When calamity strikes

The extent of damage caused by last week's rain and snowfall in many parts of the country is now becoming clear. A vast area, from Balochistan to the NWFP, Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir, has been reeling under weather-induced calamities.

Unfortunately, the worst affected areas are also the most impoverished and least developed. In Balochistan it has been flash floods caused by torrential rains that have washed away hundreds of houses, killing at least 135 people.

Three dams have busted in the Makran and Turbat regions; 40kms of the coastal highway linking Karachi with Gwadar, and serving as lifeline into the remote region, have been completely washed away; another 250km stretch has been partially damaged.

Besides, crops and livestock, two basic components of the sparsely agrarian economy, have perished, leaving hundreds of families without their subsistence-level means of livelihood.

President Pervez Musharraf has done well by visiting the calamity-hit areas around Pasni, and by announcing a compensation of Rs100,000 for each bereaved family. The need now is to ensure that the money and interest-free agricultural loans promised by the government reach the deserving poor.

Meanwhile, it is emergency relief supplies such as tents, blankets, fuel, food, drinking water and medicines that are urgently needed, and that must be made available to the disaster-stricken people.

The news from the Frontier is no less tragic, where rain, heavy snow and landslides have combined to wreak havoc across the province. The known death toll so far is said to be over 100 and climbing, as more and more deaths are being reported from Swat, Hazara, Kohistan and Chitral districts as well as the galliyat.

Roads leading to remote valleys are blocked by snow or landslides, power and telecommunication lines have been cut off and food and fuel supplies are running low. What added to the woes of the people amid all this was a rumour spread on Saturday of an impending earthquake about to strike across the region.

Announcements were made from mosques in early evening, asking the people to leave their homes and head for open spaces. A large number of people, including women, children and the elderly, were forced to spend the cold night under an open sky, at places in the rain.

The provincial government has ordered an inquiry into the mischief caused by the rumour which has no scientific basis, because earthquakes cannot be predicted. There have been few reports of any possible help or assistance reaching the people trapped in snowbound conditions.

Parts of Azad Kashmir and the Northern Areas have also born the brunt of inclement weather, with the known death toll in these areas reaching well over 50. The killer in most cases has been avalanches, which are said to have buried many alive.

It is sad to note the absence of a national disaster relief programme which could be activated when and where required. If such a programme were in place, the loss of life and damage to property caused by nature's fury could have been less because people in urgent need of emergency relief and medical aid would have been helped sooner than they are being presently.

Bus service across LoC

The current peace process will receive a major boost if the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service gets going. The proposal has been hanging fire for quite some time over the mode of travel. Since Kashmir is a disputed territory, Pakistan obviously cannot accept visitors from across the Line of Control crossing over to this side on an Indian passport.

The last Indo-Pakistan meeting in December failed to resolve this procedural matter. Islamabad and New Delhi would do well to look at it from the point of view of the Kashmiri people.

Kashmir belongs to them, and the Line of Control has merely served to keep them divided. At present, a Kashmiri living in the Srinagar valley has to make a circuitous journey if he wants to visit his relatives in Azad Kashmir. He must first go to New Delhi to obtain a Pakistan visa and then fly to Karachi or go by bus to Lahore before travelling to Azad Kashmir.

All over the world, people in disputed territories do not use passports. The crossings between North and South Korea and across the green line in Cyprus are monitored by the UN. Pakistan and India could do the same.

The proposal to give Kashmiris permits instead of passports would mean the same hassle, since they would be required to take visas from the Pakistani and Indian high commissions in Islamabad and New Delhi.

Instead, the Kashmiris prefer residence certificates from local administrations. This will enable them to cross the LoC without much bother. The two governments should look at it from a realistic point of view.

Kashmiris have suffered a lot because of the division of their state and the raging insurgency. The process of normalization between Pakistan and India has served to change South Asia's geopolitical climate.

The Kashmiris, too, have welcomed it, but they want to be associated with the dialogue process. They also legitimately desire to benefit from the current process and want to feel freer and happier.

Travels across the LoC will lessen their hardships and create optimism about the future. Easy travel across the LoC will not resolve the Kashmir dispute, but it will most certainly constitute a major confidence-building measure between Pakistan and India.

Regulating traffic

Alarmed at the pace at which traffic is multiplying on Karachi streets, the city nazim, Naimatullah Khan, has called for a plan aimed at regulating the vehicular disorder that is worsening with each passing day.

However, one wonders if his instructions will have the intended effect and move traffic authorities into chalking out a sensible plan, based on all the factors that cause jams and bottlenecks, and more important, enforcing it on a sustained basis.

The usual campaigns to regulate traffic on city streets, making it possible for car or bus drivers to reach their destinations with relative ease, are short-lived. In no time, chaos returns to the roads as reckless motorcyclists vie with truck drivers to jump the red light or long lines of cars and other vehicles move helter skelter to create any number of jams and bottlenecks.

A long-term traffic management plan would have to take into account several factors, among them encroachments, VIP movement, security arrangements, rush hour traffic, and the increasing number of cars on the roads.

It would need the input not only of traffic authorities and other urban experts but also of ordinary citizens, especially those living near or passing through areas where heavy traffic jams are common. Such a plan would also need careful consideration of existing development projects, some of which relate to traffic management.

Indeed, the city government has approved several traffic management schemes over the years, but many of those completed have proved inadequate, tending to create even greater snarls than before. But no traffic plan is going to be effective unless road rules and etiquette are drummed into the city's erratic drivers, a difficult task, indeed, considering that traffic officials often allow them to get away after extracting a bribe. Perhaps, this is the most important aspect of traffic control and one that should be given greater priority than the undertaking of grandiose schemes.