The lukewarm response of the world to Pakistan’s international appeal for helping the flood victims is a lesson for the ruling class that only foreign assistance could not be relied upon unless the government itself does not show seriousness to tackle the problem and generate funds from its own resources for the flood victims. Pakistan has asked the world in its flood appeal to provide US$357 million for the flood victims while the donors have been skittish since the appeal was formally made. According to NDMA Chairman Dr Zafar Qadir, around US$60 million, which is only 16 percent of the appeal, had been received so far.
There were three majors reasons reportedly cited for the slow-funding to alleviate the sufferings which the floods have caused. One is that there is no transparency in the audit system of Pakistan and the government itself has not done enough in allocating funds from its own resources. Secondly, the international priorities of the donors put horn of Africa atop which they believe is facing greater humanitarian crisis and thirdly the international financial crunch has affected the donor countries too. In addition to that, however, there are reports suggesting that donors are suspicious about the damage figures which in their view have been exaggerated.
Despite all that, no one could refute the argument that it is primarily a responsibility of the state to take a lead in providing necessary help to its people in any natural calamity or disaster. The world assistance becomes crucial sometimes if the magnitude of the disaster increases beyond the state response system and resources. The government hardly seemed concerned in the beginning and it was only the media which actuated it by highlighting the crisis. The government’s response to the crisis even at present is not enough and does not have any clear strategy to alleviate the concerns of the donors.
“Pakistan needs to allocate funds from its own resources as it would enhance its credibility in the eyes of the international donors and make them realise the need of assistance,” Asad Jamal, a worker of Karachi-based Citizen Emergency Relief Committee told Pakistan Today.
He further added that it was primary responsibility of a state to provide help to its citizens in case of emergency situation and then the humanitarian organisations. “But here we put things upside down and want international assistance first and do not talk about what we as a nation were doing to deal with the calamity. True, no state can deal completely with any natural disaster of this magnitude by its own unless it is assisted internationally, but no other state will come to assist if your own state remains sluggish in responding to the disaster in time and fail to provide necessary funds,” Asad said, adding that reliance on foreign aid only would not work.
When Iftikhar Khalid, the country programme manager of Oxfam, was asked about slow-funding, he said, “Trust deficit in the government and criticism by certain quarters regarding the government’s handling of the crisis last time and speculations about ineffectiveness of response this year has affected donor willingness to respond.”
He also cited multiple conflicting global priorities like famine in
Africa, drought in Afghanistan and Floods in Bangladesh, which too needs donors’ attention.
