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Deccan Herald » Panorama » Detailed Story
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ON THE SPOT
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Help fails to reach those who need it
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By Tavleen Singh
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So would you say that this tragedy will bring our two countries closer together, the eager TV anchor asked the high official.
And the high official, pleased to be asked so weighty a question, pondered, as the camera lingered over his self-important expression, before finally replying that the earthquake provided a ‘window of opportunity’ for India and Pakistan.
A window of opportunity?
Thousands of people lie dead, thousands of others were buried alive and took days to die, among them small children whose cries for help rescue workers heard for hours before they died.
There are villages in Pakistan in which a generation could have been wiped out and our officials are talking of ‘windows of opportunity’.
Are these people human?
Perhaps not or we would have seen some compassion, some sensitivity in the face of such terrible human suffering.
Instead, the earthquake in Kashmir has shown the worst side of officials on both sides of the border.
On our side we have seen officials make shameless political capital out of the suffering of desperate people and on the Pakistani side we have seen the usual Pakistani resistance to any help that comes from India.
The reluctance has been so obvious that frankly I resent help being offered especially since we have so far been unable to help our own people.
Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister abandoned the Congress conclave in Chandigarh to fly off to Srinagar to offer succour but judging from the actual help earthquake victims got their ‘succour’ seemed more for the TV cameras than anything else.
Barkha Dutt and her cameraman, Ajmal Jami, managed to get to remote villages in Uri and show us pictures of families sleeping in the open, managed to bring us stories of children dying of exposure but government help did not reach and our ‘leaders’ stuck to the safe environs of Srinagar.
Kashmiri leaders came off even worse than the Prime Minister and Sonia.
Mehbooba Mufti went on nationwide television to ask for money so they could help the victims. Money?
Does the Kashmir government not have enough money to buy food, tents and warm clothes for a thousand people?
And, if it does not then explanations are in order.
While we are about it Ms Mufti could also explain why Daddy’s government was unable to reach the villages that Barkha managed to get to.
The scale of the devastation on our side is small and there is no reason why even one child should have to die of exposure.
Worse than Mehbooba’s reaction was that of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
Speaking from the pulpit of Srinagar’s Jama Masjid he tried rousing the rabble by saying, ‘It is sad that people have not responded to this great tragedy.
‘This was not expected. When Latur and Bhuj were ravaged, big industrialists stepped forward to help.
But no one seems to be coming to our aid.’
If he had stepped outside the ultra-safe environs of the Jama Masjid and gone to affected areas in Uri he would have noticed that Indian construction companies, with projects in the area are, already out there supplying people building materials, generators and tents.
On the Pakistani side as well it is private citizens and NGOs that have got there before government agencies which is a sad comment on the state of governance in South Asia.
It is only when a tsunami or an earthquake hits that you realise how taxpayers money is wasted on vast government machinery that somehow always grinds to a halt when it is really needed.
The fact that Kashmiris, on our side of the border, are asking aid to be channelled through the army speaks volumes about the absence of faith in civilian governance.
The Kashmiris hate the Indian army but know that in a time of need they are more reliable than their elected representatives.
In a sense our officials have come off worse than the Pakistani ones.
In Pakistan, at the time that I write this, the final death toll remains uncalculated.
Rumours in official circles in Delhi put it at more than 80,000 so it is understandable if the government in Islamabad finds itself overwhelmed.
On our side of the border the scale of the disaster is nowhere near this grim and yet help has failed to reach those who need it. This is inexcusable. Now that we have a right to information we should begin by seeking details of the government’s emergency measures and find out why they always seem to fail.
Meanwhile, let us concentrate on helping the victims of this terrible earthquake.
Those who want to help should keep in mind that what victims need almost as much as food and water are tents and masses of warm clothes.
Winter is only weeks away and in Kashmir it’s hard enough to sleep in the open in high summer.
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Saturday, October 15, 2005
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