Business as usual in Pakistan
While standing at the airport in Islamabad, I saw cargo plans from Azerbaijan, Iran and UAE carrying relief goods. The airport had apparently handled 140 relief flights within the last week and 10 within the last 24 hours. The Turkish PM was in town and had give $150 million to the government for the relief effort.
While in Karachi, the stories of people selling relief goods had started to come to light. The medicines given from relief effort were sold on the open market, the clothes were sold in the second hand clothes market and and items like tents and blankets were sold back to people who wanted to buy them for relief effort.
There are news of looters going over to the affected areas and cutting the fingers and and other parts of the dead bodies under the rubble to take jewellery and other valuables. Some of these looters organised in a gang are steal full trucks of relief goods. Allegedly, in Islamabad officials are selling goods received from the rest of the country to the charities and people wanting to buy stuff for relief operation. Apparently, the tents are sold at Rs. 1,300 ($22) each to officials who sell them on for Rs. 1,800 ($30) rupees to the contractor who sells them back to the public for Rs. 5,000 ($83). The President had made two broadcasts in the last week to tell the people of the country that he is doing a all he can and most of us truly believe that. However, he needs to set up security and ground level monitoring teams to provide check and balance to the operation. With so much money coming from every where, and every tom, dick and harry collecting donations and goods, it needs to be checked where these things are ending up. Similarly, the shop keepers who had doubled the prices of tents, blankets and even cloth for burial, need to be seen too.
It seems we are waking up from the dream of last week. For a minute many thought everyone had being struck with the fear of God and had started working together to reduce the impact of the calamity.While we always had faith in the ordinary people (who are still doing all they can), it was the motives of the high ups and black sheep which were questionable. With very little sign that people will change, it seems it business as usual in Pakistan!
Source: Scrambled Rambles
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October 23rd, 2005 at 11:02 pm
How shameful! Pakistanis will be Pakistanis. It’s who we are… The rich will stay seated on thier fat As*es (who cares… the earthquake came upon the poor!), theives will not see other’s plight, they will take from the dead, the bleeding, the hopeless… they will touch the bodies of women to take their jewelery. Businessmen will use every opportunity to use the earthquake to their advantage.
This has happened repeatedly… throughout history… from partition upto the Earthquake and everywhere in between.
Unless you force a change in the general thinking level of the bloody population through education… teach compassion towards other humans and animals & all of Allah’s creations…. this cycle will continue. Survival of the sly-est, corrupt-est and the ruthless.
Regulation by govenment will have absolutely no effect whatsoever… thieves and corrupt businessmen have nothing to lose… they’ve made their money which is untouchable by the government.