Pakistan: Getting aid to the Baloch

On September 24, 2013, a devastating earthquake, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, struck Balochistan with full force. Since that day, more than 500 lives have been lost and hundreds of thousands have been left injured or displaced. In the long, hard history of this volatile province, this is probably the most trying time for its people. After more than two weeks, less than 50 percent of the people affected have received any form of aid. Given that much of the affected area is inaccessible by road and that relief efforts will take time and proper planning, there is still no satisfactory explanation for some of the decisions being made by the government. It has been decided that international aid agencies will not be allowed to enter the affected area to distribute relief goods and help in the rehabilitation efforts. What is the sense in this? The poor earthquake victims are stranded in the middle of nowhere awaiting any kind of assistance but none seems to be coming their way. From the very beginning of the crisis, the army, security forces and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been making tall claims of doing all they can to help the victims but that their efforts are being sabotaged by the insurgents. This is one version, but the reality on the ground is very different. There are fears of epidemics spreading due to the lack of clean drinking water, food, shelter or medicine. Even local NGOs are having their movements restricted and strictly watched and are not allowed to freely go into the affected areas. It seems someone just does not want the aid agencies, be they international or even local, to wander about and discover some harsh truths about Balochistan. Suspicion naturally falls on the paramilitary wing of the army, the Frontier Corps (FC), which has been accused of being a brute force in the province. Baloch leaders are quick to voice that the FC and security forces are using relief operations as a cover for their nefarious designs, i.e. fresh military operations. It is no surprise then that these leaders are refusing any help from the army, as these are the very forces they point towards as being responsible for the repression in Balochistan. The moment this disaster struck, the government should have done the needful. It should have declared a state of emergency and declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Balochistan conflict, with a simultaneous appeal to the insurgents to put aside all grievances and allow all manner of relief and rehabilitation efforts, whether local or international. A call to halt the fighting would have resulted in more people receiving the help they desperately need. What is happening to these blameless victims now is a crime against humanity. The state cannot just shrug off its responsibility for this debacle, which could have far reaching consequences.