Original article at DailyTimes.com.pk | 5 Sep, 2010 | Link to original article

by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The adverse consequences of frequent natural disasters compounded by the wilful neglect and deliberate relief obstruction the Pakistani authorities in Balochistan create, and we see the crudest enactment of "˜a tragedy within the tragedy' scenario

The UN relief agencies have warned that the humanitarian situation in flood-hit Balochistan has become "˜very precarious'. Mr Martin Mogwanja, the regional UN humanitarian coordinator said, "The situation in Balochistan is a tragedy within the tragedy." I presume he too will be labelled as a RAW agent with a mission to malign Pakistan. Another UNHCR representative said, "We all have a tendency to follow the course of the River Indus, and Balochistan risks being neglected...But we will not let this happen, and are scaling up our response." Lofty and commendable ideals but sadly the ground realities are quite different and the UN and its bodies here are restricted to Hotel Serena in Quetta due to unjustified restrictions imposed in the name of security and which have led to "a tragedy within the tragedy".

Disasters and tragedies, natural and man-made, are not a novelty in Balochistan. They occur with clockwork regularity unimaginable elsewhere. The army operations, FC high-handedness, missing persons and their turning up as mutilated bodies are everyday realities of life for the Baloch. Creditably, they have never surrendered before these injustices and resisted them with patience, vigour and increasing success. The adverse consequences of frequent natural disasters compounded by the wilful neglect and deliberate relief obstruction the Pakistani authorities in Balochistan create, and we see the crudest enactment of "˜a tragedy within the tragedy' scenario.

An eight-year drought had ended in August 2003 with heavy rains and flash floods. Though these floods affected 420,337 people in 16 districts, causing 46 deaths, destruction of 29,045 houses and 19,454 heads cattle loss and crops over 420,369 acres, the provincial relief commissionerate distributed only Rs 12 million, 2,780 tents, 975 blankets, 100 edibles packets, 140 medicine cartons, and the Centre doled out only 990 tents, 5,000 blankets and six truckloads of food in a shamefully inadequate response to a major disaster.

The year 2005 saw Musharraf unleash a war of terror on the Baloch, not that the injustices had ever ceased. It also saw rain and snow create havoc. The entire Balochistan province was declared a calamity-hit area and tax recovery suspended. Many lost their lives and there was extensive damage to crops and property including the expensive Coastal Highway and Shadi Kaur Dam. Promises for compensation were aplenty but were never honoured.

In June 2007, Cyclone Yemyin battered the coastal areas of Balochistan and caused flooding affecting 1.5 million people. Stricken people shifted to higher places to escape the floodwaters. The Mirani Dam overflowed and triggered severe flooding in Turbat. The government contentedly issued handouts praising the army and the FC for rescue and relief efforts while the situation on the ground was desperate.

Tragedy after tragedy unfolded and added to the woes of the people when, after initial permission, the international relief organisations were suddenly stopped by the government on security concerns. Even relief operations being carried out by the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) and other nationalist organisations were stopped and their camps disbanded. The state probably viewed cyclones as helpful in bringing about demographic changes by population reduction, a nature-assisted genocide.

Cyclone Phet in June this year wreaked havoc in Gwadar, Pasni and other coastal towns. Hundreds of fishing boats went missing, thousands were displaced, innumerable properties damaged and some 19,303 families were affected, all this in spite of previous warning by the UN. Warnings were ignored because Balochistan's towns and not Islamabad was at risk. The Gwadar Disaster Response Forum (GDRF), a conglomeration of local NGOs, organised self-help. The government continued to restrict relief while issuing self-laudatory handouts.

The recent floods caused by rains and the Tori Bund breach, which former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali alleges was made to save the US-run Shahbaz Airbase, caused unprecedented devastation in Jaffarabad and adjoining districts. Heavy rains and mountain torrents in Marri and Barkhan area resulted in over 50 deaths and severe damage to houses and infrastructure. Flood losses are estimated around Rs 1 billion, 12 districts have been declared calamity-hit and tax collection suspended there. The floods have washed away 75,261 houses, destroyed crops over 700,000 acres, 305 km of roads, several bridges, hundreds of buildings and 256 irrigation schemes. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Dera Bugti already living in pathetic conditions there and in Sindh have suffered immeasurably again.

The scale of devastation is mind-boggling and the response not only inadequate but also wilfully restricted as if to punish the recalcitrant Baloch who, even after 63 years, refuse to adopt the Pakistani identity. Little wonder the UN relief agencies term the situation as "˜very precarious'. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has unjustly banned international donor agencies, aid organisations and NGOs from directly assisting the flood-affected people of Balochistan while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the prohibition has been suspended.

Economic deprivation and force are being employed to keep the Baloch aspirations in check. Unsurprisingly, a news report said that some 2,000 people are stranded in flood-affected Gandakha and helicopters were flying over it but not landing to rescue the marooned people who urgently need essentials. Certainly, this cannot be due to oversight. Fortunately, the locals are carrying out relief on a self-help basis.

The media has generally lauded the armed forces' role in rescue and relief but a national daily reported that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will pay Rs 20 million to the military authorities as charges for the 1,000 trips that the 30 helicopters made during rescue and relief operations there. The service charges of eight US Chinook helicopters would be similarly reimbursed. Great humanitarianism this: you get praised and paid as well. I was wondering if Balochistan and Sindh would have to foot the rescue work bill as well.

The Baloch sufferings raise not an eyebrow; the missing are still missing; Zakir Majeed's family has been on hunger strike at the Quetta Press Club for months now but to no avail, Chakar Marri and Zaman Khan Marri are still missing along with hundreds others. I wonder if Mr Martin Mogwanja realised that the "˜tragedy within a tragedy' holds true for both the sufferings of the Baloch due to natural calamities as relief is malevolently restricted and the state atrocities that they have been bearing since 1947. It is pertinent to note that though human beings are mentally most fragile in times of tribulations, these tribulations also enhance their will to struggle for termination of the conditions responsible for these tribulations. These floods could, rather should, prove to be a source of unity and bonding among the sufferers.

The writer has an association with the Baloch rights movement going back to the early 1970s. He can be contacted at mmatalpur@gmail.com

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