Death, Disease, Hunger and Batons What Next?

By Asem Mustafa

They are hungry with no shelter and nowhere to go they crowd in the make shift camps by thousands each day as the temperatures go down at night to freezing point.

The devastating earthquake on October 8 displaced four million and more in Pakistan in Azad Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. The affectees are all in the open and have very inadequate food and shelter facilities. Their only hope is to come down to a camp where at least basic of the need as in food and shelter will be met to some extent.

Women and children are worst affected and the crippling quake has left thousands who have fractures and are unable to get to the safety of camps.

Another catastrophe if efforts are not made fast for their rescue people will be seen dying of cold, gangrene, respiratory infections and many other ailments that are bound to hit if planning is not done fast for the rehabilitation to safe and warm climate.

Staying in the open and the delayed relief and rescue efforts in the end will only be spent on dead and frozen stiff bodies which will have mostly children and women as in couple of weeks the cold will get to them as after surviving the quake they have to survive the cold and with nothing much as in keeping warm they freeze out in the chilling temperatures.

The people have made a rush for the relief camps that are crowded to the capacity as the place offers food or at least the death by the hands of cold will get a proper burial in a white coffin sheet which was denied to thousands who were buried under their adobes in tons of debris.

The coffin sheet (latha) was found short as a few days ago the local body elections were concluded in the effort to take ‘democracy’ at the grass root level. The local bodies representatives who had alluring slogans and coloured pictures to tell their tales for continuing befooling of the masses consumed the white sheets in entire country.

The elected representatives gone and missing and the local leadership which was absent from mitigating the problems of the masses except for amassing the relief goods with their henchmen left nation aghast that it could happen in the land of the pure.

There were many complaints as in photo opportunities from the big wigs and all concentration on the multi story building in Islamabad that also exposed the contingency plans of the government that had money to spare for the elite and posh bullet proofs vehicles but had nothing to offer for the commoner that was buried and later found dead in the rubble which couldn’t be move for hours as there was no equipment at all in the federal capital, Islamabad the beautiful.

The hungry and injured affectees in quest for food and shelter also get their share of batons as a contingent of Punjab Police was specially sent on directives to maintain law and order in the area and they have made very ‘good scenes’ in ensuring that ordinary masses doesn’t effect the ongoing relief operation.

The camp in Muzaffarabad which hosted thousands of affectees was forcibly evacuated amid baton charging policemen as the people protested and refused to vacate the place as they had no place to go and they lost to the authorities who evacuated the place and stationed the NATO troops besides cordoning off the place to ordinary public on pretext of security measures.

The total quake victims as in being catered in all the tents that are not winter proof doesn’t even come to 10 per cent of the total affectees. The winter will cut the number of these affectees where children alone will surpass the official figures, which are presented to the media with great assurance for being factual.

The relief agencies and locals say it otherwise as its them who are keeping a count of the dead, as it was their near and dear ones whom they couldn’t lift from the rubble, as they had nothing to move the rubble with.

People have crawled, dug holes and inched their way out and with ordinary hammer and chisels they dug up their loved ones hoping that they were alive.

The quake has left 4 million affected and there are as many stories of trauma and if these affectees survive the cold winter, they will be short of many more as its evident and fate as they are there.

The most cruel aspect is that the camps run by relief agencies in lower down areas catering to these displaced and injured have been asked to roll back as the people who are inhabitants of the razed cities will only be given the aid who can prove that they were the actual residents of that place. How will it be proved is another story which has raised many eye brows as how will this fact will be established.

The pledges made by the international donors as the quake happened resulted in a mere pittance and the paucity of funds were covered up by the common man in the country added with the organizations on the watch list who moved first and helped the suffering masses and their efforts won accolade from both home and abroad.

Sad reports featuring many politicians who tried to have the tragedy as an image building and photo opportunity exercise also surfaced and highest offices in the country had to send a strong massage as to shun away from gaining political mileage from the tragedy. The friends and foes were also exposed and many a political leaders were exposed for their love of the poor.

The fact remains as what happen next the task ahead is to rehabilitate the millions who have lost their lives, families, livelihoods and shelters.

On ground the tents that are considered the most precious commodity has no weather shield for snow and rain what happens if the cold grips the region in couple of weeks.

Reports appearing the Press are horrifying where gangs of criminals are operating abducting young girls, crippled children and infants for ulterior motives.

The government has repeatedly said they will look after all the orphans and women who run in an easy 2 million. The question of how will it be done is not answered.

People have been complaining the promised relief never reached them and even the promises that were there as in money never get to them. The distribution of Rs 25000 to the people to buy tin sheets also managed to reach select few and this money somehow can get a good tent but not the tin sheets to erect a shelter.

The experience of the past as in snow early this year also keep people reluctant of the promises that are being aired repeatedly for the relief and they are not leaving their adobes as they want what ever is being promised should reach them at their door step as moving from the demolished adobe may and will result in someone else claiming the relief money. The donor agencies have also asked for transparency of funds which have been assured from the highest office but its wait and see and only pledges that have come forward so far.

There have been many complaints where the patients under treatment were forcibly evacuated from the hospitals with a signature on paper and some money that was the fare back to the devastated land as with them removed the empty corridors were to serve as space for the fresh patients who make to the place of the former patients.

It is important to note that for days the accessibility in the region was impossible and the call for Berlin Airlift operation fell on deaf ears as a classification was made in humans in terms of priorities. People point fingers as when it was Tsunami thousands of helicopters did the rescue and when it came to Pakistan the front line ally not even half of them helicopters could be engaged and they never exceeded over 100, what ever relief that was done catered to only a few per cent not even 10 per cent as per flights and evacuations made.

The dead are in graves the survivors are the ones that are a big question mark as what happens to them and how long will it take for the life to be normal for them.

The urgency of the matters require concrete efforts at all levels and the embroiling political scenario has given it a very different twist.

The baton charging Punjab Police has created enough ripples in relief and aid agencies who after seeing the appalling display of brutality on affectees with a norm of tear gas and sticks on the injured and traumatized people concentrated their relief operations on higher elevations where this brutal and repressive force was not present or had minimum of presence.

The tales are countless but all kudos for people who do the relief work as in making a difference in the lives of people who have no where to turn to. The complaints are more but those who are saved have it balanced to some extent as in with gratitude for all those who were there to provide them with food and shelter. They are the blessed few thousands out of millions who have made it.

No data can be considered accurate and futile exercises made in the past have ranked Pakistan as the graveyard of developmental projects. The figures presented leave a lot to be desired. Simple statistics in population can show how wrong the figures are but one can only pray that the slogans and relief as aired and harped by the policy makers make a change and is spent on the people unlike the unaccounted for millions that have made their way to foreign accounts and were never spent on the people. The unprecedented snow earlier this year, followed by floods and now earthquake all have tales and relief operations in all three have faced criticism as majority complained and is still complaining.

“May Allah save them all who are faced with very harsh winter and make things easier for them, Ameen,” said an amputee in the corridor of the hospital with a blank expression, “I have lost all and I don’t know what will happen to millions.”

“I just pray they survive the winter,” said the man who walked away in pain on crutches.