Dear
All
as salamu alaykum
These past two days were rather difficult for
our overall team in the work that they have
been doing. This entire relief work has become
an experience in itself which reflects on various
aspects of humanity - both the good and the
bad sides of it. It has also given me personally
a lot to think about and reflect on life and
death aspects, and what the future may hold
in store for me.
Let me first tell you about the incidents over
these two days.
As I had mentioned in my previous report for
23-28 Oct, our relief efforts gained major momentum,
and we were able to move substantial amount
of supplies - particularly tents and comforters
- to our site over the past 3-4 days. In the
meantime, our boys had been doing a wonderful
job at site by surveying the damage to every
home and family and identifying the truly needy
people.
As I also mentioned in the previous report,
we distributed around 350 tents to Samni village,
which according to our assessment covered the
basic needs of all the residents, based on the
survey. Therefore, our teams moved on to other
villages in the vicinity starting with Barikot,
where the devastation was severe. We started
distributing tents and other supplies to them.
The normal process for this was that our teams
would walk up the mountains to the villages
and go to each home. Based on the damage, they
would issue a "chit" to the home owner
and make a record in their own register of what
they thought was needed by that family. The
ID card no. of the person was also noted. A
date would be given to the person to go to our
camp to collect the goods.
When the person appeared, after ratification,
the goods would be given to him and the chit
retained. The register would be updated. This
ensured that there was no duplication in issuance
of items and the items issued were genuinely
needed.
During the initial few days, we did not have
this "chit" system in place. We had
relied substantially on the so-called "elders"
of the clans to give us the data for their entire
larger clan and collect the goods for the entire
clan. We quickly found out that this was creating
problems as these so-called "elders"
themselves were the hoarders and they were not
passing the goods down to the really needy people.
Therefore with the change in process, the poor
people started getting the relief, and these
rich elders were unable to get the goods from
us. We later on found out that these elders
had started selling the goods. Alhamdulillah,
we caught on to their nefarious activities in
the beginning and were able to take corrective
measures.
Based on the knowledge of the above, let me
turn to the events of the 30th of Oct.
- Some of
these nefarious elements who had been hoarders
and resellers of relief goods got very upset
with our teams for the new methods used
that had an impact on the hoarders and thieves.
They felt that they had the right to all
of the relief that was being offered at
our camp and were trying all techniques
to hand over all the goods to them.
- With our
processes in place, all the newly arrived
goods were being diverted to other villages
in the area as well. This upset their plans.
- Shortly
after 2pm on 30th, Arif Masud called me
from his Satellite Phone that the camp was
under attack by hooligans who are virtually
murderous. This was right after 6 of our
team members left the camp to return to
Islamabad onwards to Karachi. They replacements
had not arrived yet and were on the way.
- They had
planned the attack systematically. First
they cut off the telephone line coming into
our camp from the SCO (Army) run PCO. Then
they also beat up the army personnel manning
that PCO. What they did not realize was
that there were 2 satellite phones in our
camp, and therefore our people were still
able to call us.
- With the
assistance of Shahid Mahmud, we were able
to transfer information to the PSO of the
GOC (Major General) who is in charge of
the Bagh area. Within minutes, around 10
or so Army jawans came rushing to our camp.
- In the
meantime, some people from our camp rushed
to the Army MT office located next to our
camp also to seek assistance, which was
forthcoming
- The attackers
were pushed back and six of them were arrested
by the Army, and handed over to the local
police. Around 4 of our volunteers sustained
some minor injuries. Some of the army jawans
were also injured in this fight.
- The Army,
SCO and our camp lodged FIRs with the police.
The Brigade Commander himself is following
up with the police to ensure that the miscreants
do not get away.
With
this situation created, Air Commodore Nayyar
(Abdalian) and I decided to travel to Bagh immediately
to support our teams morally, and to sort out
the problem by finding solutions. We left Islamabad
in the night of the 30th (same day), and arrived
at our Rerah camp at aorund 4:30am, just in
time for our sehri.
During the day, we (Nayyar, Arif Masud and I)
met with the Brigade Commander as well as the
Lieut. Colonel who is the commander of the 5
Baluch Regt. which is covering our territory.
We had a very fruitful interaction with them.
Let me summarize the discussions and the course
of action we have taken:
- Our relief
operations were in any case coming to a
close as I had reported earlier. We had
decided to taper this off and give away
all that was in the pipeline to the needy
people. We would then stop the relief operations
with the Eid holidays coming in.
- We had
planned to continue with the medical camp
though, with a break for Eid holidays when
we would have difficulty getting doctors
- In light
of these developments, we then decided to
make a slight change in plans so as not
to jeopardize the security of our volunteers
o We decided that we would bring our relief
operations to a close one day earlier than
we had planned. We would have pulled out
our relief team by Wednesday in any case
and to get our volunteers back to their
homes in time for Eid. But now these boys
would be pulled back on Tuesday. In the
meantime, these boys had already done surveys
of the villages - particularly Barikot area
- and we would now disburse the goods to
these people with the assistance of the
Army. This would allow us to fulfill our
obligations by ensuring that the material
is given to the verified needy.
o We would also freeze our medical operations
until early next week for people to go home
for Eid. Our medical supplies would be stored
away in the meantime.
o Our camp facilities would also be under
the custody of the Army in absence of our
volunteers during these holidays
o We may relocate our camp after Eid
o We also consulted with them regarding
our longer term commitments, for which I
had written an incomplete email on the 30th
and which I could not mail out to all of
you as we rushed towards Bagh. I hope to
be able to complete it today and post it
for the knowledge of all of you.
With
these decisions in place, Nayyar and I returned
to Islamabad last night. Our team is now working
on winding down the camp accordingly, and we
hope to have the boys back in Islamabad either
tonight or tomorrow morning insha Allah.
What really pained all of us is that despite
such a massive disaster, there still are some
people who are incorrigible. They will never
change their ways. We could feel so much goodness
all around us with the entire Pakistani nation
trying to assist those who have been afflicted
by this disaster. Therefore it was difficult
for us to envision that there could be some
people amongst these afflicted ones who still
could not change their ways and retain greed
in light of the plight of their families, neighbours
and friends. May Allah guide them and show them
that goodness should not be forsaken.
I suppose it takes all types to make a people.
On the other hand, we will still continue with
our work to bring about relief and rehabilitation
to the poor, needy and afflicted in this area.
We shall not be deterred by this incident.
On a brighter note, we are also arranging gifts
for the displaced or orphan children living
in camps around Islamabad on the occasion of
Eid. The funds for this activity have been donated
by the Discover Islam Centre and some people
in Bahrain. We are obtaining some good Eid clothes
and other gifts for these children. We hope
to be able to give gifts to over 1,000 children.
The procurement is under process and we intend
to distribute these on Wednesday / Thursday
insha Allah.
With Best Wishes,
Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui
|
