Raoof Hasan

Nature’s fury and its aftermath

The Candid Corner

Like a string of snuffed out lights
Lined up within the confines of my heart
We are scared, we are weary
Of the refulgence of the sun

           Adapted from Faiz Ahmad Faiz

There is destruction spread around us. Human misery is reflected in every part of a water-ravaged land. More rain likely to pour from the skies will add to the pain and suffering of millions who have lost every possession they had and every hope they may have nurtured. Darkness and desolation surround us. In the midst of this enormous tragedy, two things would matter the most: how do we cope with the disaster and its after-effects for the people in the immediate future, and how do we ensure that such tragedies do not strike the country again? Also, in the event they do, how do we raise our institutional expertise and capacity to combat the challenge more effectively?

Instead of concentrating on functionalising the remedial steps which need to be taken without any loss of time, the government seems to be more interested in playing politics. On the one hand, it is wasting its energy in fabricating charges against Imran Khan to oust him from the political arena and, on the other hand, its response is hampered with an abysmal absence of planning and paucity of genuineness in attending to the sufferings of the people. The attention is directed more towards projecting personalities rather than the tasks which are being undertaken and the relief that is being provisioned. Cruel and crass optics rule the waves.

The stories which are emanating from the devastation are harrowing. Some instances of bravery and heroism have also come forth where people weathered the tidal onslaught with courage and valour, saving human lives and stocks. But so severe was nature’s fury that it washed away standing buildings, bridges, roads and everything else that came in its way. One could only see wave upon wave of surging water demolish the belongings of the poor which they had collected by the dint of their toil and sweat. It all disappeared within seconds.

Pakistan is a land which has been stalked by tragedies of two varieties: nature-made and man-made. It is the latter variety which has brought it far more destruction than the former kind, and may partly be its cause, but there has been no dissuading the leaders from pursuing policies exclusively for the cause of self-advancement and material gains. In the process, the country and its impoverished communities have been left to the ferocity of the tidal waves ravaging their lands and belongings. Every such tragedy is followed by the usual expression of grief and resolve to provide relief to people who have suffered its consequences. This continues for a few days and then everything is forgotten as relief goods provided by friendly countries and international aid organisations are often seen being sold in open markets, becoming a cause of much national embarrassment. And more often than not, those in charge of distribution of relief are the culprits engaged in this heinous trade. Will there ever be an end to this remorseless drive to earn humiliation and notoriety? Going by the dismal and debilitating performance of the past, this may remain just a fond hope.

For most of the years since independence, Pakistan has remained leaderless. Oscillating between military dictators and contrived ‘democratic’ facades, the country has continued to suffer the ravages of incorrigible deceit, deception, loot and plunder. No mechanism has ever been built into the system that would check this onslaught because no one was interested in doing so. Instead, the objective was to weaken and demolish the remnants of a system we had inherited from the colonial rulers. So, over time, we have ended up with a pile of debris, which we promote as our pride performance, buried underneath which are the bits and pieces of what could have been a functional system to run the country. These bits and pieces are used selectively by whoever is in command to advance his cause and that of his associates, cartels and mafias. Interest of the state never had any relevance in all this.

Imagine, for over fifty years, Pakistan did not plan building a large dam. Kala Bagh, which many thought was pivotal to Pakistan’s needs, was politicised to an extent that the project had to be abandoned. The focus of the leaders remained centred on making quick profits, so IPPs were the vogue which delivered expensive electricity but enough pelf for the rulers to build their personal factories and properties, within and outside the country. Worse still, the electricity generated by these power plants was so expensive that it has been gradually rendered beyond the financial capacity of most of the consumers.

Like so much else, this also proved to be a self-enriching project initiated by the corrupt rulers and their accomplices for advancing their personal stakes and interests. Pakistan was reduced to being just a convenient vehicle for catering to their boundless greed and lust. This greed has remained insatiable over time which has continued devouring the national exchequer. With the criminal cabal which has now been inducted to rule the country, there is no hope in hell that even an attempt would be made to bring these corrupt practices to an end. In fact, their gravity and expanse are likely to intensify, thus further accentuating the status of the country as the begging bowl of the world. No shame, no penitence on the part of anyone responsible for bringing about this grievous tragedy to stalk upon the country.

If Pakistan has to ever come out of an ever deepening quagmire, all this will have to change. And no cosmetic adjustments will do. It has to be a thorough overhaul which completely remodels the system that has plagued this country through decades. A system based on the principles of equality, equity, justice, transparency and accountability will have to be crafted which will be applicable to all segments of the society – from the rich few to the impoverished multitudes spread right across the national expanse. It is the applicability of this system which will be pivotal to its success. This can’t happen by there being two justice systems practised – one for the rich and the powerful and the other for the poor and the weak. Everyone will have to submit before the diktat of the law as a matter of compulsion. Only then the cause of justice will be served.

We are a million miles away from that post. But each step would count. This tragedy could be the starting point in correcting our direction and reshaping the country so that the poor could breathe, and they could nurture some hope, too.

The writer is a political and security strategist and the founder of the Regional Peace Institute