Adil Najam
These pictures from the Associated Press need no commentary. They demand our attention. Our empathy. And, wherever we can, our action.
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Ours is a mismanaged country but one with potential to amply fulfill the needs of its citizenry. In so far as our economy goes, there is nothing that is wrong with it structurally.
Prima facie Pakistan’s current economic difficulties emerge out of high import bill and corresponding lack of investment. The huge rise in the oil price internationally over the last few years along with an international crisis of agriculture production has affected this country just like it has affected all countries around the world.  For us, it also has to do with the unique geo-political role that we are forced to play without an effective negotiator on the top.
The recession in the West has given us breathing space. The oil price is now back down into the US$60 to a barrel range on the international market. This is – as with all capitalist systems- an automatic correction of what was an unusually high increase in the costs of fueling the global economic system.
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A powerful earthquake has hit different parts of Balochistan this morning. The current confirmed death toll is 165 and thousands of people have been injured who have been shifted to local hospitals. Thousands of homes have been completely destroyed leaving at least 15,000 people homeless in extremely harsh cold weather.
Officials are saying there were two tremors, striking at about 0409 and then 0510 PST followed by at least three aftershocks. While the memories of devastating earthquake of 2005 are still fresh which killed more than 73,000 people in NWFP and Kashmir, this one seems to be of slightly lesser magnitude of 6.4. I was watching Geo Tv and the worst-hit area appears to be Ziarat, about 50km north of Quetta, where hundreds of mostly mud and timber houses have been destroyed in five villages. Although the city of Ziarat is relatively safe but some nearby villages have been complete destroyed and many homes were buried in a landslide triggered by the quake. It follows on the heels of the devastating 2007 cyclone in Balochistan (also here) and the continued political tensions in the province that have all taken a cumilating toll on the population.
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