indus saga

Indus Saga

Modern Indus civilization

devastated by floods

By Shamim-ur-Rahman

The fury of the raging Indus , one of the mightiest rivers on planet Earth has uprooted almost everything from its foundations, swept away many to eternal abode , and has made millions shelter less and refugees in their own country which is unable to deal with this one of the greatest human tragedy of modern times. The UN Secretary General has described it much greater a tragedy than Tsunami and the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and Haiti’s tragedy.

Water is everywhere with hardly any space to bury the dead. Those who survived the suddenness of the fury of Hydra were now suffering from water-borne diseases. Scores are losing the battle for survival every day. A large number of people, especially children, were suffering from diarrhea, skin diseases, and above all the trauma of losing everything including the family moorings.

Roads, bridges, railway track, homes and other public utilities have been devastated while millions of acres of agriculture land has been swallowed by the mighty Indus. Crops that would have fetched billions of rupees have been destroyed and the farmers do not have the seeds to grow the next crop when the water recedes. There is hardly anything left for the grazing of livestock which has died in thousands. While the flood water will eventually recede and mingle with the sea water, its aftermath is more horrifying.

While Pakistan’s resources are very meager and stretched due to its frontline role in the global war on terrorism, it has become global community’s responsibility for the survival of this nuclearised torch bearer of the ancient Indus valley civilization that has seen many ups and downs.

If the world community failed or slackened in mobilizing sufficient funds and plans on fast track basis, it might be providing space to extremists and ideologically militants backing many non-state actors to overthrow the democratic dispensation that can only survive if it can deliver the bread and butter needs of the people, provide them shelter, education and health care.

In the past the decline of the Indus civilization has been attributed to changes in the courses of Indus and Ravi, changing pattern of monsoon, as is the case of climate change at the moment.

If no swift and serious action plan is devised and implemented, the natural calamity might cause erosion of a vibrant democratic polity in the region. The real challenge therefore is to determine the inner ailment of the successor of Indus civilization. While the government here is making all sorts of efforts to overcome the tragedy and resettle the uprooted people, the international community must understand that if it did not allow Pakistan to rebuild infrastructure and provide basic amenities at cheaper cost for sometimes, such as gas, electricity, gas, petrol and fertilizer, it will be doing a great disservice to the humanity. In that case democracy will lose and extremism will become a dominant force. The rise of extremism in Pakistan is linked to high cost of input that has made its industries non-competitive, rendered millions jobless while the government is unable to address their bread and butter issues due to lack of resources, making the country heavily dependent on the World Bank and IMF salvage baskets. Pakistanis are determined to change this situation as quickly as possible by rebuilding their country and protect it from extremists and jingoist elements that have become a serious threat to the international community.

The enormity of the floods is evident from the accompanying video prepared by my daughter Ayesha Rehman. Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lXvMeokJio