A Generation Lost in Rubble
By Asem Mustafa
The count is conflicting as always but one thing is for sure that the catastrophe has affected millions who are looking up to the skies for the divine ‘Allah’ to have mercy, a generation is lost in the rubble and not even half the dead are taken out from the structures especially schools built with inferior construction material, serving as communal graves for the future.
The earthquake measuring 7.6 on Richter scale left a devastating impact on Pakistan and it was felt by the entire nation and all were exposed in standing up to the hour of need except the common man that rushed and do as required and is beacon for the policy makers who safe in their shock proof adobes gave a deaf ear to the cries of millions.
The politicians in particular were found missing and reports have also appeared in Press where a state minister held relief goods for over a day with a photo shoot with the Prime Minister. Also seen is the Sunday picture eight days after the quake in a leading national daily which shows minister all giggles while coming to attend the Relief Measures Meeting called by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The pictures are worth a thousand words and seeing is believing with no remorse on their faces common man is left shocked. Not long ago a similar picture made its way in the national press and left a lot to be desired by the ‘so called’ champions of common man interest from the opposition that called a nation wide strike in September.
The Opposition members staged a protest from the National Assembly and were also found laughing outside as if all that goes on in the country is a big joke and people dying for want of clean drinking water, education, job and justice never mattered.
All the offices where commoner can make a voice have been out of reach, those representing the common man has made it an all family affair and one doesn’t have to look far as politicians have their siblings and prodigies filling in their shoes to make a loot that they failed in filling their vaults.
Pakistan political scene is an ample proof of hereditary politicians and one sees a series of generation following their ancestor’s footprints.
The political mileage, which every political party thought to gain in quake, in return exposed their own faces. Hats off a common man that came forward and did what he could from his meager resources to stand beside the affectees that number equal to that of Afghan refugees. Its is said out of 4 million population over 2.5 million people are in the open and without shelter what happened to the remaining.
No exact figure is there as how many are in camps, how many are rescued and how many are injured and how many are evacuated. No figure at all. The death toll also leaves a very sad state of affairs where ministers on record lie while the most noted social worker Edhi in the first few days of the quake in Kashmir said, “My workers have buried over 50,000 dead in Kashmir.”
The ministers all the time harped conflicting details lying in front of TV in ‘larger national interest’ saying the dead are less than 30,000 and not a single politician was found in the quake affected region of Azad Kashmir as all of them were in their adobes here in Islamabad.
North West Frontier Province that also suffered a lot has one official saying the death toll is 1000 as if 1000 is no figure at all and its has entire city and villages quashed with residents inside with the intensity of quake.
The school in a radius of one mile has twice that figure and all these innocent children in early grades are buried deep under tons of faulty construction rubble whose contractors like all the mighty in the land of the pure will never be punished.
The callous attitude by the state hierarchy on the first day only revolved around a multi story structure in Islamabad that like the communal school graves of the children had poor construction material and collapsed burying the residents inside.
It was made overlooking the rules from the capital development authority as quick cash made its way and everything was quiet and like an established norm the big fish ran away from the scene.
The Islamabad building had no less then seven ministers and more visiting the debris besides the visit of president and prime minister and reports that day on that one collapsed building showed the level of preparedness from the state when it made an appeal to the world we have no equipment to get the people out.
Pakistan not long ago purchased 70 costly bullet proof vehicles obviously to protect some very precious people that are indispensable for the country it had no money to buy a single Crain or equipment that could remove rubble or serve the common man that dies from drinking contaminated water, drowns in flood and is dead because of contaminated drugs.
Shame on policy makers and politicians who for their vested and nefarious interests join hands for the collective perks for them and leave the common man dying of hunger.
All the politicians be it government and opposition passed a resolution unanimously about their privileges and nation witnessed that and wring its hands in repentance as the two were sides of the same coin and none representing them.
Death be it anywhere leaves an imprint on all but it failed to effect champions here who profited from it as photo shoot opportunity and were criticized for their actions in the national press.
The colossal amount of loss and lies by state representative showed their interest in human welfare too. The delayed relief added with the fearful observations from the international rescue teams state that if efforts are done fast by land and air the count that is stated to be 50,000 dead (official) can double as people are dying of injuries, hunger and cold. The unofficial figure states 10 per cent of the total 4 million is dead that makes 400,000. Statistics can be horrifying but they are true.
Hungry people have been reported and viewed on TV as they swarm the relief goods as the delayed relief caravans were not stopping to give them food and were moving onward for other towns.
Its is said efforts are underway to control the situation but it to date is out of hands and everyday people die for want of medicine and food as it is not reaching them for 36 hours no one reached the affectees out of Islamabad and whatever efforts are done are haphazard as there is no expertise to contain the situation as the delays added with anger is changing the situation everyday.
Few quotes that were very disturbing show the state of mind of the people who have faced the trauma.
A relief doctor on a TV channel said, “Those who died in the quake are lucky and the remaining will die as there is no relief reaching here.”
A young boy said, “I am happy my mother is dead and inside the rubble if she had been alive she would been starved to death.”
This has been admitted by many officials as not all areas are accessible but the question arise how long will this continue.
The civil defense and crisis management cell the two name exist in the papers but where were they sad but true the two departments existed but nothing was done to mobilize or train the staff and as white elephants they just continue to sit and watch the death drama.
A generation is lost in the rubble and what are left faces a fate that will be in the same faulty schools that are built by corrupt contractors. The question is will it be checked as one generation of the region is gone or will it be left to chance as well.
The owner of Islamabad building has left the country and the real story as how it was build show the net the corruption that expose many big wigs will they ever be arrested only time will tell but like so many corrupt are left to roam the country free the matter will also hush up.
The need of the hour is to help save what is left without delay as enough delay has been done and it’s a question of human life.
It must be mentioned here Ramadan the holiest of month has unprecedented price hike because of the fuel price that was raised days before the start of Ramadan and it changed like usual all the prices of the goods as living became expensive.
There are people who are profiteering from the dead too. The fares for transportation of trucks have increased, the ordinary vehicles with the rush of people going to the Kashmir region is charging exorbitantly to make gains and corrupt officials with un accounted money are also making a loot with both hands. The prices of blankets have gone three times that is to name a few.
The question remains will it be checked as common man did what it can giving a pillow and a blanket and clothes now is the time for the precious and indispensable individuals for whom those costly bullet proof cars came as they were simply precious to do the remaining act to prove their worth.
Commoner who are dead and dying and helpless continue to die as they can only see these precious people and cars in pictures only.
The count is conflicting as always but one thing is for sure that the catastrophe has affected millions who are looking up to the skies for the divine ‘Allah’ to have mercy, a generation is lost in the rubble and not even half the dead are taken out from the structures especially schools built with inferior construction material, serving as communal graves for the future.
The earthquake measuring 7.6 on Richter scale left a devastating impact on Pakistan and it was felt by the entire nation and all were exposed in standing up to the hour of need except the common man that rushed and do as required and is beacon for the policy makers who safe in their shock proof adobes gave a deaf ear to the cries of millions.
The politicians in particular were found missing and reports have also appeared in Press where a state minister held relief goods for over a day with a photo shoot with the Prime Minister. Also seen is the Sunday picture eight days after the quake in a leading national daily which shows minister all giggles while coming to attend the Relief Measures Meeting called by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
The pictures are worth a thousand words and seeing is believing with no remorse on their faces common man is left shocked. Not long ago a similar picture made its way in the national press and left a lot to be desired by the ‘so called’ champions of common man interest from the opposition that called a nation wide strike in September.
The Opposition members staged a protest from the National Assembly and were also found laughing outside as if all that goes on in the country is a big joke and people dying for want of clean drinking water, education, job and justice never mattered.
All the offices where commoner can make a voice have been out of reach, those representing the common man has made it an all family affair and one doesn’t have to look far as politicians have their siblings and prodigies filling in their shoes to make a loot that they failed in filling their vaults.
Pakistan political scene is an ample proof of hereditary politicians and one sees a series of generation following their ancestor’s footprints.
The political mileage, which every political party thought to gain in quake, in return exposed their own faces. Hats off a common man that came forward and did what he could from his meager resources to stand beside the affectees that number equal to that of Afghan refugees. Its is said out of 4 million population over 2.5 million people are in the open and without shelter what happened to the remaining.
No exact figure is there as how many are in camps, how many are rescued and how many are injured and how many are evacuated. No figure at all. The death toll also leaves a very sad state of affairs where ministers on record lie while the most noted social worker Edhi in the first few days of the quake in Kashmir said, “My workers have buried over 50,000 dead in Kashmir.”
The ministers all the time harped conflicting details lying in front of TV in ‘larger national interest’ saying the dead are less than 30,000 and not a single politician was found in the quake affected region of Azad Kashmir as all of them were in their adobes here in Islamabad.
North West Frontier Province that also suffered a lot has one official saying the death toll is 1000 as if 1000 is no figure at all and its has entire city and villages quashed with residents inside with the intensity of quake.
The school in a radius of one mile has twice that figure and all these innocent children in early grades are buried deep under tons of faulty construction rubble whose contractors like all the mighty in the land of the pure will never be punished.
The callous attitude by the state hierarchy on the first day only revolved around a multi story structure in Islamabad that like the communal school graves of the children had poor construction material and collapsed burying the residents inside.
It was made overlooking the rules from the capital development authority as quick cash made its way and everything was quiet and like an established norm the big fish ran away from the scene.
The Islamabad building had no less then seven ministers and more visiting the debris besides the visit of president and prime minister and reports that day on that one collapsed building showed the level of preparedness from the state when it made an appeal to the world we have no equipment to get the people out.
Pakistan not long ago purchased 70 costly bullet proof vehicles obviously to protect some very precious people that are indispensable for the country it had no money to buy a single Crain or equipment that could remove rubble or serve the common man that dies from drinking contaminated water, drowns in flood and is dead because of contaminated drugs.
Shame on policy makers and politicians who for their vested and nefarious interests join hands for the collective perks for them and leave the common man dying of hunger.
All the politicians be it government and opposition passed a resolution unanimously about their privileges and nation witnessed that and wring its hands in repentance as the two were sides of the same coin and none representing them.
Death be it anywhere leaves an imprint on all but it failed to effect champions here who profited from it as photo shoot opportunity and were criticized for their actions in the national press.
The colossal amount of loss and lies by state representative showed their interest in human welfare too. The delayed relief added with the fearful observations from the international rescue teams state that if efforts are done fast by land and air the count that is stated to be 50,000 dead (official) can double as people are dying of injuries, hunger and cold. The unofficial figure states 10 per cent of the total 4 million is dead that makes 400,000. Statistics can be horrifying but they are true.
Hungry people have been reported and viewed on TV as they swarm the relief goods as the delayed relief caravans were not stopping to give them food and were moving onward for other towns.
Its is said efforts are underway to control the situation but it to date is out of hands and everyday people die for want of medicine and food as it is not reaching them for 36 hours no one reached the affectees out of Islamabad and whatever efforts are done are haphazard as there is no expertise to contain the situation as the delays added with anger is changing the situation everyday.
Few quotes that were very disturbing show the state of mind of the people who have faced the trauma.
A relief doctor on a TV channel said, “Those who died in the quake are lucky and the remaining will die as there is no relief reaching here.”
A young boy said, “I am happy my mother is dead and inside the rubble if she had been alive she would been starved to death.”
This has been admitted by many officials as not all areas are accessible but the question arise how long will this continue.
The civil defense and crisis management cell the two name exist in the papers but where were they sad but true the two departments existed but nothing was done to mobilize or train the staff and as white elephants they just continue to sit and watch the death drama.
A generation is lost in the rubble and what are left faces a fate that will be in the same faulty schools that are built by corrupt contractors. The question is will it be checked as one generation of the region is gone or will it be left to chance as well.
The owner of Islamabad building has left the country and the real story as how it was build show the net the corruption that expose many big wigs will they ever be arrested only time will tell but like so many corrupt are left to roam the country free the matter will also hush up.
The need of the hour is to help save what is left without delay as enough delay has been done and it’s a question of human life.
It must be mentioned here Ramadan the holiest of month has unprecedented price hike because of the fuel price that was raised days before the start of Ramadan and it changed like usual all the prices of the goods as living became expensive.
There are people who are profiteering from the dead too. The fares for transportation of trucks have increased, the ordinary vehicles with the rush of people going to the Kashmir region is charging exorbitantly to make gains and corrupt officials with un accounted money are also making a loot with both hands. The prices of blankets have gone three times that is to name a few.
The question remains will it be checked as common man did what it can giving a pillow and a blanket and clothes now is the time for the precious and indispensable individuals for whom those costly bullet proof cars came as they were simply precious to do the remaining act to prove their worth.
Commoner who are dead and dying and helpless continue to die as they can only see these precious people and cars in pictures only.
posted by Asem Mustafa at 2:16 PM
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