There’s nothing new about the fact that the response of authorities in Pakistan to emergency situations is habitually delayed . We let the water rise way above our heads before even trying to do something about it. In simple words, every problem is ignored until it becomes chaotic and we have a crisis at hand.
So there is nothing surprising about the fact that the plea of the people of Hunza went unheard for months. On January 4 , an artificial lake emerged as a result of a massive landslide, blocking the Hunza River. The landslide killed 20, and left about 25,000 people stranded. According to a report :
Some local experts are of the opinion that early use of powerful water pumps to ejaculate the water at the blockade site and subsequent start of work to make spill way across the debris could have saved Gojal from turning into a water bomb. As the situation deteriorates, the people are left in psychological trauma as they see their houses, properties, crops and plants getting submerged. Desperately they wonder why the authorities declared the disaster a minor issue in the first place. After outburst of the lake, will the people of Gojal survive along with remnants of their properties or would it be a desperate battle for survival?
The report aptly summarises the Hunza crisis and the authorities’ indifference that has resulted in creating mayhem. The government response is now that of sympathy. But is sympathy enough after months of indifference and exposure to psychological and financial trauma?
For over five months, the people of Hunza have waited for the authorities to respond to the deteriorating situation, to save their property and to rehabilitate them, but to no avail. Now, over 40,000 people are at risk of being displaced as a result of the flood. Adding insult to injury, the Hunza IDPs will now join ranks with the millions of internally displaced people who have had to leave their homes due to militancy in the past year. The striking figures presented in this report suggest that in 2009 over three million Pakistanis were displaced as a result of the ongoing offensive in the country’s tribal belt; the most in the world and three times more than the Democratic Republic of Congo, which falls in second place.
Despite these shocking, painful, and distressing revelations, the authorities remain apathetic to displacement crises. Instead energies and attention have been focused on political games and power tussles. The voice of a common man is too often snubbed or only heard when the damage is irreversible. On Saturday, hundreds of people in Hunza held a 20-hour long protest against the government’s apathy toward the situation. Most of them chanted anti-government slogans after being disappointed by Prime Minister Gilani’s failure to announce relief for the affected people.
The Hunza disaster is yet another failure of the civilian, popularly elected government. Once again, the army and international relief organisations have been requested to step in. This tendency to pass the buck makes one wonder whether there is any sense of crisis management in the country, or if the government even feels remotely responsible or is aware of its role in such a situation.
If we look at the history of crisis management before this, whether the crisis was caused by war or natural disaster, the government’s role lacks transparency. The Hunza crisis is a ticking time bomb both in terms of the unpredictable flood and the bottled up anger of the people. If the government does not take this opportunity to address the pending issues of crisis management now, it is only a matter of time that we witness yet another exodus.
Goodbye International Cricket in Pakistan
As I broke the story of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, I also mourned the imminent death of international cricket in Pakistan. This deadly attack simply means no international team will be willing to come and play any sport in Pakistan. What is most embarrassing is the fact that the attack was targeted at a team that was trying to help Pakistani cricket and cricket-crazed fans by agreeing to tour in a time of dire crises.
Kumar Sangakkara, Ajhanta Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana are injured and although their lives are out of danger, it was most unfortunate that these most sporting of cricketers had to face this. Only last week, during the Karachi Test, former England fast bowler Dominic Cork and Sri Lankan coach Trevor Bayliss spoke about the fool-proof security arrangements in Pakistan and pleaded international sides to come and play cricket here. What must they be thinking and doing now? Eating their words, and packing their bags to board the next flight home, I suppose.
The least the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan government can do now is issue a national, government-level apology to the Sri Lankan team and the people of Sri Lanka for this unfortunate incident – a bit more than the PCB chief saying ‘we’re assessing the situation.’
Pakistani fans can pretty much say goodbye to international cricket after this attack and dare I say, even prepare for a total boycott of all sports events in the country for the next few months.
Kumar Sangakkara, Ajhanta Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranavithana are injured and although their lives are out of danger, it was most unfortunate that these most sporting of cricketers had to face this. Only last week, during the Karachi Test, former England fast bowler Dominic Cork and Sri Lankan coach Trevor Bayliss spoke about the fool-proof security arrangements in Pakistan and pleaded international sides to come and play cricket here. What must they be thinking and doing now? Eating their words, and packing their bags to board the next flight home, I suppose.
The least the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan government can do now is issue a national, government-level apology to the Sri Lankan team and the people of Sri Lanka for this unfortunate incident – a bit more than the PCB chief saying ‘we’re assessing the situation.’
Pakistani fans can pretty much say goodbye to international cricket after this attack and dare I say, even prepare for a total boycott of all sports events in the country for the next few months.
The anti-Islam vote in the Netherlands elections
The enormous success of the right wing anti-Islam party in the recent elections in the Netherlands indicates a widespread schism within the Dutch and wider European societies where the presence of the Muslims as equal participants of society is disputed.
“Stop migration from the Muslim countries! Block the building of mosques or Muslim schools! Stop subsidising the multicultural programs,” were prominent slogans of Geert Wilders, head of Freedom Party (PVV) during the election campaign in the Netherlands. His party obtained 1.5 million votes and increased its number of seats from 9 to 24 in the parliament. It is probable that the PVV may enter into a coalition with the mainstream liberal party VVD to form a government. This can lead to an extremely xenophobic and an anti-Muslim government in western Europe.
The anti-migrant propaganda of Wilders appealed to certain quarters within the Dutch society. The old working-class neighborhoods that traditionally supported the Labor and Socialist parties got disillusioned with the presumed ‘elitist’ attitude of these parties. With increasing unemployment, economic downfall, changing neighborhood demographics – with more migrants, caused a feeling of isolation among these groups (“this is not my street” is a complaint heard often). The migrants are easy targets of such socio-economic isolation. Add to this the fast integration of Europe that increased distance between the people and decision-makers, thus ‘evaporating our national symbols’, as neo-nationalist like Wilders will argue for.
The traditional polarisation of the Dutch political scene further added to the election win of the PVV. Wilders chided the traditional political parties for ignoring the worries of ‘common man’ on burning issues of migration, criminality and security. Afraid of loosing their vote bank the other political parties, the traditional parties did not present a clear opposition to Wilders’ accusations. In the process they lost to Wilders’ sentimental political ploy on such issues.
The success of parties like the PVV is a dangerous development with respect to the future of democratic values in Europe. Wilders’ party does not follow the rules of a traditional political party: it does not have a membership or party hierarchy or hold any party elections. In this sense it is mere a ‘movement’. Wilders successfully avoided any questions about bringing democracy within his own party. For the PVV, Wilders is a party ideologue, he formulated his party’s election program, chose the candidates and acts as the main media person of the party. An acceptance of such one-man demagogy within the Dutch political system shows an approval of certain undemocratic tendencies within a society that projects itself as a tolerant one.
This is even clearer if we look at Wilders’ ideas and his political program. In the past he advocated to “ban the Quran” and he likes to declare “Islam as a fascist ideology.” Such a theme is also reflected in the film ‘fitna‘ that he produced about the negative aspects of Islam. In his election campaign he asked for banning migration from the Muslim countries, and deporting the ‘criminal’ Muslims to the country of their origin. His anti-Islam program is based on the notion that European civilisation is founded on ‘Jewish-Christian tradition’ thus denying any role of the Muslims in the recent history of the country. Moreover he even asked for ‘ethnic registration’ of non-white population thus importing the kind of practices that the Nazi-German applied to its subjects.
Even more worrying is that Wilders’ political agenda was received without a broader outrage within the Dutch public space. It indicates a clear indifference, if not an implicit support, within the broader public space about Wilders’ program. The political win of the PVV nonetheless present a dangerous tendency within the Dutch society where the majority of voters elected a group that tries to usurp the democratic rights of a minority.
The win of Wilders in the Netherlands cannot be seen without taking into account the broader debate about Islam and Muslims in the European countries. Whether it is debate about banning of hijab in public spaces in France and Belgium or the issue of height of minarets in Switzerland, Islam has become a politicised subject in Europe. These reactions to the Muslim presence however indicate non-acceptance of the emerging realities within the Dutch or European societies.
M. Amer Morgahi is an extern researcher at the VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He can be reached at morgahi@yahoo.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
“Stop migration from the Muslim countries! Block the building of mosques or Muslim schools! Stop subsidising the multicultural programs,” were prominent slogans of Geert Wilders, head of Freedom Party (PVV) during the election campaign in the Netherlands. His party obtained 1.5 million votes and increased its number of seats from 9 to 24 in the parliament. It is probable that the PVV may enter into a coalition with the mainstream liberal party VVD to form a government. This can lead to an extremely xenophobic and an anti-Muslim government in western Europe.
The anti-migrant propaganda of Wilders appealed to certain quarters within the Dutch society. The old working-class neighborhoods that traditionally supported the Labor and Socialist parties got disillusioned with the presumed ‘elitist’ attitude of these parties. With increasing unemployment, economic downfall, changing neighborhood demographics – with more migrants, caused a feeling of isolation among these groups (“this is not my street” is a complaint heard often). The migrants are easy targets of such socio-economic isolation. Add to this the fast integration of Europe that increased distance between the people and decision-makers, thus ‘evaporating our national symbols’, as neo-nationalist like Wilders will argue for.
The traditional polarisation of the Dutch political scene further added to the election win of the PVV. Wilders chided the traditional political parties for ignoring the worries of ‘common man’ on burning issues of migration, criminality and security. Afraid of loosing their vote bank the other political parties, the traditional parties did not present a clear opposition to Wilders’ accusations. In the process they lost to Wilders’ sentimental political ploy on such issues.
The success of parties like the PVV is a dangerous development with respect to the future of democratic values in Europe. Wilders’ party does not follow the rules of a traditional political party: it does not have a membership or party hierarchy or hold any party elections. In this sense it is mere a ‘movement’. Wilders successfully avoided any questions about bringing democracy within his own party. For the PVV, Wilders is a party ideologue, he formulated his party’s election program, chose the candidates and acts as the main media person of the party. An acceptance of such one-man demagogy within the Dutch political system shows an approval of certain undemocratic tendencies within a society that projects itself as a tolerant one.
This is even clearer if we look at Wilders’ ideas and his political program. In the past he advocated to “ban the Quran” and he likes to declare “Islam as a fascist ideology.” Such a theme is also reflected in the film ‘fitna‘ that he produced about the negative aspects of Islam. In his election campaign he asked for banning migration from the Muslim countries, and deporting the ‘criminal’ Muslims to the country of their origin. His anti-Islam program is based on the notion that European civilisation is founded on ‘Jewish-Christian tradition’ thus denying any role of the Muslims in the recent history of the country. Moreover he even asked for ‘ethnic registration’ of non-white population thus importing the kind of practices that the Nazi-German applied to its subjects.
Even more worrying is that Wilders’ political agenda was received without a broader outrage within the Dutch public space. It indicates a clear indifference, if not an implicit support, within the broader public space about Wilders’ program. The political win of the PVV nonetheless present a dangerous tendency within the Dutch society where the majority of voters elected a group that tries to usurp the democratic rights of a minority.
The win of Wilders in the Netherlands cannot be seen without taking into account the broader debate about Islam and Muslims in the European countries. Whether it is debate about banning of hijab in public spaces in France and Belgium or the issue of height of minarets in Switzerland, Islam has become a politicised subject in Europe. These reactions to the Muslim presence however indicate non-acceptance of the emerging realities within the Dutch or European societies.
M. Amer Morgahi is an extern researcher at the VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He can be reached at morgahi@yahoo.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
The World Cup
ABOUT THIS PROGRAMME
BBC Sport Twitter feed - click here
Football Focus will be live from Cape Town, on key match days, previewing all the action, and providing detailed analysis from a panel of experts.
And you can follow all the action online with live text updates from every match and check the progress of your favourite squad with the Team Tracker.
Or send us pictures of you with your footballing heroes and help complete our online World Cup Photo Album.
it's more than just a game as Have You Heard from Johannesburg? chronicles the history of the global anti-apartheid movement that took on South Africa's apartheid regime and its international supporters.
And in new Life on the Edge: How to Become President George Weah’s testing the age-old adage that soccer and politics don't mix. The former Player of the Year has already run unsuccessfully for President of Liberia once.
Now he’s studying in America for another campaign. But in a war-torn country, some critics fear the star could be dangerously out of his depth...
BBC Sport Twitter feed - click here
Football Focus will be live from Cape Town, on key match days, previewing all the action, and providing detailed analysis from a panel of experts.
And you can follow all the action online with live text updates from every match and check the progress of your favourite squad with the Team Tracker.
Or send us pictures of you with your footballing heroes and help complete our online World Cup Photo Album.
it's more than just a game as Have You Heard from Johannesburg? chronicles the history of the global anti-apartheid movement that took on South Africa's apartheid regime and its international supporters.
And in new Life on the Edge: How to Become President George Weah’s testing the age-old adage that soccer and politics don't mix. The former Player of the Year has already run unsuccessfully for President of Liberia once.
Now he’s studying in America for another campaign. But in a war-torn country, some critics fear the star could be dangerously out of his depth...
Israeli attack on aid flotilla
Hundreds marched through Center City on Tuesday, protesting a deadly Israeli attack on a flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza.
Carrying signs and raising fists in the air, the group started at the Israeli consulate at 19th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard and marched to City Hall and then to the Inquirer-Daily News Building at 400 N. Broad St.
"We march for Palestine," said Cherine Morsi, 28, of Philadelphia. "My family's from the Middle East. Stuff like this hits pretty close to home."
Next to her, Khaled Mostafa, 39, of Abington, clutched a sign that read: "Israel, you can stop one boat, but you can't stop a movement."
On Monday, the "Freedom Flotilla" - a convoy of ships with about 600 passengers - was attempting to break Israel's three-year blockade of Gaza and bring supplies to the area when it was attacked in international waters. At least nine people were killed and others wounded in the attack.
The local protest, which swelled to about 300 people at one point, was organized in the middle of the night, said Hannah Schwarzchild, a member of Philadelphia Jews for Just Peace, one of the groups that spearheaded the march.
Several students from Central High School joined the protest. Lucas Koerner wore a T-shirt that read "We will not be silent," in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. He said he and other Central students formed a group called Middle East Justice Alliance to protest Israeli actions in Gaza and U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We want to appeal to the general public to urge the United States to stop Israel, to move them to make a change," said Tahreem Chaudhry, a Central High senior and group vice president.
As the protest ended, people laid dozens of signs at the front door of the newspaper building.
"Innocent people have been killed," said Amnah Ahmad, 23, a native Palestinian living in North Philadelphia. "We want the American people to remember what's going on in Palestine. People shouldn't support the terrorists, as we call them."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100602_Phila__marchers_protest_Israeli_attack_on_aid_flotilla.html#ixzz0pglvEKez
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Carrying signs and raising fists in the air, the group started at the Israeli consulate at 19th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard and marched to City Hall and then to the Inquirer-Daily News Building at 400 N. Broad St.
"We march for Palestine," said Cherine Morsi, 28, of Philadelphia. "My family's from the Middle East. Stuff like this hits pretty close to home."
Next to her, Khaled Mostafa, 39, of Abington, clutched a sign that read: "Israel, you can stop one boat, but you can't stop a movement."
On Monday, the "Freedom Flotilla" - a convoy of ships with about 600 passengers - was attempting to break Israel's three-year blockade of Gaza and bring supplies to the area when it was attacked in international waters. At least nine people were killed and others wounded in the attack.
The local protest, which swelled to about 300 people at one point, was organized in the middle of the night, said Hannah Schwarzchild, a member of Philadelphia Jews for Just Peace, one of the groups that spearheaded the march.
Several students from Central High School joined the protest. Lucas Koerner wore a T-shirt that read "We will not be silent," in English, Arabic, and Hebrew. He said he and other Central students formed a group called Middle East Justice Alliance to protest Israeli actions in Gaza and U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We want to appeal to the general public to urge the United States to stop Israel, to move them to make a change," said Tahreem Chaudhry, a Central High senior and group vice president.
As the protest ended, people laid dozens of signs at the front door of the newspaper building.
"Innocent people have been killed," said Amnah Ahmad, 23, a native Palestinian living in North Philadelphia. "We want the American people to remember what's going on in Palestine. People shouldn't support the terrorists, as we call them."
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100602_Phila__marchers_protest_Israeli_attack_on_aid_flotilla.html#ixzz0pglvEKez
Play fantasy sports and win cash prizes instantly. Philly.com's Instant Fantasy Sports Games
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