Flood season begins
AS the first monsoon showers get under way, it is time to remind ourselves that the past five monsoon seasons have all brought large-scale flooding with them. We can hope that this time things will be different, but, in any case, we must prepare for any eventuality. Given the delays in finalising the fourth National Flood Protection Plan, it can be easily surmised that we are far from prepared. Key to our lack of preparation is the fact that no single government department is tasked with the responsibility of developing a response to flood alerts. In response to a Supreme Court directive, the government has decided to set up a committee consisting of more than a dozen departments, but it is still not clear how the committee will help to coordinate in the midst of a rapidly unfolding situation. Numerous attempts have been made in the past to set up committees and other bodies to develop a floodresponse strategy, but sadly, hardly anybody takes these responsibilities seriously until the inundating waters are upon us.
The annual reports put out by the Federal Flood Commission make for depressing reading, primarily because they all read the same year after year, indicating they are more an exercise in formality than anything else. Flood alerts have been issued only 48 hours prior to the arrival of the flood peak in each case, and little has been done to lengthen this time. A better signalling system also needs to be in place by sending SMS messages to alert affected populations along the route of the approaching flood peak. In the past, the affected populations have often been the last to be informed, mainly because there is no SOP about how the alert will be sent out and who will send it. Once an alert is issued, there are no SOPs to fashion a response, which in the past has been developed in the hours leading up to the arrival of the flood peak. Once the latter is approaching, decisions such as where breaches need to be made in the irrigation system are arrived at on the spur of the moment, usually with the heavy involvement of local notables who seek to protect their own areas and push the floodwaters towards others.
This ad hoc and haphazard management of floods must not be repeated. Five consecutive years of flooding have not taught us a lesson, and in many cases, Pakistan has ended up asking for international assistance to cope with the aftermath. This year there is ample warning, coupled with years of experience, for us to ensure that should conditions leading to floods materialise, the response should not be hastily cobbled together. If there are floods this year, it would be a failure of epic proportions were the government to be caught by surprise again.
Vulnerable NGO sector
THERE is a point at which legitimate national security concerns tip over into paranoia, xenophobia and insularity. The Pakistani state, including the civilian government, appears to be dangerously close to that point. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan’s ongoing war on INGOs and local NGOs with external funding and links increasingly appears to be about some misguided sense of nationalism as opposed to anything to do with genuine security. Thousands — thousands — of foreigners have over the years come to Pakistan in the guise of NGO workers to undermine the national interest and harm the country’s security, the interior minister told the Senate on Thursday. That is preposterous. The interior minister’s aggressive rhetoric has deliberately and very provocatively equated virtually anyone in the NGO sector, though especially those linked to the West, with a threat to this country. The NGO community may well be wondering if Chaudhry Nisar’s rhetoric has crossed the line into incitement — after all, NGOs often operate in insecure areas at great personal threat to their employees from all manner of violent elements in society. Should the interior minister not feel a sense of responsibility towards the many good, decent, hardworking and honourable men and women who have dedicated their professional lives to improving the lot of Pakistan’s most vulnerable citizens?
The problem though goes far beyond the interior minister and his crusade. A narrow, security-centric worldview was once upon a time something that mostly existed in the security establishment. Over the years, however, politicians have increasingly begun to mimic their military counterparts in terms of viewing the Western world with suspicion. The public at large too appears to have increasingly conspiratorial views about an international plot, devised by the West of course, to undermine the security and stability of Pakistan. Anyone who hails from a Western country is viewed as a potential enemy out to destabilise the state. Contrast that with the regional experience — whether in South Asia or the Gulf. Foreigners are welcomed, indeed eagerly recruited, for their productivity and skill sets. Those countries have security concerns of their own, but they aren’t allowed to overwhelm all other considerations. Why is Pakistan so bent on being the exception? The political leadership could have tried to shape public opinion in a responsible way. Instead, it appears to be content with pandering to fear and paranoia — and maligning a sector that fills many of the gaps left by the state.
LHWs protests
LADY Health Workers have been featuring in the news every now and then. Several months back, they were out on the streets of Lahore, getting beaten up by the police for demanding better pay and job security. Not very long ago, they were being tear-gassed on the roads of Peshawar for organising demonstrations to press the KP government to move them to higher pay scales. When they are not protesting on the streets they are fighting a legal battle for their rights in courts. A few days ago, they again made headlines when hundreds of them came out to agitate in cities in Sindh and south Punjab to pressure the two provincial governments to give them the promised raise in their salaries, and other dues.
Unfortunately, neither the centre nor the provincial governments appear willing to bear the expense of their services after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution that devolved many federal functions and programmes to the provinces. Or is it a case where the provincial governments have decided to turn their backs on this crucial community programme because Ecnec this summer formally stopped federal funding for it and transferred its ‘financial burden’ to the provinces? But despite the shabby treatment they suffer at the hands of the authorities, LHWs are responsible for saving the lives of mothers and newborns in areas where no other medical service is available and are at the forefront of the dangerous fight against polio. External evaluations of the LHW programme have shown that the communities or areas served by them enjoy substantially better health indicators than those where their services are not available. The programme has also led to the development of a well-placed cadre whose outreach is crucial to the improvement of primary healthcare services and accessibility. The success and trust it has earned from the community is unprecedented. Therefore, the provincial governments would be doing a great service to the people if they removed the problems facing the workers rather than refusing to listen to their grievances.
Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2015
http://www.dawn.com/newspaper/editorial