Jose, CA 95113
www.sanjoseclub.com

Evening Program:
- Arrival of Guests: 7:30 - 8:00pm
- Dinner: 7:50p - 8:30pm
- Welcome & Presentation: 8:20pm - 8:40pm
- Video: 8:40 - 8:45pm
- Speech by Imran Khan 8:45 – 9:15pm
- Fundraising: 9:15 – 9:45pm
- Imran Khan - Meet and Greet: 9:45 - 10:45pm

Event Goals:
1. Fundraising
- All donations will be tax deductible i.e.will go to a 501C3 organization
- Corporate Matching will go to the corporations’ approved charities not to Imran Khan Project
- Funds collected at event (excluding corporate match) will go to the Imran Khan Foundation for Shelter and Medical Relief for the South Asian Earthquake
- ALL money raised (net event cost) will go to South Asian Earthquake Relief.
2. Raising awareness of the Earthquake among the broader Silicon Valley community
3. Enabling Local Media Coverage of the South Asian Earthquake

Tickets:
Individual Guest: $100
Corporate Table: 10 seats for $2000
Patron Table (Individuals buying a table): 10 seats at $2000

Online ticket purchase is available. Payment can also be made by check and/or cash: Go to www.opensiliconvalley.com for details; email Asiya Merchant with any questions: Asiya.merchant@citigroup.com

About Imran Khan:
Imran Khan is seen as Pakistan`s finest ever Cricket all-rounder and, along with Garfield Sobers, Kapil Dev, and Ian Botham, one of the greatest of all time. He made his Test debut against England at Birmingham in 1971 at the age of 18 In the same year, he made his ODI debut also against England at Nottingham. He captained his country for 48 matches. In first-class cricket, he took more than 1000 wickets at an average of 22.32 runs per wicket.

Khan went to school in Lahore and then attended the Royal Grammar School Worcester and Keble College, Oxford where he was also Captain of the Oxford University Cricket team in 1974. He comes from a cricketing family with two of his cousins Javed Burke and Majid Khan also having played test cricket for Pakistan.

Since retiring from Pakistani Test cricket, Khan has been devoting most of his time to the Shaukat Khannum Memorial Hospital, a state-of-the-art charitable Cancer Hospital that he established using donations in Lahore. He has also started a socio-political movement in Pakistan known as `Tehrik-i-Insaf` or `Movement for Justice` and ran for office in the National Elections. He became a Member of Parliament for Mianwali in the October 2002 elections.

Amongst his honors include being awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 1993 by the Pakistani government, Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford and Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1983. He captained the Pakistani cricket team to victory in the 1992 cricket World Cup.

Ref traveller #10

[Harimau
Tragic & shameful as was the incident of Daniel Pearl`s murder and such incidents as well as the Jihadi groups operating in Pakistan you surely cannot be suggesting that those poor innocent children and villagers had anything to do with that?]

Anytime the Pak Establishment wanted it they could turn the faucet off for jihadi funding. Don`t tell me the Pak Establishment is a respecter of human rights: put the thumbscrews on the fellows already in the pay of the ISI and you would have the entire jihadi network identified inside a week.

So long as you don`t do that, people like me will have the right to point out what ``collateral damage`` means. It is not just the shoppers who got killed in New Delhi the day before Deepavali; it is also the women and children of Kashmir.

How about letting IAF helicopters fly in relief supplies directly to Gilgit and places like that? You guys just don`t want your 55 years of propaganda about big bad Hindus proved wrong, do you?

[And you may hate Mush and all Pakistanis (as seen from your comments throughout this site) but surely you have some tiny speck of humanity left in you.]

Cold-blooded analysis does look heartless but truth sets you free. After which, you can cry buckets, send money, etc. But you have to understand the underlying cause. You have a country that has been blackmailing the US into paying for military hardware but has zero leverage when it comes to economic aid. How do you think the Average Alan in America is going to react when he hears that the country that sold gas centrifuges to Iran and nuclear bomb design to Libya is now pleading for help? And that constant ``Death to the Great Satan America`` chants from screaming mobs, bombings of consulates, killing of US businessmen: you think people should ignore all that? What is the guarantee that after massive help for earthquake relief, the Pak Establishment will suddenly turn benign and be the Sweden of South Asia?

[One basic thing you fail to understand - the general public does not love support and admire these extremist murderers....]

That is not the picture the world gets when they see on TV your children mindlessly rocking back and forth in front of a copy of the Koran.

[but getting suchg a poor response from the world is likely to radicalise those who have lost their families and everything in their lives.]

They will be RECRUITED by the Pak Establishment as cannon fodder; they won`t be volunteering. Don`t try this line of blackmail.

[What about the number of people killed by the Maoist rebels in India. They number in the thousands do they not? Just as lethal really except they are killing exclusively their own country people whereas Jihadi groups kill both their own people and outsiders....truly these disgusting pakis dont deserve to live according to your mindset.]

The Maoist rebels should be ruthlessly hunted and killed to the last. Entire areas should be declared free-fire zones, and people inside allowed to surrender so that innocent persons will come to no harm but Maoists will be killed whether they surrender or not. Manmohan Singh the Neutered doeesn`t have the cojones to do that and anyway the Communists in India have a tight hold on his langot.

Search your souls first before you ask why the world does not respond to Pak pleas for help. Then make a public committment such actions will not be tolerated. After all, if the US with its freedom of speech guarantee can outlaw hate speeches, Pakistan can do it too.

Pakistanis deserve to live and to live a decent life. You all just have to figure out that constant hate from your side does not inspire generosity in the reverse direction.

Beena
Unfortunate truth is that ``world does not care...``. I think reason is due to image that Kashmir and Pakistan has acquired during last few decades. Whenever these areas are in news than it is not for some accomplishment but due to some accident, calamity or misfortune. Last two days had ``violence in gilgit`` and ``Mobs burn churches``.

Pakistan is not being singled out for such treatment. Angola, Somalia and Congo also went through same treatment.

Dear Ras:

Regretfully, I must also inform readers of your post that Mr. Imran Khan, it seems comes around US and collects donations for all kinds of events. Then, he goes back to Pakistan and makes vitriolic anti-US statements. This behavior should not be accepted by all US tax-paying Pakistani-Americans.

This particular behavior of Mr. Imran Khan made news in the US media, and it is really shameful.

I sincerely hope that this person, who wants American dollars, would also remain dignified wherever he is.

Respectfully submitted,