Saturday, September 11, 2010
Flood-hit Pakistanis celebrate Eid with hope
Millions of flood-affected people in Pakistan are celebrating Eid Saturday with the hope that their privileged countrymen will spare a thought for them on this Muslim religious festival. Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of the month of Ramzan, during which Muslims observe fast from sunrise till sunset to seek divine blessings. Most of the 'zakat' (Islamic charity) during Ramadan were diverted towards the flood-victims. Prayer and zakat are perhaps the two most important Muslim virtues, and zakat at least has been in short supply.
"We had never thought that we'll have to live on charity but water has taken away everything that we had", said one survivor who was displaced by floods on the Sindh- Punjab border. "This Eid has no meaning for us because how can we celebrate when our children are dying of hunger", he regretted.
The government had, before Eid, announced a compensation of Rs.20,000 for each family displaced by the floods to let them prepare for the festival. However, the promised relief could not reach the deserving in time.
IMO: The IMF, the UN and the USA should be competent enough, or more to the to point interested enough, to improve general levels of management within Pakistan. Clearly Pakistan's fellow Indians care, but the position from an Indian standpoint have been made ridiculous by a series of instances of bad Pakistani governance, and India has enough problems of its own.
"We had never thought that we'll have to live on charity but water has taken away everything that we had", said one survivor who was displaced by floods on the Sindh- Punjab border. "This Eid has no meaning for us because how can we celebrate when our children are dying of hunger", he regretted.
The government had, before Eid, announced a compensation of Rs.20,000 for each family displaced by the floods to let them prepare for the festival. However, the promised relief could not reach the deserving in time.
IMO: The IMF, the UN and the USA should be competent enough, or more to the to point interested enough, to improve general levels of management within Pakistan. Clearly Pakistan's fellow Indians care, but the position from an Indian standpoint have been made ridiculous by a series of instances of bad Pakistani governance, and India has enough problems of its own.
# posted by uv : 8:39 PM
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