Helicopter rides, photo-ops and concert-styled rallies amidst worst flood disaster in Pakistan!

While the people of Pakistan are reeling from the worst flood disaster in living memory, politicians take helicopter rides, indulge in photo-ops and hold concert-styled rallies.Their callousness is mindboggling. They offer little help apart from issuing vacuous statements in front of television cameras.

Official figures of death and damage are nowhere near the actual scale of destruction. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on September 6 that over 1,500 people had died in the floods, mostly children, while hundreds had been left injured.“Over 5,000km of roads, 200 bridges, 1.4 million houses and 700,000 livestock have been washed away,” according to NDMA.

Many remote villages have still not been reached where people are stranded. How many have died there is difficult to tell. Many of these villages are mud houses that collapsed amid rising waters. The poor villagers’ children, women and cattle have been washed away by floods.

Amid this massive disaster, top political and ‘other’ leaders have been seen dropping a few food packages from helicopters for cameras. Following that photo-op, their helicopters that did not touch down, flew away for a photo-op session at another location.

Female politicians have been seen visiting a carefully select group of women. The amount of money spend on their personal grooming and protocol could have fed at least a hundred families.

An ex-PM, who claims to be the most popular political leader of the country, is busy in slandering anyone and everyone, in concert-styled political rallies on an almost daily basis.

How cynical can they get?

All four provinces of the country have been affected but Sindh and Balochistan are most severely affected because they are downstream.

The politicians’ criminal conduct, especially in Sindh has also caused the destruction of hundreds of villages with the resultant deaths of innocents. It has been reported that the political elite of the province has ordered local authorities to breach barrages to divert water toward villages in order to protect their lands from flooding.Trucks carrying relief goods donated by people have been attacked and their goods snatched by ‘official’ goons.

Both in South Punjab and Sindh province, standing crops have been destroyed.With 60% of the country under water and 35 million people affected, it will take decades if not more to recover.

The Meteorological department had warned the government three months ago about the monsoon rains and the resultant flooding.Far from taking any preventative measures, the regime and its opposition is indulged in dirty politics.

The only ray of hope, perhaps, is that the disaster and crisis has brought out the best in most of the ordinary Pakistanis. The role of religious charity organizations for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of the afflicted has been commendable.

Some religious and secular scholars are engaged in the debate that whether the disaster in Pakistan should be called the wrath of Allah (SWT), a trial from Allah (SWT) or an event that happened due to the sheer incompetence and dereliction of duty by our governments. The fact of the matter is, that in the case of the God-gifted state of Pakistan, all three aspects are relevant.

No one can deny the fact that our ruling elite has taken little or no practical measures to reduce the impacts of natural calamities, including floods, to as much a degree as humanly possible. Had the recommendations of the Flood Commission Report of 2010 been honestly implemented, the losses during the current foods could have been reduced markedly.

However, the Muslims of Pakistan must also comprehend that Pakistan is not like any other Muslim country, because the sole basis for its creation was Islam. Betrayal of Islam and the Shariat e Muhammadi (SAAW) for us is synonymous to negating our raison d'être. It is thus imperative that we learn a lesson from the current trial and warning. We ought to atone for our sins at the individual and collective levels. We must revert to Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAAW). We must mould Pakistan into a genuine Islamic welfare state so that we could become eligible for the mercy and blessings of Allah (SWT) and we could succeed in this world and in the Hereafter.

Courtesy: The Nida-e-Khilafat Team