Daily Times

Sometimes, it is much easier to pretend to have a goldfish’s memory than to deal with the harsh realities. The collective conscience wasted no time in looking past a flood of biblical proportions that ravaged a third of the country; took over 1500 lives last monsoon season. The minute water showed the slightest inclination to recede, politicians were back to their power games, and the media renewed its vigour to comment on who threw the dirtiest punch.

Far, far away from the national radar, the calamitous natural disaster continued to take its toll on over eight million people languishing in makeshift shelters. With nearly 14 per cent of the affected children suffering from acute malnutrition and hospitals filling up with those in need of immediate medical attention, Pakistan is, indeed, sitting on yet another human catastrophe.

That the UN has announced $5.5 million to deal with emergency nutrition would go a considerable way in fulfilling their immediate requirements, but much, much more is needed. Only last month, UNICEF warned about the crippling shortage of drinking water for over 10 million flood victims. Continued exposure to stagnant water and the absence of safe drinking water and toilets are ideal conditions for waterborne diseases to wreak havoc on the already downtrodden.

The few crumbs of what these people were left with have slipped through their hands, thanks to unprecedented food inflation. Last October, a report by Population Council had drawn attention to the immunisation and nutrition of 5.1 million children; special requirements of 940,000 elderly and antenatal, delivery and postnatal services required by 610,000 pregnant women. But so thick has been the political insurgency and the legal conundrum that the state has had no time whatsoever to deliberate upon the welfare programmes.

Little to no attention has been given to the dwindling global attention despite knowing that we don’t stand a chance to survive without international donations. Humanitarian organisations have been trying their level best to make our case in front of the key players, but it would remain a futile exercise unless Pakistan realised the short-sightedness of its own approach. Nothing else would do. *