Calamitous
Two weeks into the Gilgit-Baltistan nightmare and all that has been accomplished is the military flying out a few of the trapped tourists – in addition to trying to rebuild patches of roads where pockets in the rough weather allow. While the men in uniform do their usual disaster management in the face of yet another calamity, the government typically watches from behind the curve. For the thousands upon thousands cut off because of landslides, unrelenting rains, and roads simply being washed away, such news brings little relief.
Authorities still only have a rough idea about the deaths, displacement, and damage. All that is known for certain now is that this is an unprecedented natural disaster to visit GB. Previously, it was spared the monsoon wrath that was usually confined to Fata and Kashmir – up to the Neelum Valley. This time, though, the rough weather has unleashed landslides, washed away residences and marketplaces, and put the lives of thousands of residents at the mercy of the extreme weather under the open sky. According to reports, there are no doctors or hospitals in the worst hit areas, and people are just trapped and at the mercy of fate.
It is regrettable that the bureaucratic contingency – those disaster management authorities that litter the provincial and federal landscapes – has been found wanting yet again is no longer a surprise. All these authorities are good for it seems, is collecting figures of the dead and suffering and, of course, staffing their cadres with the blue-eyed of the civil service. Beyond that, there is not much to write home about, especially from the perspective of the suffering subjects they were created to cater to. The government has once again failed to serve the people in a timely manner – again forcing the military to fill the void. Even if the PML-N tends to forget such things at election time, people have slightly longer memories.