Pakistani Politics Shaken to Its Roots

The president Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, has not only welcomed a proposal forwarded by Qazi Hussain Ahmad to have an All Parties Conference on post-quake situation but has also invited the leadership of ARD and MMA to visit the calamity-stricken area to assess the damage. Needless to say, if politicians come closer and join their heads to resolve the crisis, many a mysteries of Pakistani politics will be resolved.

One of the significant aspects of this natural calamity was that it was sudden and abrupt; neither the government nor the people had any idea of what had struck them so hard. Though geological experts had said four years back that an earthquake of 7.8 had become overdue that could also hit Islamabad, little awareness existed regarding the pending disaster.

The geological forecast published in New York Times fell on deaf ears. The Department of Geology, Punjab University, had submitted a detailed report on the seismic activity on the major earthquake fault line falling in the foothills of Himalayas
in 1998 but nothing is known about the official response to this scholarly work.

Earlier, Mr Edward Stone, an American city planner, after analysing the G-factor, had advised General Ayub to drop plan of building country’s capital where it stands now. Field Marshall went ahead with his idea but he was not alive to see the whole country trembling with fear as rescue workers searched for life from the debris of a 10-story building in Islamabad on 8/10.

As the Indian tectonic plate collided with its Eurasian counterpart, about five million people in were worsely affected. The ripples generated through this geological activity destroyed cities, towns and villages in NWFP and Jammu & Kashmir; administrative and communication infrastructure has literally collapsed; about 100,000 people are feared dead.

The jolt was followed by heavy rain making rescue work impossible. A week has passed but many affected areas remain inaccessible. How many people have died, is anybody’s guess to date. Official estimates put this figure around 60,000 among speculations that it may rise up to 100,000. The WHO chief has termed the tragedy worst than Tsunami. A generation has been lost; post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma haunts survivors.

Neither political parties nor the civil society was alive to the need to have a disaster management system in the country. Like many other important issues, this issue was not debated in the Parliament, too. The best response would have constituted the organisation of Disaster Management Cell with a responsibility to disseminate necessary information and training of the youth to tackle the disaster effectively. But nothing happened like that.

The way the rescue work begun to pull out the people stranded in the rubble of Margala Towers revealed a lot how the nation was ill-prepared to tackle the situation. There were no equipments and trained workforce available to save the lives of unfortunate people; the pace of work was disrupted by the arrival of VIPs on the spot.

The receptionist of the building who was fortunate enough to escape death told media men that the fate of the building was predetermined as it had developed serious cracks in its structure long before it was shook by the tremor. He said that the real job was being done by the common people who had saved many a lives through removing the debris with their bare hands.

The official response to the disaster was nothing but the one marked with confusion. Though one can’t doubt its sincerity, the fact of the matter is that no infrastructure existed to undertake relief work on a vast scale. There were no choppers to lift the people from the devastated areas – no tools and trained man force to pull the people out of rubble. The relief goods dispatched by the people from across the country were distributed without any planning. There was witnessed no coordination to undertake relief work. Many areas could not be accessed even after a week.

The political parties have been earnestly engaged in the relief work; their leadership has generously donated to lessen the suffering of the quake victims. But the real job is to find out solutions to rehabilitate the survivors who are fighting the cold weather with their bleeding wounds. They have no homes to return while education, health and administrative structure have been completely destroyed.

Needless to say, a great responsibility rests with the political parties to realise their responsibilities to make better policies ensuring that the same are implemented effectively. So far all has been left to the bureaucrats to take care of people’s problem. has a vast area and growing population now touching the figure of 150 million people. People need rationally devised policies with a guarantee that the same would be implemented effectively as well.

is located in the earthquake fault zone but doesn’t have any system to fight calamites and disasters of the kind it has had very recently. The 150 million people need proper planning with regard to education, health and employment besides a system to protect their life and property. Legislators have a great responsibility on their shoulders to take nation through the global age. They need to work hard because fifty years have been wasted in serving the cause of every one but the people of .

While about five million people have been jolted with the earthquake, the other 145 million have still to find proper place under the sun. How many scientists, agricultural experts, geologists and doctors the nation needs to fight poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment? How deserts, floodplains and valleys will be managed? Who will count life on ground and under water? How many birds fly ‘s sky? How many times this ‘Land of the Pure’ has been devastated by natural disasters? What a lesson the remains of thirteen civilisations in the Indus Valley teach us? These and scores of other similar questions remain unanswered to date.

The ground realities that matter in the politics of the country have been changed. Earthquake has opened up a new chapter of history with all its revelations; equation between the rulers and the ruled has been altered by the nature. People have confronted death; they have still to bury the dead bodies scattered in the quake-stricken areas. Media men who have reached the inaccessible areas are praising the role of the society; they are wondering loudly whether state’s institutions have the capacity to effectively respond crises.

The best hope one can attach with the political parties of the country is that they will rise above the occasion; they now have the opportunity to change misperceptions among the people about their dubious role in politics. Those who are guilty of behaving unscrupulously and disrespecting people’s mandate in the past can now compensate the nation of the loss they have inflicted it through sticking to the politics of opportunism. What they need to do now is to get to the work and clear off the task pending since last five decades.