Why is Pakistan refusing help?

The name Pakistan evokes different emotion in different people in India.  Many hate the name and several people are indifferent to it.  Some moderate people understand or try to understand the country and there are quite a few sympathizers as well.

What we do not know much sitting here in India is that Pakistan has suffered one of the worst humanitarian crisis in last few weeks. The flood waters of the mighty Indus has ravaged Pakistan. There are estimates that more than 4 million people have been left homeless by the devastating floods. Three weeks of unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods in Khyber-Paktunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan, affecting 20 million people. Thousands have died but millions have lost their home, their land, their crops and everything they ever had in their life. The calamity is bigger than any earthquake or the tsunami, it might have killed far less people in numbers but in the long run it will have a far fetched effect on more people than any other calamity the region has seen in past years.

This calamity might have lesser death count but it is the biggest tragedy world has seen in terms of no. of people that would be affected by it. Bigger than Haiti Earthquake few months back and bigger than Tsunami of 2004.

Surprisingly, not many nations are coming forward to help Pakistan. Some have contributed meager sum of money and offered food and medicine but the people of Pakistan needs more. Countries like Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and United States have offered monetary and other help. World bank has promised millions to rebuild the houses, roads, bridges, granaries and to repair the dams. Asian Development Bank has promised even more than the World bank. However Its still not enough.  Any kind of help in this hour of need is welcome. All the help and aid would trickle down slowly and whether it would reach the actual victims of the flood who have lost their life’s savings is another question. Government of Pakistan of course is not doing enough and people do not have much faith in the government to provide them short term emergency help or even any long term solution to their massive problems.

However, for Pakistani Politicians the bigger issue is whether to accept help from India or not. India has offered 5Million $ as aid money, which might not be much but as a gesture says lot. Especially in todays times when there is general mistrust amongst the 2 countries, politicians are not talking and there are larger issues like Kashmir and Terrorism show no sign of abetting. Pakistani politicians are worried that taking aid from India would amount to severe backlash at their home front, what they have not realized that a hungry man does not ask from where the food has come. Right now people of Pakistan who have suffered in the floods, lost their houses, lands, cattle and any source of livelihood and are living in temporary makeshift camps and tents with no sign of any improvement and only rotten food to eat are least bothered if the food grain parcels have Indian stamp on them. Playing politics at this hour is the worst form of crime one can do.

There are organizations like LeT and JuD which are militant outfits are collecting money for the people and providing them help in whatever way they can. If it is acceptable to take help from such rogue parties then why not legitimate aid and supply from India? By allowing such rogue organizations to collect money for people  they are in fact creating sympathy in the minds of people for such organizations, which in long term can be more harmful than one can ever think. Empty stomachs have no loyalties. Militant outfits are waiting for such crisis to first help and then convert, out of work no hoper’s in their vicious plots. Would Pakistani government like this?

Pakistan had sent aid at the time of Gujarat Earthquake and there was an Indo-Pak joint team during earthquake in Kashmir. India has accepted help without any hue and cry and with zero politics, why cant Pakistan do that? Just take the money and use it wisely for the people who are desperate for any kind of help.

Ladakh a Region in Turmoil

Ladakh is one of the most difficult terrain in the world.  Leh, the central city of Ladakh region is at an altitude of 11500 feet above mean sea level. Although Leh does have an airport but air travel is restricted to few people. To reach Ladakh one can either go via road from Srinagar- Kargil or another road from Manali via series of high altitude passes.

I was fortunate enough to visit the place just few months back and one thing I can confirm from the trip is that this is the most beautiful region you would ever find anywhere in the world.

The region receives very less rainfall in the entire year as he rain-clouds do not cross over the Himalayas and hence it is an high altitude desert. Ladakh mostly has people living in small villages with little mud houses. When a calamity like cloud burst and flash floods happen in the region, then the amount of destruction is unbelievable.

As per the reports we read and hear on TV channels, entire old town has been washed away, roads and bridges have been washed away by water. At least 150 people have been found dead, thousand injured and many are missing. Typical tourist season in Ladakh region extends from end of May till middle of September. Considering this is the peak tourist season in the region, there are thousands of tourists stuck in the region. Regions like Nubra, Pangong and Zanskar have many tourists at this time of the year for trekking, river rafting, mountain climbing and other adventurous activities.

On top of this the weather is bad and the heavy rainfall has broken the record of last 100 years. The rescue efforts are minimal as roads leading to Leh are still not usable as bridges have been broken in various places. There is a general scarcity of food, vegetables, milk etc. Air force have deployed several planes and rescue material and help has reached the region but it would be a humongous task to restore the region’s roads, bridges, houses and other infrastructure.

Hearing the news, lots of tourists would now cancel their plans to visit the beautiful place, this in turn will hurt the economy of the place as well as the entire region runs on tourism. The hotels, the adventure guides all would be hurt by this.  The Indian army and its BRO ( Border Roads Organization) unit can construct the washed away roads and bridges, this process will go over couple of months. The time window is short as by September end the killing winder season would begin and then it would be difficult to do any kind of work in region as the entire region is covered in snow by October and even most of the locale people migrate to other parts of country during the winter.

What Ladakh needs is tourists to stay away from it for now because of the calamity BUT more than that it needs its tourists back from next season as tourism is this region’s lifeline, without that the region’s economy will not survive. Before that its needs its roads and bridges and houses back.  Indian army has one big task ahead of it

Irony is that the Indian Army which is a no-no in parts of Kashmir valley and are considered as intruders by the Kashmiri locals and is protested against,  is entrusted with task of rehabilitation of the entire Ladakh region, a part of Jammu and Kashmir state.

Hopefully the region will be revived soon,  roads will be made, bridges will be built and tourist will return next year but it will be a long time till the scars of this mishap will be forgotten.