Round The World

New Delhi, 2 September 2022

Pakistan Floods

TIME FOR RETHINKING

By Dr D.K. Giri

(Prof. International Relations, JIMMC) 

Pakistan has just been ravaged by unprecedented floods. It has claimed several lives and rendered many homeless, who are being sheltered in tents. As per the National Disaster Management Authority, the floods have killed over 1136 people and injured 1636 while destroying one million homes. Around 498,000 people are in relief camps having been displaced. Many more displacees are believed to be living with relatives, friends or outside. This is said to be the worst disaster Pakistan has experienced. In the words of Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilaval Bhutto, “I have not seen destruction of this scale. I find it very difficult to put into words…It is overwhelming”.

From various estimates, the damage caused by the floods is much deeper. It will take years for Pakistan to recover and rebuild. Over 33 million people have been affected and one third of the country has been under water. It is estimated that the damage to houses, roads and infrastructure would amount to 10 billion USD. The floods have also wiped out standing crops. As the waters recede, fears of water-borne disease as well as food shortages are expected to rise. The heart-rending accounts of the victims tell it all.

A victim in Charsadda, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said, “I am sitting with my family in a tent, how can I go to work? Even if I look for a job, who will give it to me as there is water everywhere”. Another victim in the same district, Zarina Bibi recounted her experience with tears in her eyes, “I saw my house collapsing, was evacuated by soldiers on boat. We have been given food by soldiers and volunteers. Flood water will recede soon, but we have no money to build our home.”

Responding to this gigantic and dreadful disaster, the international community is coming forth with aid, assistance and immediate relief. India, as the immediate neighbour and the biggest country in the region, also has responded promptly and positively. Even Pakistan, having had an inimical attitude towards India, especially since 2019, in the wake of reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir, has sought to begin trading with India.

Remember that Pakistan under premiership of Imran Khan had suspended, rather banned any trade transaction with India, making just two exceptions – receiving medical supply during Covid-19 and allowing India’s humanitarian aid of 50,000 tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan. Pakistan’s change of attitude on trade, in the wake of floods, has been necessitated by desperate shortage of vegetables and essential commodities.

The moot question to explore is to whether India and Pakistan should seriously rethink their bilateralism in view of the devastations caused by the floods in the South Asian region. Note that the consequence of climate change should be a continuing worry for all of South Asia, one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to global warming. In view of the current crisis and the impending threats of global warming, can India become the first responder? Will India and Pakistan resolve their differences, especially on Kashmir, and collaborate to create a new format for the future of South Asia. Can they actualise the proverbial saying, “make prosperity out of diversity”.

The responses in terms of material support so far have come from the United States, the United Kingdom, China, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey, while others have promised help. The International Monetary Fund has announced on Tuesday 30 August, a bail-out package of 1.1 billion USD. The package is a part of Pakistan’s ongoing negotiations to save itself from the economic crises it is steeped in.

Some food items are coming in trickles which is not enough. For instance, the Lahore Market Committee Secretary Shehzad Cheema said that about 100 containers of tomato and around 30 containers of onion are being received at Torkham border (with Afghanistan every day, out of which only two containers of tomato and one of onion is coming to Lahore city. But this is too short to meet the demand in the provincial capital of Punjab). Mr. Cheema hinted at Pakistan government eventually importing onion and tomato from India.

The dramatic shortage of vegetables is posing serious threat to health conditions and even survival. Import of vegetables from Iran was not being viable because of the increase of the taxes by Iranian government on imports and exports. According to information at hand, tomato and onion were available at around Rs. 500 and 400 per kg respectively. It is simply beyond the reach of the common man. Cheema cautioned that prices of date palm and banana would soon go up as most of the orchards in Sindh had been destroyed by the floods. Likewise, apple supply from Baluchistan and other areas had also been stopped due to flooding. Worse, prices of vegetables, the basic necessity as food, will go up because of the disruption of supply from Baluchistan, Sindh and South Punjab.

The shortage of food items mainly vegetables like potato, onion and tomato has prompted Pakistan to look at India. However, whichever may be the entry point, there is a scope for normalising relations. Pakistani ministers have hinted at resumption of trade with India. The Finance Minister Miftah Ismal on August 29 said that government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India. The former Security Advisor Moeed Yousuf was working on some proposals regarding trade with India. The former Commerce Advisor Razak Dawood also spoke on several occasions for renewing trade relations with India. The government has posted Trade Secretary in its New Delhi High Commission.

Strategically, in addition to a humanitarian prospective, India should step in at this point. Thankfully, there are positive soundings from India, as the Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said, “Sometimes India, as the biggest country has to step forward”. The neighbouring countries also perhaps expect India to do so as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda said, “I would be very strong votary of more regionalism and expect India to be more generous and more non-reciprocal in building this”. He added that if SAARC was not working, other regional structures should be pursued.

Some of us have been arguing to normalise relations with Pakistan with or without a permanent resolution of the Kashmir issue. In the name of Kashmir’s territorial identity, Pakistan cannot go down the road of weakening its economy and compromising its political autonomy. India should help Pakistan steady itself, become self-dependent and self-sufficient in its basic necessities. India should help Pakistan not falling prey to the debt-trap of Chinese foreign policy. Sri Lanka is a case in point. Pakistan seems to be following suit.

It is also in the interest of India to decouple Pakistan and China as the latter can poke India using the platform of the former. At the end of the day, Pakistan as a former constituent of India is more manageable than China, which is ever-hungry for more territory, revanchist and expansionist in its approach. This has to be stopped. India will have to do it with the help from bigger countries from the democratic world and certainly with all its neighbours. Will it? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)