Mustafa Qadri
- Last Updated: August 16. 2010 9:00PM UAE / August 16. 2010 5:00PM GMT
When the UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon described flood-ravaged Pakistan as the worst natural disaster he had ever seen, he was not merely describing the extent of the devastation. He was also underlining the extent to which the outside world has yet to adequately react to what the UN describes as the most catastrophic natural disaster in its history.
Given Haiti’s devastating earthquake earlier this year, the Burma cyclone two years ago and the tragic Asian tsunami of 2004, that is an astonishing statement.
And yet, the numbers speak for themselves: out of a nation of 180 million, one in 10 people and one third of the nation’s land mass have been affected by the floods; six million need immediate food aid and at least two million have been made homeless. It is a trauma that is impossible to fully comprehend.
Despite the chaos and grief of the Pakistan floods, however, there now exists a unique opportunity to improve the international community’s relationship with this troubled country.
An international campaign of solidarity with Pakistan, similar to those which popularised the Haiti earthquake and the Asian tsunami, is required. We must all play a part in raising awareness, donating to charities, and organising local and international events.
But Pakistan requires more than just sympathy or large-scale humanitarian assistance. With its Islamist threats, political volatility and nuclear arsenal, few will not have recognised the importance of ensuring Pakistan’s long-term survival to promote international peace and security.
Indeed, as the experience of political violence has escalated in Pakistan, its people have felt increasingly disconnected from the outside world. That is a dangerous situation for all.
Rather than just focusing on the plight of Pakistan, it is important for the international media to promote a more positive image of the country by focusing on the tireless efforts of Pakistan’s civil society, welfare organisations, and government and military personnel, who have been working alongside humanitarian workers to aid flood victims. Such service illustrates that Pakistan’s population is not caught up in terrorism but hard working and decent.
Many Pakistanis feel a deep sense of victimhood fuelled by the international perception that their country is the centre of global terrorism. There is a sentiment here, and not without good reason, that the world rarely remembers the sacrifices Pakistan has made in this global conflict.
More Pakistan citizens have died as a consequence of terrorism and counterterrorism than any other country in recent years. To travel on a Pakistani passport is to expect almost certain harassment by customs officials the world over. As authorities struggle to cope with this latest crisis, the risk is that these old grievances mix with a new, raw sense of neglect.
The resentment created by all these factors is keenly stoked by al Qa’eda, the Taliban and other Islamist groups who champion the notion that the world is out to get Pakistan. A recent Pew Research Centre survey revealed that an astonishing 59 per cent of Pakistanis view the US as an enemy.
Beyond external concerns, however, are worries of persistent inflation, which has made staple foods like wheat and dhal a luxury, and a chronic shortage of energy that leaves homes and businesses without electricity for large periods of time. Following the recent floods, those concerns have magnified.
The US, along with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Canada, has been quick to pledge multi-million dollar humanitarian assistance. The US has also provided helicopters for relief missions (although the scale of its airborne assistance has been greatly curtailed by the decision to escalate the war in neighbouring Afghanistan).
China, however, which on paper is one of Pakistan’s strongest allies, has pledged a paltry $7 million thus far. India, which has pledged only $5 million of its total $500 million aid budget, has missed a monumental opportunity to develop bridges at a time when real and imagined torrents continue to divide the subcontinent’s two largest nations.
All of these pledges are a fraction of what is required to provide the food, medicine, temporary housing and other assistance urgently needed.
For too long, tragedy has been the main source of unity in Pakistan. Just as Pakistanis have marched together to depose dictators and demand better living conditions, the floods have united otherwise disparate ethnic, linguistic and religious communities like never before in a shared experience of grief. This natural disaster has not discriminated against ethnic Punjabis – long resented by other minorities for dominating the state – Sindhis, Pashtuns or Balochis, the latter two of which have already been ravaged by destructive insurgencies.
Now more than ever, Pakistan, its government, and its people need our support. Out of this unprecedented tragedy comes an opportunity to prove that the world is committed to the well-being of Pakistan. In so doing, we guarantee regional and global security far more effectively than any troop surge or drone strike ever could.
Mustafa Qadri is a journalist based in Pakistan. You can see his work at mustafaqadri.net
[First appeared in The National newspaper on August 17, 2010: http://thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100817/OPINION/708169914&SearchID=73400858303357]