Prevention and cure
There was a time when the sitting government could hide behind ‘surprise flash floods’ as many people died and the economy was wrecked. That’s the excuse the PPP government kept resorting to as floods came year after year. And pretty much the same is happening under the N-league, both in the centre and Punjab. It is unbelievable, and indeed unforgivable, that the government does not feel the need to prepare for this foreseeable natural disaster in advance even though, at the risk of repetition, scores of lives are lost, thousands are displaced and a good couple of percentage points are knocked off the GDP growth rate every other year.
Once again the military has been called in to do what is necessary. Once again they will help evacuate entire villages, move people to safer places, and lend a valuable hand with reconstruction when the water begins to recede. Initially such assistance was welcomed. But since the government bureaucracy simply refuses to budge from its long slumber – despite sitting on ample funds to deal with just such situations – and the is military pretty occupied with wars and threats, surely it is unfair, inopportune and unfeasible to continue falling back on the army.
One tried and tested method of checking slackness is accountability. But that’s hardly an option in Pakistan; considering how the rot of inefficiency and mismanagement runs right through the bureaucracy and the polity. Some pots do call some kettle black now and then, but it fizzles out sooner rather than later for obvious reasons. Eventually, though, the government machinery will have to sort itself out, even if for now it shows little concern for lives lost and harmed because of floods, famines, droughts, etc. It is precisely for these reasons that people at large have lost respect for democracy. For the moment, the floods are here again, and once again the government is looking for cures because it was not prepared for what was long knocking at its door.
