Seeing the invisible people of Pakistan

A little over a month ago, the government of Pakistan announced that there would be no Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 14 due to the floods that displaced over 20 million in the country’s heartland. And so the mirthless passage of a national holiday appropriately marked a mirthless year at the end of a mirthless decade for the people of Pakistan.

In a summer replete with genuine suffering for an unprecedented portion of the country’s population, even the most cynical citizens were given over to authentic anguish, beyond the typical sarcastic gloom that fills the opinion pages of the country and the conversation at dinner parties and tea stands.

The ongoing conflict against the Taliban, the confused and tumultuous relationship with the United States in dealing with the security situation along the Afghan border, and the truly unprecedented emergence of suicide bombings and terrorist attacks within the nation of Pakistan is well publicized in the Western world. On a social level, the salt-in-the-wound antics of the Pakistani cricket team, which the youth of the nation treats as heroes and three members of which are currently embroiled in a betting scandal, was another source of grief that made its way through the airwaves in much of the world. And of course, the sorry state of the government, which neither commands respect from the people nor deserves any, lumbered on with a gruesome mishandling of the disaster as the president of the country continued a diplomatic tour of Europe even when the enormity of the floods became apparent.

In the face of such ineffectiveness, there have been truly commendable efforts and welcome relief from civilians and charities, some of which, notably, have emerged from the Columbia community. Columbia College students Umar Agha, CC ’11, and Anum Akram, CC ’11, worked on flood relief efforts within Pakistan this summer. The Organization of Pakistani Students has coordinated efforts since August to raise funds for the victims, and their drives, headed by OPS President Henna Mahmood, CC ’11, are planned to continue throughout the semester. On Sept. 16, the Columbia Muslim Students Association hosted its annual Fast-a-Thon, and its proceeds this year were directed entirely to flood relief.

Still, the prevailing mood of the campus and perhaps the country with regard to the floods is surely one of detachment. The urgency and passion that motivated the aid effort after the tragic Haiti earthquake or the earlier tsunami in Southeast Asia has been absent. Could it be because of a lack of awareness or media coverage? Is it due to a failure to understand the overwhelming long-term effects that a catastrophe of this sort could have in such a volatile region? Or is it, as has been suggested in some hushed tones, due to the tacit lingering of toxic feelings akin to what surfaced explosively in the notorious “Ground Zero mosque” controversy—namely, prejudices against the predominantly Muslim population of Pakistan as violent extremists and espousers of global agendas against the United States and Western civilization?

Regardless of the reasons behind this, let there be no mistake: As the monsoon rains pass, how the world, including Columbia, responds to the devastation left in its wake will be of crucial importance to the development and well-being of millions in the country and the security of the entire region. The loss of millions of dollars worth of crops, the destruction of villages, and partitions of families separated by the flooding has left the people in the rural center of Pakistan homeless and with no idea of what to expect in the near future. These are not short-term problems—there will be chronic after-effects, perhaps reaching into future decades, perhaps into future generations. In the efforts to reach the millions of weary, tired, and poor victims—people poor enough to be invisible before the floods turned the globe’s pitying eyes upon them—continuing aid and support will be a crucial duty.

The author is a Columbia College senior majoring in philosophy. He is the president of the Columbia International Relations Council and Association and the senior editor of the Journal of Politics & Society.