Flood situation of Pakistan

Flood situation may pose security challenge for Pakistan

Pakistan has been experiencing serious natural disaster which she has ever seen in its history. She sees 4—50 millimeters of rain a year but now it experiences 300-400 millimeters a day. The gravity of the environmental catastrophe makes every conscious people amazed and exposes a great fear for all of us. The massive floods have now affected a total of 20million people. Entire rural communities have been wiped out and more than 1500 have been confirmed dead since the flooding began more than three weeks ago. Water borne diseases and severe food crisis have made the entire affected areas as hell. The people of these regions have never experienced such kind of natural disaster. UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon has already paid a visit to the affected areas and invited the attention of the world community to come forward with immediate aids. But the response from the world community proves seriously thin. This is mostly because Pakistan’s image problem. The world community particularly the West considers that Pakistan stand between ‘ military and militancy’


Floods have not just devastated the lives of millions of people; they present an unparalleled national security challenge for Pakistan, the region and the international community. Lest anyone underestimate the disaster’s scale, all four Pakistan’s wars with India combined did not cause such damage. Unless major aid is forthcoming immediately and international diplomatic effort is applied to improve Pakistan’s relations with India, social and ethnic tensions will rise and there will be food riots. Large parts of the country that are now cut off will be taken over by the Pakistani Taliban and affiliated extremist groups and governance may collapse.

The heavy rain and floods have devastated the poorest and least literate areas of the country, where extremists and separatist movements thrive. Central Punjab-the county’s richest region has escaped the disaster. In Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, formerly the North Western Frontier Province, where both the Pakistan and Afghanistan Taliban are based, millions of people have lost their homes and are on the move-this just a few months after many of them had returned home after successful military offensives against militants in the Swat valley. Now every bridge in the Swat valley has been destroyed and the roads washed away.Across North Western Frontier the province, hundreds of kilometers of power and gas lines have been ripped out and at least half the livestock and standing crops destroyed. All of this will dramatically loosen the state’s control over outlying areas, in particular those bordering Afghanistan, which could be captured quickly by local Taliban. The poverty stricken plains of southern Punjab and northern Sind, another major recruitment center for extremists, have also been drowned. Crops have been destroyed and villages washed away. Joblessness and helplessness will lead to more young men join the militants propagating the idea that the floods are God’s wrath against the government.

In Baluchistan, the county’s poorest region, which is beset with a separatist insurgency as well as hosting Afghanistan Taliban bases, flash floods and heavy rain have destroyed infrastructure and the below –subsistence economy. Baloch separatists are already accusing the government of poor relief efforts and urging a stepped up struggle for independence. And the floods have not stopped rampant violence. The Pakistani Taliban continue to carry out suicide bombings and assassinations. The Taliban now threaten to prevent Pakistnai non-governmental organizations from carrying out relief work, while allowing militant groups who have set up their own relief camps to expand. How orthodox and fanatic they are! Pakistan must come out of this grave situation. With the chronic food shortage and the beginning of fasting month of Ramadan, food prices have doubled or even tripled, which is likely to lead to acute social tensions.

So far, the international aid response, apart from American and British contributions has been next to pathetic. The UN appeal for $459 million to cover immediate relief for the next 90 days is so far not even half-fulfilled. Islamabad has accepted $5 million in aid from India for flood victims, a rare expression of goodwill between the feuding neighbours at a time when Pakistan is reeling from one of its worst ever-natural disasters. We salute Indian government for extending the helping hands towards the victims of Pakistan. This is humanity. This is a good neighbourly attitude. These two nations must narrow their gaps not only for their own benefits but also for the whole South Asia. We want to see that both the nations stand beside each other in their individual catastrophes. I think Bangladesh stand beside the affected people whatever bitter relations we have with them. This is the call of humanity. Despite millions of Pakistanis struggling to battle the devastating floods and the government’s fervent pleas to the international community to rush in more funds to help the victims many Pakistanis living in the US have stayed away form making any kind of donations as they believe that their money would be misappropriated by the corrupt government. It’s really very strange to learn this news. What kind of sympathy the Pakistani people have for their countrymen. Do they have time to linger or take decision to help the victims? Again, however government Pakistan sees now is democratically elected. Do the expatriate Pakistanis want to see military government? They don’t have belief in the honesty of the present government. It is tantamount to see different kind of government in Pakistan. Pakistan, a nuclear powered nation has seriously suffered its image problem across the globe. The open exposure and dilly-dallying of the expatriate Pakistanis have further caste a shadow of doubt over the Pakistan government.


Massive flooding appears to be draining support for the already weak civilian government of Pakistan while boosting the powerful military. Before the deadly deluge that began nearly a month ago, the civilian administration faced growing discontent as power shortages, security problems and economic mismanagement plagued the country. A military coup is seen as unlikely but flooding is so large scale that some fear serious political instability in this nuclear-armed nation. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis have always reposed confidence in the army as compared to elected governments. People feel the army can do better as it is well trained; it has the courage to handle any crisis. It gives an edge to the army over civil administration. The civilian’s initial response appeared chaotic and confused as the flooding disaster unfolded. Peoples’ expectation from the army during this natural calamity has not been fulfilled. So, a growing divide has already been seen. People are also angry with the civilian president Asif Ali Zardari as he was visiting France and England when people fled their water filled homes. The front pages of Pakistani newspapers have been filled with bickering between the ruling party and the opposition over how flood relief should be monitored and whether additional layers of bureaucracy should be established to oversee aid. Nature’s wrath may come to us in any form and in any territory at any time. We must take adequate measures to prevent environmental pollution and disaster. The more the issue will remain neglected, the more nations will be affected. The sooner we take the preventive measure, the better for us.



Md. Masum Billah
Programme Manager : BRAC Education Programme, PACE
Cell: 01714-091431, 9355253(home)
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com