Possibly the worst flood in Pakistan’s history is ravaging the country as I write this. The awful scenes on television screens and on the myriad Internet sites are absolutely horrifying. From the destruction in Swat to the devastation in Mianwali and Sukkur; from the plight of the people of Nowshera and Risalpur to the misery of the poor in Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan today is a picture of total devastation.

As is natural in a country that has been held in thrall to the army and army dictators for more than half its life; in a country where elected governments have never been allowed to complete their terms by a rampant Establishment (read army and its intelligence agencies), all the blame for a weak infrastructure is being put on to the shoulders of the politicians. Those indulging in the blame game lose sight of the fact that except for Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s, no other elected government has been allowed to complete its term, let alone try to implement nation-building plans it might have had! Indeed, what happened to ZAB at the hands of a cruel army dictator more than proves the point.

Whilst President Zardari’s ill-timed visit to France and the UK is indefensible for the reason that he should have been in the country at this fraught time coordinating the relief effort, the Establishment cannot be allowed to get away by trying to shovel the blame for a weak anti-flood infrastructure only on to civilian shoulders as it is attempting to do in the case of Nowshera where several army installations and stores have been damaged irreparably.

It would be instructive to run through the list of Pakistani governments since partition in which one would find that civilian governments lasted from 13 days (Prime Minister Nurul Amin) to 2 months (I.I. Chundrigar) to 1 year (H.S. Suhrawardy). In recent times, both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif lasted in office from 2 to 3 years, being dismissed by the Establishment way before their tenures were to end at the next elections.

In comparison, each of our army dictators stayed in power for 11 years (Ayub Khan); 11 years (Ziaul Haq), and almost 10 years (Musharraf). And yet the Establishment has the effrontery to blame the “bloody civilians”? Critically, it must be noted that army dictators had far more freedom of to do what they willed for they ruled with the stick, not by the vote. Neither is this all. If a comparison is made between the aid that came in during dictatorships and that which was received during civilian interregnums it will be seen that the aid-giving countries were far more generous when generals were ruling the roost. Far more than anything else, according to themselves they are far more efficient than the civilians...so why did they not do the needful?

All said and done, this is hardly the time for the blame game. All of us Pakistanis should come together to help in whatever way we can, the multitudes of poor and starving people on emergent basis. We must be mindful of the fact that very soon diseases resulting from poor sanitary conditions and exposure to the elements will spread among the populace affected by the floods.

Governments, both federal and provincial, and all of the governments agencies including the armed forces must immediately stop all non-developmental expenditures and channel all available funds to the flood affected, always mindful of the fact that the militants who already have the country in their vice-like grip will attempt to creep into the people’s affections by providing relief wherever they can. We must remember that these people are cash-rich, their foreign sponsors keeping them well provisioned.

Kamran Shafi