Floods should bring unity, not discord

THERE are clear differences between the Centre and the Provinces over distribution of relief assistance with the latter expressing dismay over the approach adopted by the former. Statement of PML(N) Quaid, whose party rules the largest Province of the country i.e. the Punjab, is testimony of the fact that things are heading for an unfortunate direction.

The seriousness of the issue can be judged by the fact that at a news conference in Lahore on Friday Mian Sahib warned the Centre against bypassing the provinces in this regard and Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif said he had written a letter to the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to discuss the issues involved. Similar discontentment was expressed earlier by the leadership of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa complaining that the Province was not getting adequate share of relief, prompting NDMA to release the fact sheet to set the record straight. Apart from growing differences over distribution of resources for relief and rehabilitation, leaders of different political parties are also engaged in mud-slinging game accusing rivals of indulgence in photo sessions. There are also complaints by leaders of Balochistan that bunds were breached deliberately to save lands of some influential feudal lords of Sindh at the cost of life and property of hundreds of thousands of people of Balochistan. Some of the bickering is understandable as vast areas in all the four Provinces of the country have been hit by rains and floods and each and every region is not getting the required focus and attention because of inadequacy of resources. But our politicians should demonstrate maturity and display extreme sense of tolerance and accommodation so that this natural calamity binds us in every respect and it doesn’t become a source of friction and discord. The scale of the devastation is so vast that we can meet the challenge only through unity and collective efforts and it is for the political leadership to inculcate this spirit. We should keep larger national interests and welfare of the affected people uppermost in our minds and not personal, party and parochial interests.

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on Aug 29 2010. Filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.