The Bin Laden Capture: A Feeling of Betrayal in Pakistan (PERSPECTIVE)

By Themrise Khan

And so it ends. The world’s most feared man is dead. Or so we are told.

The news Pakistan woke up to Monday morning was something most of us never thought would happen. Osama bin Laden had already transgressed into terrorist mythology many years earlier, including being the very mortal victim of renal failure some years ago.

Now, not even all the headlines of the world can pronounce his death often enough for it to sink in. It will take some time.

 
The world is rife with jubilation, while Pakistan sits in a state of shock.

 
Why? Take the hiding place. Abbottabad? Seriously? Bin Laden’s compound was situated just 800 meters from the most prestigious (not to mention heavily guarded) military school in the country - with more than 100,000 active and retired military personnel? How on earth could it be possible? Like one friend remarked: “there goes the cave theory.”

With the release of an official statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, that the operation was conducted by US forces without any Pakistani involvement, the shock gradually began turning into a state of denial.  So did our government know about it beforehand or not? Did we just quietly sit back and let the US do what they do best?

But as the days tick by, denial is gradually turning into one of betrayal. Betrayal of the not just the Pakistani people by its own government and military, but by the Americans as well. It was bad enough that the world saw us as “terrorists” for the last ten years. Now they just wont be able to think of us as anything else. Especially since we apparently, didn’t have anything to do with it!

But if there was any event that had the makings of a conspiracy theory, it’s this one. And that is what is fuelling Pakistanis at the moment. And understandably so. From the location, to the action, to the conclusion (dumping a body into the ocean according to Islamic practices?), every element of this tale defies any logical analysis that has thus far been presented about bin Laden and his whereabouts.

What is unbelievable in this fairly bizarre saga, is not that an operation of such a scale actually took place without anyone knowing of it. The point of espionage and covert operations are exactly that. Neither is it hard to believe that such intelligence existed for many months and possibly both countries were aware of it. Planning an attack like this would obviously take a great deal of preparation and Pakistan could well have been trying to protect its “interests” by turning a blind eye.

What is unbelievable and a matter of great shame for us, is the fact that everyone who has thus far accused Pakistan of harbouring terrorists, is now spot on. I can picture fingers wagging saying, “told you so”.

Even many die-hard critics of the government were in agreement that the al-Qaeda leader was probably not in Pakistan, or at least not anywhere habitable - or in a densely-populated urban area. Now, they too stand stunned in silence.  The implications of this fact alone, is perhaps more dangerous for Pakistan than the threat of militant reactions to bin Laden’s death.

If it is true that the US kept the operation and existence of bin Laden from the Pakistani government, its intelligence and military, then that is clear proof that either one or all three of these institutions were seen as colluding to the interests of the militants. If, on the other hand, the military and government were aware of the whereabouts of bin Laden but kept denying it, then that is clear proof that a government lied to its own people. In either case, the Pakistani people stand to inherit a huge trust deficit from their leaders.

Surprisingly so, despite threats already being slung at the Pakistani military, government and at the American establishment, the retaliation that is expected, is not so much physical violence, although that threat is very real.

More so, it is the threat of a falling out of power between the Pakistani military and its civilian establishment over how this event was orchestrated and conducted. It is the internal strife between the Pakistani military, ruling political parties and the opposition that will now be at centre-stage as the outside world celebrates.

Who in our establishment, will take responsibility for this, is the biggest question on the national agenda. And who will apologize to us for embarrassing us as a nation, beyond all doubt?

We will never know the truth of this story. We will never see a body and even if we do, we will never know if it was real. Unless bin Laden walks back from the grave and into a downtown shopping mall somewhere in Wisconsin or Karachi, he is to all intents and purposes, dead.

But in reality, this awe-inspiring notion means little to people in Pakistan. The damage to the nation was already done many years ago and continues unabated. Thousands of Pakistanis have lost their lives in terrorist acts, tens of times more than those who died on September 11. Our war is endless, with or without bin Laden. He just planted the seed, we bear the fruit.

The nightmare seems to have ended for many across the world. For Pakistan it has only just begun.

HUMNEWS contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi who occasionally dares to venture into the Pakistani media.

'Three Cups of Tea' Challenges Pakistanis' State of Mind (PERSPECTIVE)

By Themrise Khan

(HN, April 25, 2011) - A well-known British journalist familiar with Pakistan, recently declared that “Pakistan has been playing us all for suckers”.

The declaration was in response to the UK government's planned £650 million in education aid grant for Pakistan. While this statement was made in a wider geo-political context, it seems that recently, Pakistan itself has been played for a sucker by a well-meaning American educationist.

The revelation by some quarters that Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea was based on semi-fiction, rather than fact, has sent shock waves among Pakistanis, particularly its elite. The elite, because the book hasn’t exactly been the most accessible to the actual subjects that it portrays, i.e. the impoverished families and girls of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Despite accusations that 41% of donations collected by Mortensen and his Central Asian Institute (CAI), have not gone to aid the education of young girls, many in Pakistan still support the author. Their argument is simple. So what if he lied about some things? At least he has helped those in need, which most Pakistanis can hardly admit to themselves. Or, as Mortenson’s avid supporter journalist Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times said in an opinion piece on April 20, “Greg has still built more schools and transformed more children’s lives than you or I ever will”.

It is true that one cannot out rightly deny Mortenson’s contribution to girls’ education in the remote northern areas of Pakistan and regions of war-torn Afghanistan. Many of the stones he has converted into schools, do exist and educate young girls where Pakistan’s own government has not been able to do so. In a country where officially at least, only 45% of females are literate and girls’ schools are regularly targeted by militants, Pakistan’s record in education, especially girls education, has been miserable for decades. So much so, that in a desperate attempt to prop up its weak image, a state of “education emergency” was recently declared, thanks to yet another glossy report commissioned by a non-governmental Education Task Force. Students at The Citizens Foundation Secondary School – Cowasjee Campus, Mauripur, Karachi CREDIT: TCF

This sudden interest in education and the controversy surrounding Mortenson raises several issues, ironically none of which are actually related to girls’ education. Instead, they are indicative of an insecure state of mind that Pakistanis are perpetually in about who they are.

Pakistan has regularly been caught out for misrepresenting facts and embezzling resources meant for others. But we have always been quick to our own defense, citing “weak leadership” or “a lack of accountability”. An easy way of saying, we are at the mercy of others.

There have been several education programmes such as the Education Sector Reforms and debt swaps that have spent millions, perhaps billions of dollars, on building schools, increasing enrollment, developing curriculum and training teachers - the end result of which have been an even weaker education system. Rarely, have these failures been brought to task by those who have been quick to jump to Mortenson’s defense.

At the same time, there are several local philanthropic initiatives in Pakistan that have been perhaps even more successful than Mortenson’s personal attempts.

The Citizens Foundation, a non-profit set up in 1995, has built 730 schools and enrolled over 102,000 underprivileged girls and boys, throughout the country, without controversies attached to it. Several local NGOs throughout rural Pakistan, including in the northern areas, have been trying for many years, to improve community-run education, albeit with much fewer resources and publicity. Neither has any of this been acknowledged enough by those who feel that Mortenson has been unfairly accused and should be exonerated for all the good work he has done.

Herein lies the problem. Does “doing good work” mean that doing a bit of bad shouldn’t really be an issue? Does more of one override the other? Granted that Mortenson is still innocent until proven otherwise, but the issue here is not just whether he misused funds or made up stories to sell his book.

It's about the responsibility that comes with “doing good” not just by the doer, but by the recipient as well. This includes not just building schools and providing education, it is also about trying to sustain the momentum of the change. Mortensen spent years working in both countries. But never once did anyone in either of these countries choose to emulate, study or critique his model. The bestseller status of Three Cups of Tea was evidence enough for us.

So when the revelations were made public, this controversy was yet another nail in the coffin for a country that has and continues to be burned for its malpractices and used by others for a “greater good”, i.e. ridding the world of terrorists.

Reactions to the controversy have also shown how we, as a nation, love to be validated by foreigners rather than by ourselves. Pakistan and Afghanistan needed a Greg Mortenson to tell us through Three Cups of Tea, that we were essentially good people who somehow didn’t have the resources to bring about good. And so for us, he is still a hero, because he did what we couldn’t.

But we still don’t ask why we couldn’t, which is perhaps the biggest disappointment of this saga.

Mortenson’s supporters, including Kristof, are also ignoring the fact that philanthropy is not just about being selfless, it's about sticking to being selfless all the way. It's about what money can do to a person or what a person can do with it. Putting Mortenson or anyone (rival accuser Jon Krackauer perhaps?) on a pedestal, does not exonerate them from being accountable either.  Otherwise, what’s the point of constantly crying for accountability and transparency?

But we still refuse to openly question, authenticate, instead challenging only selected discrepancies in our society, letting ourselves be exploited by others.

 
It is true that the matter has yet to be investigated and can turn out to be completely false itself. But Mortensen’s supporters in Pakistan have already declared him innocent without even waiting for a verdict.

“Does it really matter?”, they ask. Yes, it does matter. This is not about Mortenson. This is about us.

HUMNEWS contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi who occasionally dares to venture into the Pakistani media.

Pakistan Deadliest Country for Journalists in 2010 - CPJ (Report)

(HN, February 16, 2011) -- Amid a rash of suicide attacks, Pakistan became the world’s deadliest country for the press in 2010. Journalists covering street protests are increasingly becoming targets. Credit: M Bociurkiw/HUMNEWS

According to the annual report from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Attacks on the Press 2010, at least eight journalists killed in connection with their work in Pakistan last year - constituting a significant portion of the worldwide death toll of 44.

The CPJ says Iraq, Mexico, Honduras, and Indonesia also ranked high for journalism-related fatalities. And for the first time, broadcast journalists accounted for the highest proportion of fatalities, overtaking their colleagues in print.

The worldwide toll reflected a notable drop from 2009, when a massacre in the Philippine province of Maguindanao drove the number of work-related deaths to a record 72. The CPJ is investigating 31 other deaths in 2010 to determine whether they were work-related.

Not surprisingly, Internet-based journalists constitute an increasing portion of CPJ’s death toll. At least six journalists who worked primarily online were killed in 2010, a CPJ analysis found.

Murder was the leading cause of work-related deaths in 2010, as it has been in past years. But murders composed about 60 percent of deaths in 2010, lower than the rate of 72 percent seen over the past two decades, the CPJ found.

Deaths in combat-related crossfire and in dangerous assignments such as street protests constituted a larger portion of the 2010 toll than usual, says the CPJ.

(With the ongoing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, street protests are likely to account for a higher proportion of deaths and injuries among journalists in 2011. Earlier this month, Egyptian journalist Ahmed Mahmoud, 36, of Al-Taawun newspaper died of his wounds, inflicted from gunfire while taking photographs of protests from his balcony. And only yesterday, the media community was shaken when CBS News reported that one of its star correspondents - Lara Logan of 60 Minutes - was beaten and sexually assaulted while covering protests in Cairo recently. Several other Egyptian and foreign journalists have been injured, detained and harassed in the past weeks of unrest in Egypt).

One of the most dangerous professions in the world

Suicide bombings and crossfire in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand, and Somalia accounted for the unusually high proportion, the CPJ report says.

The only journalist to die in prison in 2010 was Cameroonian editor Germain Cyrille Ngota Ngota - who was jailed after he and other journalists asked a presidential aide about alleged misuse of state oil company funds. Cameroon will hold Presidential elections later this year in a race which is expected to be turbulent.

"There's a price to pay for speaking out," Al Jazeera anchor Riz Khan says in the forward to the report.

The CPJ reports that at least five journalists were reported missing during the year, three in Mexico and one apiece in Sri Lanka and Ukraine.

In the report, the CPJ also took aim at international institutions for failing to defend press freedom. It chides UNESCO for wanting to present a prize honoring one of Africa’s most notorious press freedom abusers - President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea. It also cited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for awarding Kazakhstan, one of the region’s worst press freedom violators, chairmanship of the organization.

- HUMNEWS staff

Kashmir: A look at the affects of conflict on women (Report)

by Afsana Rashid Bhat

(HN, December 30, 2010) Facing the brunt of a two-decade-long armed conflict, most women in Kashmir are caught between the devil and the deep sea. Their roles are shifting abruptly from a home maker to a breadwinner and has rendered them physically crippled, emotionally bruised and economically disturbed.

Kashmir being a major stumbling block in relations between India and Pakistan has so far involved two declared and two undeclared wars. When armed conflict started here in 1989, many people began disappearing on both sides.Kashmir region - showing disputed territories

Some victims were arrested by Indian armed forces and police for alleged involvement in militant activities. The families of those arrested believe that the victims are often killed after being tortured in custody, but many still hold onto the hope that they will see their dear ones again. There is no report that can prove that any missing persons taken by the government have ever returned.

Some people have been subjected to disappearance by militants on the pretext that the victims were working as informers for Indian forces. Families are generally reluctant to identify kidnappers, preferring to say that their loved ones had disappeared by “unidentified gunmen.” They don’t disclose who was responsible, whether Indian forces (the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force) or militant groups, for fear of retaliation against them or their families.

Women face most of the brunt of the entire situation. They are the worst sufferers on various counts.

Psychologically, they’ve been traumatized by the death of few women who were expecting babies due to the lack of ante-natal care in initial years of the militancy, as reported by Dr. Abdul Rashid Malik, former Deputy Director Health Services-Kashmir, and this fact sends shivers down the spine.

“In the early 1990’s, a few deaths of expectant mothers were reported for want of ante-natal check-up as they couldn’t make it to the hospital due to cross-firing and search operations.  The situation became grim particularly during Jag Mohan’s state governor’s reign. George Fernandes, the then Kashmir affairs in-charge Government of India, was apprised of the same information by senior health officers”, says Dr.Malik.

The former Deputy Director says that people, especially women, were on the look out for psychiatrists. “Since psychiatrists were not available in requisite numbers, they had to look for alternatives that lead to suicidal tendencies among them. Young widows and half-widows who, had to feed their children single-handedly faced the worst of it”.

Most of the women who have been directly affected by conflict, says Dr. Hameedullah, Shah, renowned psychiatrist suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which often leads to depression.

“Emotionally women are more susceptible. This keeps them under stress. Most of the time women have been apprehensive about safety of their male members,” says Dr. Shah adding “anxiety, body ache and pain, as well as an irritable attitude has been commonly observed among women, over here for these years”.A Kashmiri woman paddles along Dal lake in Srinagar, photo courtesy of globeandmail

Isolation and other social problems, says Dr. Shah have been witnessed in particular among women confined within the four walls of their homes as their interaction gets affected. He said that no specific data is available to quantify their health problems.

Referring to the attitude of society towards the plight of widows and half-widows, renowned religious scholar Kaleemullah Khan says, “Ignorance, selfishness, cruelty and inhuman attitude is at its climax”.

“The Quran is categoric about widows. If she does not have kids then she inherits one-fourth of the property left by the deceased and if she has children she inherits one-eighth,” says Khan, adding “though no authentic verse deals exclusively with it, a decree based on consensus can be issued by ‘ulemas’ and ‘molvees’ (scholars and clerics), with the consideration of the intensity and immediacy of the problem and its ramifications”.

“Rehabilitating orphan (special children) is one of the basic teachings of Islam, discussed  at least three dozen times in the Quran. More so when an orphan is nearest of kin, responsibility doubles”, he adds. To make such women economically self reliant, Khan suggests certain collective measures like providing them suitable professions (crèche, orphanages, home-based-industry) and encouraging their re-marry.

Dr. Khurshid-ul-Islam, a well-known sociologist, says that her attachment to her first husband and children stops her remarrying. “Facts are facts, it is children who become the motivating force for her not to re-marry - otherwise it is permitted under Islam”.

“Being more sensitive and fragile to issues, she can’t face the situation and while facing the brunt of it she gets labeled, exploited and becomes the talk of the town. Automatically, she gets distressed,” says the sociologist adding, “She is already at the back of the bench when something happens here.”

According to Dr. Khurshid, she becomes the ‘forced’ bread winner or crusader in a society like Kashmir and a forced decision-maker, wherein she normally fails. On the economic aspect he says, “The majority of them voluntarily work in fields but now it’s a forced role”, adding, “I won’t call it economic empowerment. Her heart isn’t with it”.

Psychologically, as well women have suffered immensely over the past two decades. Mental health of women has deteriorated the most, particularly direct sufferers of conflict.

According to doctors at the Government Psychiatry Diseases Hospital, women constitute 62 percent of patients visiting it, says a report published by Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (J&KCCS), a human rights group. Hundreds of women, it says, have no idea of medical counseling and continue to suffer.

According to studies, most Kashmiris suffer from PTSD and are in need of treatment.  As against 1,762 patients registered during 1990, number of patients who visited hospital in 2000 went up to 38,696 and nearly 48,000 in 2002, says the report, adding “before eruption of conflict in Kashmir in 1989 hardly any case of PTSD was reported”.

According to Medecins Sans Frontiers, MSF (Doctors Without Borders), a private international medical and humanitarian organization, counseling can help to understand the problem and treatment through counseling is psychological and a process that might continue for a certain time period depending upon severity, intensity, complexity, duration of problem and likewise.

PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are common psychiatric disorders found in an orphanage, almost exclusively in female children. Younger age, being female and lower socio-economic class are believed to be other risk factors for PTSD, says the study, “Psychiatric disorders among children living in orphanages-Experience from Kashmir.”

Psychologists believe that not only physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions occur under stressful situations but relationships get strained, accidents become common after severe stresses followed by danger of alcohol and drug abuse.

MSF believes that areas of armed conflict and mass violence generally give rise to stressful situations that can be difficult to cope up with. “Violence has touched each family here, in a way or other, which leads to detrimental effects on well-being of people”.

- Afsana Rashid Bhat is a journalist based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir-India. Author of the book, “Waiting for justice: Widows and Half-widows”She is a recipient of the Sanjoy Ghose Humanitarian Award, Sanjoy Ghose Media fellowship (2006-07) by Charkha Communications Development Network - New Delhi, UN Population Fund-Laadli Media Award and Grass-root Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN) – Media Awards-2007. She was also awarded a fellowship in 2005 for her work on impact of conflict on the subsistence livelihoods of marginalized communities in Kashmir by Action Aid India.

Pakistan's flood affected people in need of more assistance - UN (News Brief)

(photo by Asad Zaidi) (HN, December 4, 2010 ) The United Nations humanitarian chief yesterday visited the flood-ravaged area of Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh to review relief efforts among people still suffering from the effects of the deluge that cut a swathe across the country four months ago following torrential rainfall.

“Everything I saw and heard  confirmed that this disaster is far from over,” said Valerie Amos, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, on the second day of her four-day visit to Pakistan.

Millions of people in Pakistan are still living without basic necessities after their homes and sources of livelihood were washed away or damaged by the floods that swamped the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan along the Indus River basin following heavy monsoon rains that began in July.

“A lot has been done, but there is much more to do,” said Ms. Amos, who is also the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. “Four months on, there are still long lines of tents along dykes and dams. Even the strongest are growing weary. It is critical that we continue to assist the people of Pakistan during this devastating emergency.”

(photo by Asad Zaidi) Out of an estimated 18 million people affected by the floods, close to 7.2 million are in Sindh.

Ongoing relief efforts have made it possible for more than two million people in Sindh to have access to safe water, and more than 4.3 million others have received food assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

High levels of malnutrition and a risk of an outbreak of disease, however, remain a concern, with children and pregnant women being the most vulnerable. Large areas of Sindh remain under water, with nearly half a million homes destroyed and one million people displaced.

Last month, the UN and its partners delivered food to six million people. In total, more than 4.3 million people have access to safe drinking water on a daily basis, emergency shelter materials have been distributed to 4.7 million people, and more than seven million people have benefited from health care.

- HUMNews Staff, UN News

Pakistan: The Pitfalls of Being a 'Strategic' Ally (PERSPECTIVE)

By Themrise Khan

(HN, November 15, 2010) - Recently, I was transporting two brave ladies visiting Islamabad from Baluchistan province to their scheduled destination. They were key informants for a research project I was involved in and I took the opportunity to continue my discussion with them en route. The conversation was intense and horrific, as they recounted stories of violence and bloodshed in their hometowns.

Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest and most neglected province, is fast turning into a minefield of political terrorism - far removed but just as lethal as the extremist violence that has pervaded other parts of the country over recent years. It is one of the many internal conflicts that now plague almost all parts of Pakistan.

On the way back, my taxi driver who had been silent throughout the exchange, curiously asked me what I was doing with the two ladies. After briefly explaining my work, he expressed his shock at how the situation had deteriorated in Baluchistan.

“These are very brave women”, he remarked. He was equally impressed with the fact that in Quetta city, shops opened promptly at 9am and closed at 6pm, whereas everywhere else in the country, business doesn’t begin till at least noon. The fact was evident as we drove by lines of shops with their shutters down at a time nearing 11am. “We say we are God-fearing here but we are not”, he commented. 

The conversation gradually gave way to his own frustration with the current state of the country. He was decidedly unhappy with the present government, to put it mildly. But he also seemed fairly unhappy with the previous one as well. “If (former President Pervez) Musharraf wants to start a political party, why doesn’t he do it here? Why is he starting it all the way in London?” he asked.  “Everyone wants to steal from us but give us nothing in return." School girls in Baluchistan: among Pakistanis paying the price of instability. CREDIT: Michael Bociurkiw/HUMNEWS

But there did seem to be some things he was pleased with. The Chief Justice, because “he is clamping down on many aspects of bad government”; with the media, “because they have exposed all the corruption” and with (retired Pakistan cricketer and politician) Imran Khan, “because he is the only leader we have”.

The point of this extended anecdote, is to try and make sense of why Pakistan is still such a big deal to the rest of the world, given we now suffer from three complex maladies everyone would gladly steer clear of: insecurity, economic instability and weak governance.

Perhaps not the most obvious choice for a country of “strategic importance” for world super powers, recently suffering from their own complex maladies. Even a stranger choice for being wedged in between one nation in the west falling apart at the seams and another on the east that keeps growing more powerful by the day. Most analysts argue that’s exactly why Pakistan is so “strategic”.

Of late however, the usual arguments to support this claim are not really holding so true.

Domestic issues within the country, be they of peace and security, human rights and justice or economic blood-letting, have taken us far, far down the list of countries with even a bite-size of potential for economic growth or peace-building. This year, Transparency International listed Pakistan 34th on its Corruption Perception Index, up eight places from last years 42^nd spot. 

The corruption argument aside, the global financial crisis is sending rich countries of the world to those that can make it richer. Pakistan, unfortunately, cannot help in that department, considering we have always been positioning ourselves at the receiving end - flood disasters notwithstanding. Which is why Pakistan did not even warrant a pit-stop on US President Obama’s Asian (read Indian) recent tour. It's as simple as that.

But surely being a “strategic” ally must have some benefits for the country? Apart from the Kerry-Lugar financial settlement, most of which is going to the Pakistani military, they say there cannot be peace in the region without a stable Pakistan. 

Most of all, Pakistanis want their country to be stable.

According to the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, suicide bombings, drone attacks and political and sectarian violence have cost the lives of over 3,000 Pakistanis and over 7,000 injuries in 2009 - a figure 48% higher than 2008. These are not casualties of an active war per se, but innocent bystanders, daily wage earners and security guards, women and children. People who leave for work in the morning and just never come back home. In Karachi, just political and sectarian target killings have cost the lives of almost 250 people this year alone. 

But while we suffer domestically on a daily basis, this is the exact fuel the world needs to continue their “strategic” support to us. The murders and deaths of hundreds of Pakistani’s (and Afghans) warrants the presence of thousands of troops, international agencies, military resources and aid in Pakistan. 

The conclusions one draws from this that if Pakistan were ever stabilized, many people in many countries would be at a loss over what to do next, not to mention out of a job. And so we continue to be “strategic”, “important” and of course, “unstable”, until the next violence-ravaged nation emerges to take the crown.

But where in this cycle of dependency do people like the women of Baluchistan, or the taxi driver in Islamabad come in? In an ideal world, they should be the ones calling the shots, making the decisions, being the watchdogs. But in this world, when the word on the streets is that basic economic survival is now a luxury only the very rich can afford, how can anyone expect them to play any part in turning the tide? 

And so sadly, they remain nothing more than key informants in the larger scheme of things. 

But this is probably where Pakistan’s biggest strength lies. In a country where almost 80% of the population is a captive audience to self-destruction with no exit strategies, the tide is bound to rise sometime. It remains to be seen whether this will be while Pakistan is still “strategically important” to its “allies”, or when we realize how “strategically important” we are to ourselves.

HUM Contributor Themrise Khan is a Karachi-based writer

Postscript: As I write this, an enormous blast has ripped through Karachi’s financial centre, shaking my own house almost 5 miles away. This is the second such attack in the city in the space of a month, joining hands with the pall of political violence that also pervades the city. This is hardly the “stable” Pakistan that everyone eulogizes about. In situations like this, it is hard to think about the US, India or the Taliban as the culprits. The issue may be international in nature, but the damage is purely domestic. We had better rise now before there isn’t much left of us.

(PEACEMEAL) Baking Bread to Break Bread, Building Communities from the Inside Out

--- Commentary by Cynthia Thomet

Nothing says “comfort” quite like freshly baked bread. Everything about it feels good. Making it, there’s the sifting of flour, carefully adding water to knead the combination into smooth dough.  Baking it, the leavening has a fragrance that can draw crowds. Significantly, making bread is a process that takes time. 

The positive impact is even greater for relief efforts. Today, I came across a little story published on the World Food Programme website entitled, “Pakistan: Food Aid Means Fresh Bread for Homeless Families,” the article underlines the basic human need to eat food for survival, but more importantly, it’s about people surviving the devastating impact of broken families, ruptured communities. 

The recent floods washed through Pakistan as I was coincidentally wrapping up a book called “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is a non-fiction account of Greg Mortenson’s commitment and travels to build schools for girls and youth in the most rural areas of Northern Pakistan following a troublesome K2 climb. Throughout the book are scenes of poor families and struggling villages preparing feasts from what little they have to create a lifelong bond with Greg, and to secure a commitment from him to build another school for their children.

People who break bread together can develop a deeper understanding for meeting basic needs to build better communities.

There’s one scene in this book where Greg was frustrated to learn that the money he raised in the United States was re-appropriated by village elders in Korphe, Pakistan to build a bridge across a treacherous ravine—one that for decades was bridged by a zip-line of sorts. Greg was immediately aware that bridge project would eat all the funds he raised for a school and would put off building the school for at least another year.

Greg worried what his backers would think. He had approached the village with the vision of building a school. As he fretted and micro-managed construction of the bridge, he was taken aside by Haji Ali, a village elder, who taught him one of the most important lessons for helping communities: “We’re the country of thirty-minute power lunches. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.”

After that meeting with Ali, Greg let go. The bridge was the best solution for this village, as it was the only reasonable way to transport tons of construction materials across the canyon through which some of Central Asia’s coldest glacial waters flowed. The following year, the school was built and led to a domino effect over the next several years of school-building projects throughout this mountainous region of Central Asia. All because he took the time to drink three cups of tea. 

In my mind, the two stories written years apart connected in my consciousness this week. Food is more than fuel, just as my sitting next to a stranger is more than a random occurrence. The moment can carry the impact of a butterfly fluttering its wings on the opposite end of the earth. It can breathe comfort into your soul like freshly baked bread.

--- The author is Cynthia Thomet, a humanitarian, and co owner and doyenne of the award winning downtown Atlanta, Georgia; US restaurant, Lunacy Black Market. http://www.lunacyblackmarket.com/

(REPORT) Child Mortality Rate Drops by a Third Since 1990

Fewer children are dying before they reach their fifth birthdays, with the total number of under-five deaths falling by one third in the past two decades, according to fresh estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Between 1990 and 2009, the number of children below the age of five who died annually fell from 12.4 million to 8.1 million. The global under-five mortality rate dipped from 89 deaths per 1,000 live births to 60 during that period. “The good news is that these estimates suggest that 12,000 fewer children are dying each day around the world compared to 1990,” UNICEF said in a press release accompanying the data, issued ahead of next week’s UN-hosted world leaders’ summit in New York on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, the agency stressed, “the tragedy of preventable child deaths continues.” Some 22,000 children under the age of five continue to die every day, with 70 per cent of these deaths occurring within their first year of life. Under-five mortality increasingly becoming concentrated in a few countries, with half of all deaths of children below five occurring in just five countries in 2009: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan and China. Sub-Saharan Africa – where one in eight children do not live to see their fifth birthday – continues to be home to the highest rates of child mortality. That is nearly 20 times the average for developed regions. UNICEF cautioned that although the pace of decline of child mortality has picked up in the past decade, it is still not enough to meet the MDG target of a two-thirds decline between 1990 and 2015. The new figures were published in this year’s Levels & Trends in Child Mortality, issued by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation, bringing together several UN entities, The estimates are developed with oversight and advice from independent experts from academic institutions. Earlier this week, a new report by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank found that the number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth has decreased by 34 per cent from an estimated 546,000 in 1990 to 358,000 in 2008. While the progress is notable, the annual rate of decline is less than half of what is needed to achieve the MDG target of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75 per cent between 1990 and 2015, the publication stressed.

- UN News, UNICEF

Islam vs. the West – Scapegoat or reality check? (Perspective)

As yet another day of somber remembrance dawns in the US, a day of joyous celebration dawns in Pakistan. Today is September 11, 2010. A sad reminder of the lives lost in New York and the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr in Pakistan, celebrating the end of the month of fasting, known as Ramadan.  

Although entirely un-intentioned, it is an ironic twist in the continuing saga of Islam versus the West that what this day represents for these two countries has fallen on this particular date. But nine years later, this tussle between world religions and world politics, that has come to re-define global nationhood, has taken a bizarre turn.

It seems it is no longer just Pakistan, the “trusted ally” of the US that has issues of religious and cultural identity. The US itself has suddenly been thrust into the middle of an identity crisis. The construction of the Islamic Centre - now the Islamic Cultural Centre - at Ground Zero and the Quran-burning clergyman in Florida have suddenly awoken ordinary Americans to a harsh reality – should their country be an America with Islam or without?

When the twin towers mercilessly collapsed, it was too soon and too painful a time for Americans to make amends. Invading Afghanistan and subsequently Iraq, was a more succinct form of payback. But the blowback from both these invasions, catapulted ordinary Americans into a place they were loath to ever enter – international politics.

As loss of American life in the war-zones increased, (rather than any other life), positive perceptions about Islam presumably decreased dramatically, at least among the small-town, right-wing conservatives.

But the “protection” of the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq, who all just happened to be Muslims, was the new cause celeb of the US, as were the millions of naturalized American Muslims living quiet and peaceful suburban lives.

The fact that Americans have been worried about the infiltration of extremist terrorists onto their soil, is justified on the grounds of their 9/11 experience. But the fact that the physical manifestations of this terror has been faced by countries other than the United States, namely Pakistan and Afghanistan, belies that fear.

Barring the Times Square threat by Faisal Shahzad earlier this year, so-called Muslim extremists have led to an estimated and heavily disputed death toll of at least 200,000 Afghans and Iraqis, over the last five years in these countries. In Pakistan, over 2000 civilians have been killed by US Drone attacks alone. Another 11,000-12,000 civilian and military personnel have been killed throughout the country as a result of terrorist attacks.

It is ironic that all this violence has taken place away from US soil and has been suffered by Muslims, albeit on the pretext of US politics and “Western liberalism”. It is we who live in constant fear, but the threat of Quran-burning is to US forces in Afghanistan? How much more detached can politics and warfare be from reality?

There is apparently no accurate count of the number of Muslims in the United States, as the U.S. Census Bureau does not collect data on religious identification. In a nation identified so aggressively by its secularism, the fact that it is now part of a debate that threatens to separate religions rather than bind them, is more worrying for Muslims.

In this age of instant communications and breaking news, the Florida Quran-burning scandal would never have made it to the radar of Americans had it not been for the international media pouncing on it. Unfortunately, they gave Pastor Jones, exactly what he was looking for, the global attention towards one attention-seeking individual with a murky past. One wishes the media had treated the issue with caution and perhaps the Pastor would have retreated quietly into the shadows without doing any harm.

The Ground Zero controversy, is also one that has come at a time when the US is making a desperate bid to cover its tracks post Bush era. Obama’s noble gesture to make amends with the Muslims of the world, after having bombarded many into oblivion, is turning out to be more of a half-hearted attempt to save face, rather than take a stand on whether it is Islam that the US wants to tackle, or terrorism.

This confused state of mind is indicative of the real battle that Islam now has to face. Terrorism is now a precursor to the wider issue of whether the world has, any space left for secularism. For many Western nations, it is immigration policies and cultural immersion measures that will be more likely to dictate who gets to say what, where and to whom, rather than counter-terrorism strategies. Europe has already shown its state of mind with its hijab and minaret controversies. Now supposedly, it’s the US’s turn to jump on to the bandwagon.

As a Pakistani and as a Muslim, it seems a heartless tragedy as I witness the destruction of my country through terror attacks, floods, vile leadership and a complacent citizenry. It is hardly a joyous time for us in Pakistan this year, as we try to mourn our own losses and a withering sense of self-esteem. It is ironic that Americans do not see this. Instead, they are so ably playing into the hands of their own politics.

The threat of a “violent” Islam is still very much on the eastern shores. Debating on issues of public space and civil liberties on the basis of religion, may just attract the type of attention, the US has stayed so well away from till now. More than that is the fact that laying the foundation of any debate on religion, is bound to culminate in disaster. Who better to know this than us in Pakistan?

-HUMNEWS contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi.

(NEWS BRIEF) UN agency warns of tragedy unfolding in southwest of flood-hit Pakistan

(HN, September 3, 2010) – The United Nations refugee agency has called for boosting relief efforts in the flood-hit province of Balochistan in south-western Pakistan, where some 2 million people have been affected by the recent disaster and the humanitarian situation is deteriorating.

“By any definition it is a humanitarian tragedy in Balochistan. We need to scale up our activities in the province, if not, I think we are heading for a major humanitarian disaster there,” Mengesha Kebede, Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Mr. Kebede, who just returned from a visit to Balochistan, said the situation in the remote province has been largely overlooked as attention followed the flow of the Indus River south, ignoring the mounting crisis to the west.

There are almost two million people affected by floods in Balochistan, he said, noting that over half of them have been displaced, including 600,000 who had fled flood waters in Sindh province.

“I have worked in humanitarian situations globally and worked in refugee camps in Africa during emergencies, but to be honest I had never seen a situation as devastating as I saw in Balochistan,” said the UNHCR official.

“I owe it to the people there to put this on the table and help end their plight,” he stated, stressing the need to focus on the areas of sanitation, shelter, food and health care.

There were some 28 camps set up in the province but conditions were a major concern. “We are focusing on identifying and improving the most critical issues in relation to camp layout, hygiene and health conditions,” he said.

UNHCR is one of numerous UN agencies that are on the ground in Pakistan to try to provide relief to the victims of the disaster, which has left a fifth of the country under water and affected over 17 million people.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has so far delivered one-month food rations to nearly 175,000 people in eight districts in Balochistan, while the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is providing water daily to over 200,000 people and has built emergency latrines in the most affected areas.

Stefano Savi, head of UNICEF’s office in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta, noted that, as in most disaster situations, children are among those most affected. “If we don’t scale up our nutrition activities, the lives of thousands of children are at risk,” he warned.

“The psychological impact of this disaster on children must also not be underestimated,” he added, “and this is why we are working to make their lives as normal as possible, through the establishment of child-friendly spaces and learning centres.”

The nearly $460 million sought by the UN and its humanitarian partners in the initial floods response plan for Pakistan is currently 63 per cent covered, having received $291 million in funds and an additional $20 million in pledges.

UNHCR has revised its section of the wider appeal from $41 million to $120 million as the needs of the flood victims continue to outpace the ability of aid groups to respond.

The award-winning Hollywood actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has released a video message this week in which she appeals to the public to step up their financial support for aid efforts in Pakistan.

“This is not just a humanitarian crisis – it is an economic and social catastrophe,” she said.

- UN News

FLOODS PLUNGE PAKISTAN DEEPER INTO OBLIVION (PERSPECTIVE)

By Themrise Khan
The devastating floods in Pakistan this past month have done more than just render over 20 million people homeless and submerge one-quarter of the total land area from north to south. They have, once again, magnified the ineptitude of the state to deliver to its people, or answer to its constituents.

But this is something Pakistan has been akin to for several decades now. The earthquake in the northern areas in 2005, illustrated a similar lack of preparedness and the failure of the state to contain the misery.

Now, five years later, history has repeated itself, learning nothing from its past. Except this time, the scale is far, far greater and the effects far more devastating and all-encompassing.

Pakistan has stepped up to the challenge of this natural disaster, despite its limitations. Like the earthquake, Pakistanis all over the world, have gone above and beyond to provide relief and shelter to the affected. But with the numbers of refugees rising everyday, and the floodwaters still hesitating from emptying their bowels into the Arabian Sea, this is literally a drop in the ocean.

Despite this, everyone is doing whatever they can under the sheer immensity of the circumstances. But as all such opportunities allow, the debates emerging from this national crisis, go far beyond just nature’s wrath and how it could have been prevented.

International humanitarian aid has dominated the agenda of this disaster from Day One. With the UN taking centre stage to call for funds (an initial flash appeal of $460 million), the world has been quick to respond. The US alone has pledged almost $800 million, while the UN claims that commitments in pledges and private donations have topped $1 billion. This is just for immediate relief.

Damage to Pakistan’s agriculture and livestock has pushed the country at least 2-3 years behind in terms of food security. Estimates for long-term reconstruction and economic rehabilitation have reached a staggering $43 billion so far. But the cry from within, is that more is needed, both in cash and kind. And there is no denying that there is a dire immediate need.

However, the fact remains that Pakistan’s capacity to utilize aid of any sort effectively, has been sorely questioned in the past. This is fueled by sour experiences during the 2005 earthquake, which remains mired in controversies of financial mismanagement and unfulfilled pledges, forcing many to rebuild their homes themselves.

More recently, and definitely more crucial, is Pakistan’s links to militant jihadi outfits, which have further tarnished Pakistan’s image abroad and are now being used as a basis on which to judge future contributions. But politics is a dirty game, and the millions who wait desperately for even a tarpaulin over their heads in adhoc refugee camps, have no idea that they are simply a pawn in a larger, deadlier political brinksmanship.

To begin with, Pakistan’s government and its erstwhile civilian rulers have chosen to distance themselves from the disaster relying instead on international hand-outs. The President after taking much heat for his European sojourns has donated a paltry Rs.5 million (about US$58,000) and the Prime Minister claims that he does not believe in donating cash, only in kind.

International agencies meanwhile are using the threat of militancy as a reason to invest more in flood relief, lest the 20 million homeless “cross over to the dark side”, raising fears that intentions may not be purely humanitarian. This has been manipulated with great dexterity by the militants, who are now threatening foreign aid workers, only adding more girth to the fears being purported by donors like the United States.A young boy in flood-ravaged Pakistan. Credit: Asad Zaidi

The United Nations is also playing on this card by alerting the world to Pakistan’s “image deficit” abroad, a term it very cleverly coined to fill its own coffers, rather than address the actual threat of militancy, which it claims is not its mandate.

Furthermore, the armed forces contribution to rescue and relief efforts, is a thorn in the civilian democracy’s side, resurrecting the never-ending tussle between man and might that has shadowed Pakistani politics since birth.

Intellectual and civil society pundits insist that this is a time to put aside age-old grudges and just get on with helping those in need. Yet, they are unable to create an effective framework of relief to handle the sheer numbers. But the reality is that, both practically and politically, it is not possible to “just get on with it”. The sheer physical scale of the disaster is beyond comprehension and most civilian and government attempts will only go so far.

The US meanwhile, continues to use the Taliban threat to remain in control of the region. And whatever the international relief agencies and NGOs are attempting to provide, not much success is possible without greater coordination, which like the earthquake, is very limited at the moment. This time around, global politics is very much in control.

But this international versus national aid conundrum has exposed a darker, more chronic side of the disaster. I myself have not yet been to any of the flood affected areas - however I did work in the earthquake emergency. But one does not really need to physically view the sites in order to comprehend the scale of the disaster, nor the suffering of those affected.

The irony is, that in Pakistan, time and again, it is those who have ever barely had a roof over their heads who have been rendered homeless. It is those who have never had the luxury of a steady income that have been robbed of their meager livelihoods. It is those who never had access to basic health care that are now lying ailing and in need of urgent medical attention.

Ultimately, the flood has brought to the surface the harsh reality that it is Pakistan that abandoned its own people a long time ago. It is even more ironic and heart-breaking that even a disaster of this scale still does not make us realize that and we continue to look every which way, except within.

Till that realization actually strikes each and every Pakistani, it seems, we are still at the mercy of the global powers that be, our political elite and God’s wrath.

--HUMNEWS contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi.

PAKISTAN: FOREIGN MEDIA-OCRITY (PERSPECTIVE)

By Themrise Khan in Karachi

(HN, August 21, 2010)  --- “It’s such an exciting time to be in Pakistan.” This is a line one hears time and again from every new arrival of foreigners that lands at Islamabad airport. From the US Secretary of State, to the new foreign service employees at an embassy, to the newest international media correspondent, Pakistan seems to be the new land of opportunity.

Except that this opportunity doesn’t really work for us too much, considering we were declared the most dangerous country in the world last year and now, because of natural disasters, are at our absolute lowest point. Sadly, Pakistan is being mined by the rest of the world as an example of how good it can get when it gets really bad.

Unlike most other developing nations that have abject poverty, corrupt economies and poor leadership, Pakistan has still managed to hold onto some semblance of normalcy in its daily suffrage. There is still a sense of survival (just barely), social decadence and just plain old resilience amidst the madness of militant terror and disastrous flooding.  Supposedly this is what makes Pakistan ‘exciting’ for outsiders.

In the age of global communication, there is nothing that doesn’t get out. Not even top-secret documents on America’s war in Afghanistan. But some things don’t get out by agenda. One of these is how the global media wants its audience to view countries like Pakistan. Portrayals include a state that colludes with Islamic militants to encourage global extremism; a country rife with civil and ethnic angst that abuses its justice system; a country constantly plagued with preventable and mismanaged natural disasters. And oh yes, a confused nation of elite party-goers all juxtaposed against the women in black (burqas). Pakistan’s stereotype has come a long way. While most of these claims are admittedly true, is that all there is to us?

Over a year ago, I did a story on the sudden rise in the almost permanent presence of foreign media networks in Pakistan since the Afghanistan invasion in 2001.The bottom line was that the war on terror was the only news that was worthy of the presence of almost 100 foreign journalists in Islamabad. Nothing else figured on the agenda. No economics, no culture, no society, no people, except for those affected by the suicide bombings and drone attacks, or those displaced by army action in the tribal areas and lately, by natural disasters.

To give benefit of the doubt, dirt sells and news is business after all. Even our local television feeds the international media with its tales of graphic horror. We don’t give much airtime to anything else either. But one would expect more from the international media networks, since it is one of the very few ways people abroad have to form an impression about countries like Pakistan. All the more reason the stories going out should show more than just one face of the nation.Foreign journalists fuel "mediocrity and one-dimensionality" CREDIT: Michael Bociurkiw

But the reality is, that there is extremely limited interaction of the foreign media with the ‘real’ Pakistan, with global headquarters dictating what should and shouldn’t be news.

In a country of 170 million, only a handful of ‘key’ persons are introduced to a journalist’s brief international posting. Most of those belong to the elite English-speaking and civil and state bureaucracy. Its not newsworthy enough to venture into other more mundane areas like the informal economy, agriculture, performing arts or local initiatives. Frankly, if its not related to terrorism, its not a story. So what ends up is a life primarily ensconced in Islamabad, mixing with the movers and shakers. There is not even a meager attempt to visit the nether regions of the country to show the world how we really live, both good and bad. Last I checked, journalism was about breaking boundaries, leaving your comfort zone and opening minds to different ideas and opinions. I guess I haven’t checked the latest in a long time.

Even with the coverage of the current flooding, the focus remains on how inept our leaders are (which they are) and how aid is waiting to be mismanaged (which it is). But what about what many are trying to do single-handedly? Ever since the earthquake, if there is one thing Pakistanis (barring the feudal and political elite), have been known for, its plunging into the middle of a natural disaster to do all they can. Doesn’t the world deserve to see that side of us for a change? And then they say we suffer from an international ‘image deficit.’

The perception is further fuelled by the presence of the international diplomatic community, supposedly to ‘foster meaningful relations’ and ‘help end poverty.’ The goodwill doesn’t reach further than the diplomatic enclave as its so much easier to spend money sitting in a cubicle surrounded by barbed wire and your very own panic room. After all, that’s how they do it in Afghanistan and Iraq and see how much good its doing there.

So despite best intentions, the perspective remains skewed, to the networks (and its representatives) benefit, but to our own detriment. The slap in the face is a foreign correspondents ‘observation’ of (a very politicised) Pakistan, in hardback edition.  Three years in a city, and they know the country better than we do apparently.

Journalism unfortunately, is now a well-paid job that can get you around the world, complete with furnished homes, domestic staff and your very own ‘king of the hill’ attitude.

But the mediocrity and one-dimensionality of live international broadcasts from residential rooftops in Islamabad, does eventually show through. Case in point – a message sent out to all invitees last year by one foreign correspondent after a high-profile suicide bombing in Islamabad, in response to a scheduled party hosted by another foreign journalist in the same area that night: “if we cancel the party, the terrorists have won.” Senseless loss of life right outside your doorstep, but the party must go on. Now that’s what I call true dedication to the cause of journalism.

I guess they don’t make them like Robert Fisk anymore.

---HUMNEWS contributor Themrise Khan is a freelance social development consultant based in Karachi who occasionally dares to venture into the Pakistani media. This column originally appeared in The Dawn Online.

PAKISTAN FLOODS UNPRECEDENTED SCALE - UNICEF (UPDATED 1439GMT)

(HN, August 20, 2010) - The area of Pakistan now under water is equivalent to that of Switzerland, Belgium and Austria combined.

"I've never seen an emergency this large," said Daniel Toole, the UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia who has 20 years emergency experience. "In terms of the scope, the scale, the number of displaced...the situation is as grim as any I've seen and it is likely to get worse."UNICEF Regional Director Dan Toole

"There are amazing expanses of water as far as the eye can see."

The UN now estimates that there are 15.4 million people affected, and nearly 7.5 million very severely affected. UN agencies say some 3.5m people are at very serious risk of water borne diseases. Toole said that at a health unit in the Punjab he had visited, of the 950 patients about 80 percent had been diagnosed with diarrhea. "The situation for health, nutrition is quite severe."

UNICEF estimates about 5,000 schools are still occupied by displaced people and nearly the same number destroyed or partially damaged. The number of health centres damaged equal about 5,000.

More than 20 days after the floods hit, Toole, who spoke to journalists by phone from the affected area, did not mix words to underline how crucial it is for donors to release funds now. "It's too little and too slow for cash."

Toole said that the joint appeal the UN initially issued - when only 3.5 to 4.5 million people were affected - is now out of date. "We now have 5 times that many affected," he said. UNICEF initially appealed for $47 million people but now needs at least $141 million to deal with the numbers of people it is trying to assist. The children's agency now has only $8 million in cash and has mobilized $7 million of its own funds. Although UNICEF has $35 million in pledges, "we cannot pay with pledges, we cannot find cash from commitments to buy sanitation supplies, water supplies, medicines and nutritional supplies. The situation is very, very difficult."

UNICEF is now providing water to 1.5 million people, but only a fraction of what is needed. "We all need to scale up, we need a long term commitment. We urgently therefore need funding - and not pledges, but actual cash in the bank."

Toole said UNICEF prefers to purchase supplies like soap and buckets locally but the scope of the disaster makes that difficult. "The Pakistani economy is wounded seriously by the disaster and local suppliers cannot possibly keep up with the demand we have. We put an SOS to all of our offices in South Asia to source supplies."

With temperatures hovering around 35C - but with the heat index in places like Sukkur about 54C - and plenty of water, Toole said "the conditions are absolutely perfect for malaria, acute watery diarrhea and cholera."

All UN agencies predict the emergency will last for quite some time to come. Aside from the homeless situation and the large probability of disease, lack of food will be a problem.

Officials in Sindh Province said this year's rice crop is gone and that farmers will likely be unable to plant rice next year.

Yesterday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced $60 million I'm fresh emergency aid funding - bringing to $150 million committed earlier. She said the waters are not expected to recede until mid-September.

And speaking before the UN General Assembly this morning, Pakistan's Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani said an astonishing one in ten Pakistanis are now destitute.

At the same session, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon compared the floods to "a slow-motion tsunami."

He added: "At least 160,000 square kilometers of land is under water. Fifteen to 20 million people need shelter, food and emergency care. That is more than the entire population hit by the (2004) Indian Ocean tsunami, the Kashmir earthquake, Cyclone Nargis, and the earthquake in Haiti - combined."

Pakistanis are not the only ones affected by the flod waters. With 1.7 million Afghan refugees, the country has one of the world's largest refugee populations. More than 1.5 million of these are in affected provinces, dozens of Afghan refugee villages have been damaged, and several are completely destroyed, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Click here to view an exclusive photo essay on the Pakistan flood emergency by photographer Asad Zaidi

INTERVIEW: WORLD HUMANITARIAN DAY - AN AID WORKER SPEAKS OUT

HUMNEWS’ Michael Bociurkiw has been working on and off as an aid worker for UNICEF since 2001. Here are excerpts from our interview with him on World Humanitarian Day.

Credit: Katie Grusovin

I have worked mostly as a Communication Officer - or spokesperson - both in emergencies and country office settings. Lately I have taken on more work in the donor relations and programmatic areas. I’ve also worked for a brief period as global spokesperson in Geneva. The 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar are the two largest emergencies I’ve worked on. In both cases, the devastation was vast and millions were displaced.

UNICEF’s mission in more than 100 countries is to create a protective environment for women and children. The organization’s ability to respond quickly in major emergencies is well-known and usually focuses on health, water and sanitation, nutrition and child protection.

Previously I was a journalist, working for major media outlets in Canada and Asia. I was led to UNICEF by pure chance immediately after 9-11, when the Afghanistan emergency was taking hold. My only experience before that with UNICEF was carrying the UNICEF Trick-or-Treat box during Halloween as a kid growing up in Canada.

Most of my work has involved informing the media and donors about UNICEF’s interventions - both during emergencies and in our day-to-day work. I love working in emergencies as the needs are great and so is the adrenalin rush. It's not uncommon to work 16-18 hour days for very long periods under very trying conditions. You can feel the difference you are making. In the first few hours and days after an emergencies strikes, it's important to get the crucial details out - as well as photos and videos - to the media and donors as quickly as possible. Transparency and accuracy are paramount in our messages. We dont work alone: we work with other UN agencies, government, NGO’s, donors and others. In emergencies - such as the ongoing floods in Pakistan - we arent able to respond fully unless donations are extended and for this we normally issue an emergency appeal. UNICEF depends entirely on voluntary donations - from ordinary people, governments and corporations. (With one-fifth of Pakistan now under water, I urge donors to respond to the appeal for immediate resources).

My longest posting was in our East Jerusalem office, where I led the communication section. We worked primarily in Gaza and the West Bank and the challenges, to say the least, were daunting. I’ve also worked in Pakistan, Tajikistan, Africa, Southeast Asia - and for the Canadian and US fundraising arms of UNICEF.

It seems that, no matter where you look on the world map, the needs of women and children are great. While there are countries where some of the indices we normally track are worsening (i.e. maternal and infant mortality, HIV AIDS, nutrition, school enrollment), for the most part we are seeing quantifiable improvements. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are due in 2015 - that’s not very far away - and there are many countries that will miss certain targets. What we are also finding is that as human development statistics are improving, there are still large groups of people - the poorest families, people in rural area, girls - that have been left behind. We often find ourselves scratching our heads, trying to find answers to vexing questions: why is it, for example, that despite free primary education, many boys and girls in rural Lesotho don't go to school?

I am often asked how I cope in emergencies - where you see some pretty gruesome scenes or where your life is often at risk. It's the encouragement and support of family and friends that keeps me going. UNICEF has no shortage of competent, well-meaning professionals and being able to work with the best in the business is a privilege.

For those of us in the communications business, I think what helps keep us going is that, as a spokesperson, you get in front of millions of viewers at a time and share with them what you are seeing, what we are doing as aid workers. We explain what people are going through, how many are affected, what the needs are and what UNICEF is doing to alleviate their suffering and keep them alive. It’s an important role to play and, in this 24-hour news cycle, you are often called upon anytime of day and night. Honesty and accuracy are crucial when you are on the air, and I think most people can tell if you are being evasive or are exaggerating. I've worked on many occasions with CNN, BCC, CBC and Al-Jazeera. CNN and CBC have been especially good to us - with air time and informed interviewers. I am glad that aid workers, journalists and technology people are now coming together to think up new, innovative ways to better cover the uncovered parts of the world - what HUM calls the "geographic gap" in news coverage.

Have I ever faced danger? Yes - I have fallen off a helicopter, been in the cross-hairs of snipers, searched at gunpoint on a Jerusalem highway, threatened by a gun-totting farmer in the Gaza Strip and sustained a bloody head injury in the desert in northern Nigeria. But my brains and limbs are still intact - and my heart is still in this!

Thankfully I havent lost any close colleagues, but we feel it deep down when anyone in the UNICEF family - or in the aid business for that matter - dies in the line of duty. I think about my compatriot and colleague,Chris Klein-Beekman died at the age of 32 in the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. Credit: UNICEFChristopher Klein-Beekman, who at 32-years-old, died in the line of duty in the 2003 bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad. His parents live near me on Vancouver Island and I really choked up when I met them for the first time. The recent killing of aid workers in northern Afghanistan - an area I am familiar with - was horrific and shocked many of us to the core.

On World Humanitarian Day, I think of people like Chris and his parents. I think of the young Pakistani women near Mansehra, cradling her terrified child after losing everything to the South Asian earthquake. I think of the farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar, their land inundated by salt water brought by an unforgiving Cyclone Nargis. And I think of the teenage girl I met in Kano State in Northern Nigeria, her limbs rendered lifeless because she didn't receive a polio vaccination.

We are often prevented from reaching beneficiaries by washed out roads, bad weather, road blocks, lack of air transport or heavy lift capacity, or violence started by state or non-state actors. It's important for us to be seen as neutral actors and to convince those in positions of power that we are there for one simple reason: to save lives. All kinds of live-saving materials pass through the cargo holds of airplanes we've managed to borrow, through the trucks we've leased and - ultimately through our hands and the hands of our partners: insecticide-treated bed nets, blankets, tents, water purification tablets, water pumps, high energy biscuits, syringes and medicines - you name it.

All-in-all, this career has exceeded my expectations by far. I count myself as extremely lucky and feel I have one of the best jobs in the world. On top of that I get to help people in need, help find solutions to their pressing problems. I am learning new things all the time, see the word and get to work with an awesome and diverse group of professionals!

HUMNEWS - Photo's of the week - August 8, 2010

 Pakistan Floods: An estimated 13 million Pakistanis affected by the worst floods in the country’s history are bracing from more misery as heavy rains further bloat rivers and streams. Many aid agencies have already begun to respond to the situation. Approximately 1600 people have died. (SOURCE: Irish Times)

Mongolian neo-Nazis: Anti-Chinese sentiment fuels rise of ultra-nationalism -  Alarm sounds over rise of extreme groups such as Tsagaan Khass who respect Hitler and reject foreign influence. (SOURCE: The Guardian)

 

Russia fires: The capital city of the Russian Federation is covered in thick smog, based on reports from Moscow. The problem is reportedly causing several businesses and schools to close down due to health risks. Moscow has a population of some 10 million people, about the same as the entire population of Hungary. A thick blanket of smog was allegedly caused by uncontrollable ongoing peat fires burning just outside the capital. The problem is also disrupting air traffic at major airports. Television coverage showed how commuters and residents wear masks and ambulances and paramedics are reportedly also on alert as summer temperatures reached 40C. At the same some 700 wildfires are raging in various parts of the country due to the severe drought. (SOURCE: The Budapest Report)

  Kashmir flash floods: At least 115 people confirmed dead and about 412 injured in flash floods near Leh on Thursday night news has also come in that 25 Army jawans in the area are missing after their posts and houses were washed away, Army sources said. (SOURCE: Indian Express/ PHOTO: Video Grab - PTI/Doordarshan)

Jamaica Dengue fever: Health Minister Rudyard Spencer told journalists at a press briefing at Jamaica House in Kingston this week that of the 77 cases, seven have been confirmed as of the more severe form of the illness -- the dengue haemorragic fever. Spencer, however, said no cases of dengue shock syndrome have been reported so far nor any related deaths. The health ministry, said Spencer, is on high alert in light of the growing number of cases of dengue fever and dengue haemorragic fever in the country and region. Consequently, he said, all parishes have intensified their fogging and oiling activities. Fogging is being carried out in approximately 800 communities across the island. (SOURCE: The Jamaica Observer)  

Kyrgyzstan protests: The authorities in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh have prevented a mass protest against the deployment of an international police force in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. Sonunbek Junusbaev, one of the activists who planned the protest, told RFE/RL that the Osh commandant ordered the removal of a yurt -- the traditional Kyrgyz nomadic dwelling -- from in front of a local theater on August 4. The protest organizers had set up the yurt earlier this week as a symbol of their protest. The 52 unarmed international police are expected to arrive in Osh and Jalal-Abad in early September to accompany police on patrols, engage in training and advising local police, and to monitor the human rights situation. The OSCE and the Kyrgyz government decided to send the police mission in an effort to restore order after clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz killed at least 356 people and uprooted hundreds of thousands more in June. International human rights groups have reported that Kyrgyz police and other security forces are arbitrarily detaining ethnic Uzbeks and also beating them.The OSCE police are to stay in the southern regions for four months (SOURCE: Radio Free Europe)

  Aura Borealis: NASA announced the discovery of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on August 1, 2010. The CME resulted from a class C3 solar flare and was aimed towards Earth. The coronal mass ejection should reach Earth on the night of August 3/4, 2010. The CME will cause a higher than normal possibility of aurora, also called northern lights, activity on the evening of August 3 and the morning of August 4. During a CME the Sun releases high energy charged particles, protons and electrons. When these particles, particularly the electrons, interact with atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere they cause northern and southern lights, which are more properly called the aurora borealis and the aurora australis. Earth's magnetic field causes the auroral displays to be more easily visible near the north and south magnetic poles, but in extreme cases aurora can be visible at lower latitudes. (SOURCE: Examiner.com)

Africa broadband: The East African Submarine System (EASSy) undersea cable, which now has an upgraded 3,84-Tb/s design capacity, has entered commercial operation, ahead of schedule and about 10% below its budgeted $300-million in capital expenditure.Dr Angus Hay, the chief technology officer of Neotel – one of the consortium of investors in the cable – on Thursday announced that the undersea cable had started commercial operations on July 30.The launch of the EASSy cable follows a year after the 1,28-Tb/s Seacom cable, which also runs along Africa’s East Coast, went live on July 23, 2009.The EASSy cable, which has a 25-year life, connects South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan with multiple other submarine cable networks from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas. (SOURCE: Engineering news)

Cluster bomb ban: Effective Aug.1, an international treaty bans the cluster bomb, one of the world’s worst hazards for millions of farmers. To date, 108 countries have signed and 38 have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the production, use, stockpiling or transfer of cluster bombs. No country suffers the hazards of cluster bombs more than Laos. Per capita, it’s the most heavily bombed country on earth. Up to 30 percent of all bombs dropped on Laos did not detonate. They remain in the soil today, deadly as ever. (SOURCE: The Faster Times)

 

Salvador Dali moves to Andorra: The Salvador Dali sculpture, the ‘Nobility of Time’ has been placed in Andorra’s capital city, in the Piazza Rotonda Andorra la Vella. It was donated to the Andorran government by Enric Sabater, who was Dali’s agent, collaborator and confident between 1968 and 1982. The stunning five meter high sculpture has been placed in the city’s most prestigious and historic square, in the towns oldest quarter which dates from the twelfth century. The bronze sculpture is one of the melted watch series of sculptures which was created by Dali to symbolise the passage of time. The soft melting watch is draped around a tree trunk; atop the watch face is a crown, symbolising time’s master over humanity. Beniamino Levi, President of the Stratton Foundation and curator of over eighty Dali exhibitions worldwide, has expressed his approval of the donation and is delighted that the sculpture is now the main artistic attraction in Andorra la Vella. “It is going to be one of the major attractions of the capital and of the country”, pointed out the town’s parish minister Antoni Armengol, who described the donation as akin to ‘a Christmas present in the summer’. Andorra’s minister of Education Culture and Youth, Susanna Vela agrees that the sculpture is certainly , ‘a great point of attraction’. The sculpture ‘ Nobility of Time’ has also been displayed in other European locations such as London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna and most recently Courcheval, France.  (SOURCE: artdaily.org)