Fallout of floods and growing fear of political instability in Pakistan
Pakistan Flood Map (16 August, 2010). Photo: OCHA(Left), Allvoices(Right)
Six weeks after the start of Pakistan's devastating floods, waters pouring into a lake in southern Pakistan are threatening several towns and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee, officials said on 13th September. As floodwaters make their way to the Arabian Sea, new towns in Sindh province are being inundated as embankments constructed to protect cities and towns in the traditional flood plains are now channelling water into new areas, including Lake Manchar. Tens of thousands of people have fled towns in the Dadu district of Sindh, and officials said more were asked to leave after water, flowing from a breached embankment, reached a dangerous point in the lake, Pakistan's largest freshwater lake. 'Our entire concentration is now on Dadu district as the water is just a few inches from overtopping the Manchar Lake that could threaten many towns,' additional relief commissioner, Riaz Ahmed Soomro, said. Officials say several towns around the lake including Bhon and Jhingira are in danger of inundation, threatening an estimated 250,000 people. The floods have affected 20 million people, an eighth of the population. Millions of dollars' worth of crops and livestock have been lost. No province escaped the destruction. UN thinks that 10 million people are considered short of food their situation will remain precarious for six months or so. People face a triple threatloss of crops, loss of seed for the next planting and loss of a daily income. Pakistan officials and aid workers warn that while civil unrest has so far been averted, the aftermath of the worst-ever flooding in the country starting from Baluchistan at the end of July spreading to Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (NWFP), the Punjab and now Sindh provinces could destabilize the country in the months ahead and aggravate already deep regional, sectarian and class divisions. There are many reasons for the concern and some of them deserve mention as follows: First, while the country was in the grip of unprecedented floods, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's trip to France and Britain in August created an image of an indifferent and arrogant leadership to people.. Zardari, who is widely unpopular at home and whose public engagements are often limited, came under flak for failing to scrap his visits in Britain and Paris to confront the miseries at home. An editorial in a leading Pakistani newspaper also criticised Zardari, and said: "In choosing to go ahead with the tour ... President Zardari appears to have badly miscalculated the impact this untimely visit will have on his image as Pakistan's head of state." Second, management of the disaster has added to the distrust that many Pakistanis already feel for their civilian political leaders while armed forces have burnished their image performing rescue and relief missions along the length of the flooded areas. Third, there have been angry accusations from politicians and flood victims that officials have guided relief to their own party supporters and serious allegations that powerful landlords and politicians diverted surging floodwaters to protect their own lands at the expense of others. One of the most angry accusations has come from former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali of Baluchistan. He criticised members of government accusing them of intentionally redirecting floodwaters through Baluchistan and inundating the homes and farmlands of one million people in the country's poorest province. Fourth, the floods have displaced rural people in Sindh province and they have started coming to Karachi, adding a volatile new element to the political dynamic here. While Sindh nationalists welcome them, the Urdu-speaking immigrants from India in Karachi warn that they will create more violence between Sindhis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. Futhermore the immigrants have established an influential political party the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) which has been a part of the governing coalition in the country. The National Awami Party which is composed of most Pashtuns has been involved in a power struggle in Karachi and in August sectarian war killed about 165 people. Finally, the huge relief effort undertaken by the Pakistan Army has forced to alter plans to combat militants with the Talibans and Al-Quaeda. They had reportedly to divert 72,000 men including army and navy commandos of its special services to do relief work. As a result analysts say that militants will look for every opportunity to continue their campaign of violence, destabilising the country. In recent times bomb attacks against Shi'ite religious processions in Punjab and Baluchistan killed more than 90 people and wounded more than 300. Politicians, meanwhile, seem to have become absorbed in scoring points and squabbling, which had added to disillusionment many Pakistanis already feel for their leaders. Altaf Hussain, the leader of MQM, one of the government's coalition partners, suggested that "patriotric generals"should step in to lead the country in such a crisis, a reminder that he could cause the government to collapse, if he chose to pull out his party out of the coalition. Meanwhile on 11 September, former Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf says he is planning to return home and return to politics. In an interview with the BBC, Musharraf, who now lives in London, said he is willing to risk his life in order to restore a sense of hope to his people. He criticized the current Pakistani government, accusing it of putting the country on "an artificial, make-believe democratic path" that has resulted in a "darkness all over." General Musharraf said he would return to Pakistan and create a new political party before the next elections in 2013. He also defended his record as President and promised to answer any allegations against him.
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