Earth-shattering tremors; blinding dust-storms; mind-numbing frost – no – a solitary building had not just collapsed; no – a war had not just broken out. Yet, those who survived that tumultuous earthquake found themselves questioning the very essence of their present status. What cardinal sin had they committed that they were granted life? Surely, given the conditions, war, or even death, was the better alternative.

As the global economic structure continues to crumble, a nation where begging is considered a credible profession, repetitively fails to deliver the support that the victims demand. As citizens, is it not their cognitive right to expect aid in dire times? Is it wrong for children to ask parents for an iota of rations, or even a whiff of bread? What about the blanket support that surely would be the primary essence of a societal infrastructure? What Machiavellian entity had pulled the curtains on what at best could be defined as a farcical act?

While hunger pangs echoed across the region, and the thunderous aftershocks were muted in volume as compared to the bereft child's' whimper, the prime minister had wilted away to Turkey to celebrate that nations' independence day. The president on his own had decided to re-enact what the vast majority of the populous does best – beg – beg for economic aid; not for the victims of the earthquake, but for the nation as a whole.

A nation hampered by a series of disasters, Pakistan has often found a handful of citizens joining hands, striving to support their fellow man – yet, on each occasion, let it be the 1933 earthquake that left Quetta in tatters, or the 2005 earthquake in the northern regions that wiped out an entire generation, the average citizen effort has been supported by the government. Yet, where was the government on this occasion? I ask you dear reader – where is the government even today?

Today, the media can only show a picture of a distraught child, nothing over the age five, blindly staring at what was once her residential abode. No – there was no separate nursery, nor was there a personal bedroom – in fact – there was just the one room – and that too, if you could call it a room. This morning however, there is nothing. Where are her parents? Her siblings? One can only hope for a favorable response.

Research has shown that children in such situations tend to find themselves nabbed, and given a career path that spells destitution – let it be working as child laborers in a factory for a dollar a month; let it be as roadside beggars, depositing a greater share of their daily earnings to their task masters; or let it be an act as vulgar as prostitution. This child was barely five – was this her fate? Was the nation going to attempt to protect her? Even farcically at best? After all – troops do follow their leader. At her tender age, what ill had she done to be given an opportunity to survive in this preposterous world?

Today, while the world cries for economic support, victims of the Baluchistan earthquake cry for something as simple as a shard of clothing. Morality is a private and costly luxury, and yet, we find ourselves in a nation bereft of the very essence of the same. While the basis of existence demands that man experience both luxury, and suffering, it seems that the Pakistani populous has decided to allow luxury only to those who can afford it – the suffering is left to those who have lost all – yet again.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 16.11.2008

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