Redressing people’s grievances

Monsoon rains and subsequent floods have created alarming situation both in the urban and rural areas. The first and foremost problem is that of law and order and the sanctity of home. As if to rub salt into the wounds of the flood-affected residents of Nowshera, the anti-social elements gave the people a rude shock by removing all the useful and valuable things from their temporarily abandoned houses. In spite of having better salaries, costlier equipment, faster transport vans and advanced communication facilities, police appear to have utterly failed in preventing the predictable loot and plunder in houses that their own officials got evacuated to minimise the loss of life and limb. As already said in these columns, burglars also struck some of the suburban villages in Peshawar and disappeared with whatever they could lay their hands on. Due probably to their special duties with ministers and related high officials visiting the flood-affected areas, police in Peshawar fared as ill as their counterparts in Nowshera in preventing thefts in the affectees’ homes. Indeed so pre-occupied the Capital City Police and the traffic squads appeared that all major roundabouts on GT Road right from the General Bus Stand up to the Karkhano Markets were left unattended on Monday. Army vans coming from Warsak Road had to face difficulties in finding way through the chaotic afternoon rush at the busy Saint Mary’s School Chowk.

Shopkeepers all over the City are selling old stocks of onions and potatoes at the rate of Rs80 a kilo while tomatoes continue to be in the prohibitive range of Rs150 per kilo. Recently when a magistrate raided the Super Market in Hayatabad’s Phase One, the traders hurriedly pulled shutters on their shops and disappeared. The inability of the government to deliver goods is adding immensely to the woes of the general public. If indifference on the part of the administration persists, the coming month of Ramazan will really become an ordeal for the common man.

Floods affect up to 2.5 million, 1,500 killed

500,000 displaced; rescue operations underway; thousands of tourists still trapped in Kalam

Fears are growing about outbreaks of disease among 2.5 million people affected by Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years after monsoon rains killed up to 1,500 people across the province.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that up to 2.5 million people across Pakistan have been affected by the flooding.

"In the worst-affected areas, entire villages were washed away without warning by walls of flood water," it said in a statement, noting that thousands of people "have lost everything."

Aid workers and military conducted what relief efforts they could as officials warned that the death toll was rising.

"There are 774 deaths registered with us, but the total number killed in the flood is 1,200 to 1,500," Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told a news conference in Peshawar.

Later, Hussain told AFP that the floods had displaced 500,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and put the figure of people affected by the floods at more than 1.5 million.

US Embassy in Islamabad has said that about 2.5 million people across Pakistan have been affected by heavy flooding brought on by torrential monsoon rains last week.

According to a statement of US Embassy on Monday, more than 500,600 people have been displaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and another 200,000 near Mianwali, Punjab due to flooding.

Over 1,100 people have been killed and infrastructure has been wiped out in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province that has been hit by floods and rainstorms, triggering the worst deluge in the region in eight decades.

Edhi Foundation claimed the toll might double in the coming days.

"At least 500 people are wounded and another 900 are missing. God forbid but I think that in coming days the death toll might reach 3,000," said Bilqis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation.

Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti said the infrastructure of the province has been collapsed due to the disaster.

"All the major roads, bridges have been destroyed and so are the police stations, administration buildings, telephone exchange. Thousands of houses have been razed to the ground by the storm and at least one million people have been homeless," Hoti told reporters during his visit to Nowshera on Monday.

Relief operation by the armed forces continues, however, thousands of people are still awaiting relief in several areas of Chrasadda, Nowshera and Swat.

According to unofficial estimate around 0.8 million people are waiting for government help in Kalam, Madian, Behrain, Shangla, Matta and other areas as these areas have been cut off from the rest parts of the country.

Meanwhile army choppers are busy to shift flood affected people to safer areas in the valley.

According to General Commanding Officer Maj. Gen Javed Iqbal floods in the Upper Swat and Shangla caused much destruction leaving no sign of 54 villages. While 5000 tourists are still trapped in Kalam.

More than 29 bridges, 14 basic health units, 1,575 commercial units and 26 schools have been demolished in flood swept adding 70-kilomtre road from Kalam to Khawazakhela has also eroded in flood, Iqbal said.

He said that army rescue teams are providing food items to flood affected people through helicopters.

Rescue operations to restore lives of people in the flood-hit areas of Swat and Kalam could take up to more than six months, Iqbal said.

What Does Kayani Stay as Pakistan Army Boss Mean?

Pakistan has extended the term of army chief General Ashfaq Kayani for three years to ensure continuity as the military deals with an Islamist militancy that has spread from the turbulent northwest to the heartland.
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By Zeeshan Haider

what does it mean for the US and the war on terror?

The United States is likely to welcome the continuity in the top military leadership because the Pakistan army's help is crucial to Washington's efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

Kayani is believed to enjoy a good rapport with the American top brass and has won praise for leading two major offensives against homegrown militants the past year in the northwestern Swat Valley and South Waziristan, a major militant bastion on the Afghan border.

However, militants have regrouped in many areas and extended their war from the turbulent tribal areas to cities and towns across the country, unleashing a wave of suicide and bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people and posing a serious challenge to the government and the army.

Praise notwithstanding, the United States would like Kayani to clamp down more on Afghan militant groups based in Pakistan's tribal areas, who are seen as the main source of violence across the border in Afghanistan.

How will India see it?

India may not publicly comment on Kayani's extension, but is unlikely to welcome it. Kayani has maintained the military's traditional focus on India. Under Kayani's command, the Pakistan Army this year staged its biggest manoeuvres in 21 years near the Indian border to practice for the threat of conventional war with the old rival.

Some Indian media reports accused Kayani of being responsible for a stalemate in last week's formal talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries, the first since the 2008 Mumbai attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai. India blames Pakistan-based militants for the attacks that killed 166 people.

A senior Indian official, just ahead of Islamabad talks, accused the Pakistan's army main spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of orchestrating the assault.

How does this affect the domestic political situation?

Kayani was appointed army chief by former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf in 2007. But unlike Musharraf, the soft- spoken Kayani is generally seen as an apolitical man.

After assuming office, Kayani vowed to stay out of politics, ordered all army officers out of posts in the civil service and barred his officers from meeting politicians. In 2009, he played a behind-the-scenes role to help the civilian government avert political unrest triggered by opposition protests for the restoration of judges ousted by Musharraf.

Despite widespread allegations of corruption against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari and its simmering dispute with the increasingly assertive Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, the chance of a military coup at this stage is seen as very remote, although it can never be ruled out.

Because Kayani has been so low-key on the political front, the civilian government may have been reluctant to change commanders and find itself with someone more willing to openly inject himself into the governing of the country.

While major political parties have not yet commented on the government's decision to extend Kayani's term, media outlets have made generally favourable noises about it. Some commentators, however, have said it sends the message that Kayani is indispensable, which could weaken the army as an institution.

Kayani's extension also means that now the terms of all major figures in Pakistani politics -- Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Chaudhry and Kayani -- expire in 2013.

How will this be received in the Army?

Kayani is the first army chief in Pakistan's history who has been granted another full three-year term in office under civilian rule. Previously, army chiefs have either not been offered an extension or declined the offer.

Given the 63-year history of Pakistan, where the military has ruled the country more often than civilians, analysts do not expect any major grumbling among the top ranks. Pakistan's military rulers in the past remained chief of the powerful army for at least 10 years or more.

But seniority matters when it comes to promotions, and some in the army may feel their careers stalled now that Kayani is sticking around.

Three-star senior military commanders who feel their promotions have been blocked due to Kayani's extension could either quit their jobs voluntarily or may be accommodated in other, coveted posts in the army.

Kayani may create the post of vice chief of army staff to accommodate a senior commander while the post of chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee also falls vacant later this year with the retirement of incumbent four-star general, Tariq Majid.

Tags:Ashfaq Parvez Kayani PakistanIslamabadYousaf Raza Gillani AfghanistanPrime minister