Opinion Flood and aid

Dawn reported on September 15 that the latest official numbers say that 5.3 million people have been affected,of which 1.7 million are “in need of urgent assistance”. Over 200 people have died and roughly a million houses have been damaged; over 280,000 have been housed in refugee camps. Aid is being provided by UNHCR and Unicef. But PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has taken strong exception to foreign aid; Daily Times on September 12 quoted him as saying: “We have ample resources. We don’t need any foreign aid. If we can become an atomic power than what else we can’t do? …We are going through a financial crisis but the situation is not so grave that we bow down before the international community and seek aid for resolving internal issues.”

Sharif also expressed regret that the government had not waived the loans of small farmers in flood-affected areas. He had reportedly requested the PM to pay Rs 100,000 to each flood-hit family instead of Rs 25,000 which,he said,was “not sufficient.”

Dengue politics

The News reported on September 16 that the official dengue death toll in Punjab had risen to 29. A Punjab government secretary also succumbed to the disease. The dengue outbreak hasbeen most acute in Lahore; schools and colleges have been closed till September 23. The Express Tribune reported on September 16 that the Punjab assembly’s business advisory committee on Thursday unanimously decided to prorogue the ongoing session for two weeks in view of the outbreak. “Legislators privy to the business advisory committee meeting said that both government and opposition members had pressed their leaders to prorogue the session. They said several members feared getting dengue themselves. By evening,most MPAs had left the city.”

The Express Tribune reported: “PML-N members have accused the media of exaggerating the extent and severity of the dengue outbreak so they can use it as a stick to beat the Punjab government with. In a three-hour sitting of the Punjab assembly on Wednesday,several PML-N members complained that there had been misleading news coverage of their efforts to battle the dengue outbreak. Opposition members retorted that the PML-N just didn’t like what the media was reporting: that the provincial government had mishandled a major public health crisis.”

The News added on September 16: “Chief justice of the Lahore high court,Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry,remarked that corruption seems to be involved in purchase of dengue vaccine and the court will not allow playing with human lives… He instructed the district coordinating officer of Lahore and Punjab’s health secretary to present a report by September 23 as to what measures have been taken to control the spread. The court was of the view that the fumigation should have been conducted earlier in the year and either the insecticide was not purchased or only on paper.”

More al-qaeda?

Reports of the killing of another top al-Qaeda leader inside Pakistan has left the army dumbfounded,Dawn reported on September 16: “Pakistan had no confirmation on Friday that al-Qaeda’s chief of operations in the country had been killed in a recent drone strike in the northwestern tribal region,as reported by American officials. Abu Hafs al-Shahri,a Saudi national who had been serving as a senior figure in al-Qaeda’s central command,was the target of the drone strike which occurred within the last few days,two US officials said on Thursday. ‘We have no knowledge of that,’ said Pakistan military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. Intelligence officials operating in the tribal regions near the Afghan border also had no information on al Shahri. ‘We have neither heard of this man operating in this region,nor can we confirm his death,’ said one.” If confirmed,al Shahri would be the sixth senior al-Qaeda figure to be killed in Pakistan since Osama bin Laden’s widely publicised death in May.