Brimful of Asha

........ and the Pakistan government wonder why they're not trusted to overcome the devastation inflicted by the floods.

A recent news item carried by Reuters reports that the Pakistan government has said that it will clamp down on charities linked to Islamist militants amid fears their involvement in flood relief could exploit anger against the government and undermine the fight against groups like the Taliban.

As someone quickly pointed out: rather than worrying about clamping down on these charities the government should bend every sinew in its corpulent body  to get aid to its people. That would serve both their suffering citizens and the "war on terror". 

How does such a policy help? If you're a starving, homeless, landless,cropless farmer who has been receiving aid from one of these charities what are you to make of this threat? 

"The banned organizations are not allowed to visit flood-hit areas," Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters. "We will arrest members of banned organizations collecting funds and will try them under the Anti-Terrorism Act."

This idiocy is beyond belief. Well it would be if it weren't out of the mouth of this government. The government's supporters (I know  it's difficult to believe it has any) must despair. The Pakistani ruling clique hasn't been able to or wanted to arrest the militants in the good times, what chance have they now given the current disruption. 


And the Pakistani people know this. They know that their leaders are incapable of running a late night corner shop in Bradford let alone a country which is perpetually on the brink of total collapse. They know that their leaders are not the least concerned about the well being of their pitiful countrymen. It's bad enough to be living in a country annually treatened by one natural disaster or another; but also to be under the yoke of such a government is more than the spirit can bear. 


No wonder the peoples of the outlying territories look to the militants for help. No wonder the middle classes in Islamabad and Karachi ponder yet again on the value of another  military coup. And no wonder fair minded, generous people all over the world are reluctant to donate aid fearing that it'll end up lining the pockets of a self perpetuating, self serving elite. 


On a happier note the young, inexperience Pakistani cricket team are giving England a run for its money. I hope they win and give their blighted countrymen and women something to smile about.

Comments

Anonymous said…
There's something hopeful to take from situations like this however: they are reminders that an unbreakable 1984-style empire will probably never arise, because those who cling to power always have some fatal weakness due to their fundamentally flawed, vain, stupid natures. They will have their day in the sun, then make mistakes and fall.

As you rightly point out, their response is as likely to radicalise the people as anything else.

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