By Sardar Khan Niazi
The monsoon rainstorms have caused destruction in various parts of Pakistan. They have been damaging beyond imagination. The issues of relief and rehabilitation are huge.
The United Nations Family Population Fund reports that there are an estimated 650,000 expecting mothers, with 73,000 expected to deliver next month, in the flood-affected areas. All of them need healthcare facilities. There is a need to bring these facilities lost in floods back to their access on an emergency basis.
Some of the videos on social media showing entire buildings just dismantling like a house of cards would scare even those with a heart of stone. We are in the midst of a disaster that turned out much worse than the 2010 floods or the 2005 earthquake.
The extraordinary inflation and serious unemployment have compounded the misery caused by the flood. There may be civil unrest in the days ahead, which could electrify foreign rogue elements to make the most of it. There is only one safety measure against such a likelihood; unity among the provinces, political parties, and institutions.
Not a single party leader or institution is above board in these troubled times. The government seems preoccupied with its own wish list, while all the opposition can think of is holding political rallies.
Only shared decisions by the stakeholders can solve the problems. However, they are least interested in such an undertaking, even though they all individually have the capacity to turn things around with joint action.
As a replacement for political rallies, we need some actual well-intentioned politics, and we need it rather seriously. Ministers, lawmakers, and prominent members of civil society are raising funds by setting personal examples.
The opposition leader should also focus his entire attention at least on Punjab Province and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) where he has greater control over what happens where. He has already raised enough funds and can use all his international contacts and donors to help more where it is needed the most.
He has still to push the provincial governments of KP and Punjab towards more focus on the relief efforts. His failure to do so has meant that these provincial governments have not really gotten on the ground with the relief effort.
The prime minister, on his part, should make policies for instantaneous relief throughout the country and make certain appropriate and defensible use of funds.
As always, Pakistan Army is carrying out relief activities. The army chief is ensuring rehabilitation and mass-scale volunteering effort by mobilizing the enormous youth force of Pakistan. The target is to reach all calamity-struck areas, particularly Baluchistan, the apparently overlooked province of the country.
The leadership across all kinds of divides should put aside grudges and petty conflicts for now in order to show compassion and empathy for the masses.
One cannot emphasize how important it is for us to stay united as a nation right now, and steer Pakistan out from not just deep waters, but also from an economic meltdown and internal security.
In such a situation, the country is in dire need of unity and political stability in order to help the flood-affected persons and cope with the after-effects of this disaster. Because the rehabilitation of the flood victims after the flood will be a challenge, that requires more unity and endurance than chaos and instability.
Optimistically once we recover from the issues at hand, perhaps our relevant institutions seriously brainstorm and prepare against global climate change and its hazards that we are witnessing now.
Pakistan is facing the climate change crisis, which is an existential threat. It can become worse if political conflicts are not put aside for now. This is the least the politicians can do.
