LAHORE, Oct 18: Speakers at a meeting on Tuesday called for making concerted efforts by all the institutions of the civil society and the people to pool their resources for relief and rehabilitation of the earthquake victims.

They were participating in a discussion held by the Pakistan National Forum on the aftermath of the earthquake in Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas of Pakistan.

They said unless the entire nation joined hands no institution could handle the situation single-handedly. Senator S. M. Zafar, who presided over the meeting, said it was heartening to find that the entire nation had stood united and mobilized itself to provide relief to the quake hit persons. Its response was as quick and positive as the nature of the calamity. It has proved its worth and that was a matter of great pride. The people have come forward forgetting their ethnic and provincial prejudices and made spirited efforts to help the victims.

“Let us keep up the spirit though it seems difficult to sustain it,” he added.

The senator paid tributes to every government institution, NGOs, political parties and social welfare agencies for providing relief to the affected people. He urged the intellectuals, writers, poets and artistes to reflect the newly kindled spirit of the people in their works.

He said while the government was doing its best to provide relief to the affected people it should also tolerate criticism and complaints made by the people earnestly to improve the relief operations. He also emphasised the need for the electronic media coverage of the damage caused by the quake, the woeful plight of the victims and the relief operations for the information of the world at large as he thought it would help attract their attention to send in more aid for the affected people. He advised the politicians to keep politics away from their relief operations.

Supreme Court Bar Association former president Abid Hasan Minto said while army was providing rescue and relief facilities to the affected people, there was great need for involving the civil administration in rehabilitation of the quake victims.

The civil administration could seek the help of the army in this connection instead of taking over the entire work of rehabilitation and reconstruction to the army.

He said even the relief work should be done with the help of local administration that was well aware of the needs of the people of the area. The task was so gigantic that army alone could not cope with the situation unless local administration was involved. Not only civil administration, but the entire society and NGOs were required to pool their resources to provide relief and rehabilitation of the affected people.

He said the future of a large number of orphaned children and widows was uncertain and the government would have to take utmost care to ensure that they were taken over by undesirable elements and it could seek the help of NGOs and other institutions.

Kashmir Action Committee president Justice Sharif Husain Bokhari (retired) said the quake had destroyed the Kashmir on both sides of the LoC. He regretted that neither the Indian nor the held Kashmir government had worthwhile measures to provide relief to their people. He suggested that the LoC should be opened to provide relief to them.

He said the relief being provided by the people of Pakistan for the affected people of Azad Kashmir should be extended to the people in occupied Kashmir on humanitarian grounds.

National Forum chief Col Ikramullah (retired) said the tragedy was so big that it was not possible for any single institution to cope with its impact effectively. He said it was heartening that the people of Pakistan had emerged as a great nation and had proved its worth and capability to meet the situation.

He said all agencies, civilian and armed forces had joined hands to provide relief, rescue operations.

Chief minister’s adviser Mowahid Husain Syed said the electronic media coverage of the damaged area and the plight of the victims should be continued to apprise the world of the situation.

He said the quake in Pakistan and Katrina in America had highlighted the difference of the response of the people of the two countries. The people of Pakistan had shown higher spirit, greater courage and sense of sacrifice than the Americans.

He said the situation demanded that the politicians should eschew their differences and join hands in rescue operations. They should forget their petty issues and develop the consensus.

Another adviser of the chief minister Rana Ijaz Ahmad Khan said the positive aspect of the tragedy was the unity of the nation and the spirit of sacrifice of the people.

Other speakers included Jamaat-i-Islami deputy secretary general Ashraf Malik, minister Qudsia Lodhi, journalist Rafiq Ghauri, former senator Shafqat Mahmood, Dr Shafiq Chaudhry and Ghulam Mustafa Meerani.