Politics on Floods 2 - Save Pakistan!

As I have started getting firsthand accounts of devastation of flood in the province of Sindh, my concern is growing. The concern is not limited to the floods alone but the political and social implications of the floods and their aftermath too.

Before I delve further into the issues that trouble me, I will like to highlight a fact that contributed to worsening of the flood situation in country’s south, a fact completely ignored in the coverage of the floods. Between 10^th and 16^th of the lunar calendar, due to the rise of sea (sea tides), the Arabian Sea does not accept any water from River Indus. In fact, the sea water gets pushed about 30 miles inside the Indus Delta. So if the floods were not disbursed during these days and were let downstream, Karachi was at risk of a very heavy flooding. To save this, the water had to be disbursed more in upstream.

With this explanation, let me move to the issue at hand, and a grave one. First and foremost, the demolition of dykes and levees has been carried out by Army and Army alone and the prime consideration has been given to preserving the military installations. Now it makes sense to preserve sensitive military installations like Pannu Aqil Cantonment or Shahbaz Airbase, but the people in Sindh claim that even relatively smaller installations have been protected at the cost of massive populations. Not only that but also the local landlords, most of whom are politicians of both opposition and government parties, have been blamed for the demolitions of dykes and levees. Most of the large landowners of Sindh have part or whole of their land under water. Only those survived whose lands were in the vicinity of any military installation or water structure.

But started a smear campaign against local landlords and politicians that is fueled by the media (which as reported by Ali Sethi in New York Times cannot blame Army and has to sell sensational stories as well). It is also alleged that the campaign has covert backing of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment. MQM chief has jumped the bandwagon and is enticing people to encroach on landlords’ lands. He fully realizes that this situation will only lead to a chaotic stalemate, in which the social fabric of Sindh will be fragmented. Anyone fueling this sentiment does not realize the dangers inherent in this. The apathy of Sindhis is at an all time high with the federation of Pakistan. Their wounds of past and recent past are still fresh. The fact that their towns and villages were drowned in the middle of the night, that their homes and shops were looted, and that they had to live under the sun over water without food and aid for days has only increased this apathy. Things like stopping them from entering Karachi or Hyderabad for refuge during the recent floods is only adding to the apathy. In this scenario, if someone thinks that he could control a political maneuver to serve the vested interest by pitching masses against landlords or people of one town against the other is only and only playing with the fire. If the chaos begins, no one has the means to control it. It can quickly lead to an anti-state revolt or worst still a social suicide. If this fire spreads, nothing will be safe. Landlords, no matter how bad, are a buffer in this time of chaos; we should not undermine them, at least for now. The time will come, if needed.

I do not have any hope of sanity from Pakistani media. It is a gone case. But I do expect sanity from political leadership, in particular Mr. Altaf Hussein. I do not know what his political calculation is (and he knows his calculations in last 2 decades have been more wrong than right), but he should know that any fire around his core constituency might or might not turn into an increased vote bank or preservation of the existing vote bank, but will definitely burn his constituency first and with it the already fragile state as well. And above all, I have hope of sanity from country’s military establishment, who should realize that even in these floods, the politicians and landlords have been their last line of defense. If some shoulder takes your blame, you don’t break that shoulder.