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A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed
Pakistan needs to find a proper role in the region
BY ANEES JILLANI
January 12, 2005
December 26 will remain a black day in the
history of this world. An under-water earthquake measuring
almost nine on the Richter Scale struck somewhere close to
Indonesia and the consequence was a tsunami that did not
spare the poor living around the coastal areas of Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Mankind had not witnessed a
disaster of this kind that struck so many countries
simultaneously. But the response of Pakistan to this
regional calamity has been rather calm. Even the Muslim
Ummah does not seem overtly exercised even though Indonesia,
the world’s largest Muslim country, has been the worst
affected.
The initial count down was obviously based on estimates and
started with around 5,000. And it started rising by the
hour, and within a week the toll crossed 150,000. And it is
clear now, that the exact numbers will never be known. We
all have been hearing a phrase from our childhood days that
a friend in need is a friend indeed. Tsunami the tidal wave
struck in the morning and the Japanese team of doctors and
nurses were on their way to Indonesia and Thailand by that
evening. Australian Foreign Minister declared giving seven
million dollars the same day to help the victims, and its
assistance has now gone over USD 800 million. International
community has pledged over USD 5.5 billion. Private citizens
in many countries have donated to charities to help tsunami
victims, and their contributions have often exceeded what
has been pledged by their governments.
India, despite being itself a Tsunami prey had sent more
than a dozen helicopters by the same evening. British,
German and some of the other European governments had
followed suit.
Over two weeks have passed by and one cannot help wondering
as to where on earth has the Muslim Ummah gone. The
President of Pakistan just in passing made a brief reference
to the disaster while making a speech and the government
declared support of $100,000. This is the seventh nuclear
state of the world, with a missile program that professes to
reach thousands of miles away. And it doles out this kind of
money for a disaster of this magnitude to its brotherly
neighboring countries that are also SAARC members and
Pakistan incidentally is the current SAARC Chairman.
Pakistan can do better than this. The least we could have
done during this was to send our troops to help rescue the
victims and help them with the restoration efforts. Our
response has always been pathetic. During the Bam earthquake
in Iran, it took our army medical team almost three weeks to
reach the place, despite Bam located just across Balochistan,
when the British with their sniffing dogs were there within
24 hours. When will we stop playing `plot-plot' in our
defense housing societies and wake up to our
responsibilities as a responsible member of the world
community. Or is our job confined to issuing condolence
statements that are issued within minutes which are drafted
by a section officer and all of which read the same. God
knows as to why the media even bothers to report these
statements. Or is our job and for that matter the whole of
ummah confined to simply exporting jehad? And where are the
Tabligis? I really wish that they would concentrate more on
the humanitarian aspects of life than worrying about the
length of their pyjamas.
What to talk of Pakistan, the oil rich Arab countries do not
appear to move. They are one of the richest countries in the
world. But not a single penny donated by them. These
countries' rulers appear to be obsessed with 2Ws: Wealth and
women. Almost each of them would have a minimum of four
wives and there obviously would be a concubine running into
dozens. They would be owning innumerable casinos throughout
Europe and would have billions of dollars stashed in foreign
banks. But when it comes to governance, their sole job
appears to be kissing each others' cheeks in public. And not
a penny for the poor fishermen in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.
According to Reuters, two weeks after the tragedy, the oil
rich Gulf countries, have pledged about USD 200 million.
Half of which is coming just from Kuwait.
It is at times like these that one cannot help saluting the
people in the West. I was once in North Carolina in the
United States over the Christmas Eve and one of the local
television channels showed in the six o'clock news a family
shivering in the cold because they were homeless and did not
have proper clothes. By ten o'clock, the same television
channel made a fervent appeal to stop sending them more
stuff for this family as they showed two rooms full up to
the roof with warm clothing and food items that had been
donated to the channel by the people of Charlotte within the
past four hours.
Whether Rwanda, Bosnia, Afghanistan or now the Tsunami, it
is only the West and Japan that responds. Our job is
confined to raising objections and demanding for more. We
have our begging bowl in front of us and are willing to
accept aid and grants from any country of the world for
conducting our immunization programs and for proper running
of our schools, and then we have the nerve to conduct
nuclear tests and undertake missile launches with our own
money. Bosnian women were getting raped for months and the
whole Islamic world watched in silence. It was only the West
that eventually rescued them. Afghanistan bled for more than
ten years after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops and
while the West adopted a hands-off policy, particularly
after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. And all we as
Afghanistan's big brother could give them was more
land-mines and sub-machine guns to fight each other. We did
not bother to build a single school, hospital or a bridge
during the five years of the Taliban rule.
The West is rich but so are the oil rich Arab countries. But
the West is perhaps rich because of these very values that
we appear to lack. The Western charities are not run on
government and US AID and EU money. Common folks on the
streets donate cents and pennies and put them in boxes that
children carry from door to door. The West has proven time
and again that it responds to human needs any where in the
world regardless of color, nationality or religious
denomination. Our concern is only confined to our Muslim
brothers but most of the time even that is confined to
simple condolence messages: as for the remaining, behead
them because they are not going to heaven anyway.
[Anees Jillani is a lawyer, and is the head of SPARC, a NGO
involved with children’s issues in Pakistan.]
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Analysis of the Tsunami Disaster
| Analysis of the Tsunami
Disaster |
Here
is a compilation of some of some of the more interesting
analysis of the tragedy. We do not necessarily endorse these
views. But we do hope this will sweep the intellectual cobweb,
and introduce a vigorous debate on the nature of this
calamity.
We will greatly welcome your suggestions on more such
articles. |
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India, world leader in natural disasters
By Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar
May 14, 2006
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For Whom the Bell Tolls: Why the telephone failed tsunami victims
By Murray Massey
Brisbane Institute, 10 March 2005
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2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Has comprehensive articles and links to relevant web sites from around the world
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Disaster
and Development
A study by Sustainable Development Network
January 17, 2005
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A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed
Pakistan needs to find a proper role in the region
BY ANEES JILLANI
January 12, 2005
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Overlapping
faults - Part 1
by Amitava Ghosh
The Hindu, Jan. 11, 2005
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Nations
pledge aid after tsunami disaster
Reuters, January 11,2005
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Enviros
Surf Tsunami Tragedy
by Steven Milloy,
www.JunkScience.com, January 11, 2005
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Now
spend it sensibly
The Economist, January 6, 2005 |
IN
TSUNAMI'S WAKE "GREAT SATAN" RESCUES MUSLIMS, AGAIN
By Deroy Murdock
January 6, 2004
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Can
someone answer my questions?
M G DEVASAHAYAM
The Indian Express, January 06, 2005 |
Tsunami:
Tragedy as a Teacher
By Thomas R. DeGregori
Health Facts and Fear January 5, 2005
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| Tsunami
Disaster - False Alternatives from Cultural Commentators
By Warren Ross
Capitalism
Magazine, January 3, 2005
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Do
we really need a state sponsored warning system?
By
Jim Peron
Institute for Liberal Values, New Zealand, January 2, 2005
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| Government-Enhanced
Disaster
By Timothy D. Terrell
Ludwig von Mises Institute, Posted December 31, 2004

Why
We Need Politics: The tsunami's sorrows will need more than pity
By Daniel Henninger
The Wall Street Journal Online, Friday, December 31, 2004
Tsunami
Exposes the Nihilism of Environmentalism
By Eric Englund
LewRockwell.com, 31 December 2004
Are
Tsunamis Good for the Economy?
By Chris Westley
Ludwig von Mises Institute, Posted December 30, 2004
How
Tsunami shook Indian economy
The Economic Times
INDIATIMES
NEWS NETWORK,
Thursday, December 30, 2004
A
Tsunami to Our Priorities
By Fredrik Segerfeldt
TechCentralStation.com, December 29, 2004
A Great
Natural Disaster: Prosperity is the best defence against a tsunami.
The Wall Street Journal Online, REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
When Your
Mother Kills
By Carlo Stagnaro
TechCentralStation.Com, December 28, 2004 |
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