THE U.N: sponsored conference of donors attended by 60 countries held in Geneva on Wednesday revealed that the world community was not as yet fully appreciative of the colossal damage caused by the killer earthquake of October 8 and the funds required for immediate relief and rehabilitation of the millions rendered homeless in Azad Kashmir and the adjoining areas of NWFP. The U.N. Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan, had earlier warned the conference that if the required funding, which he described as critical, was not available the coming winter would play havoc in the devastated area as tens of thousands faced death due to exposure and disease. He observed: “The scale of tragedy defied our darkest imagination”. Before the conference, only 12 per cent of the required amount, estimated earlier, had been committed. The U.N. needed another 550 million U.S. dollars for immediate relief to the millions left without food or shelter in the freezing cold of the sub Himalayan region devastated by the horrible calamity which claimed lives of at least 54,000 and caused serious injuries to around 75,000 others including women and children. . The donors ` response was not encouraging as they announced contributions totaling US $ 525 million which fell short of the required immediate aid. It was also not clear how much of the additional new commitments were for immediate relief and for subsequent rehabilitation of the homeless millions.
The rich countries did not show their generosity as they did in the wake of Tsunami disaster in the coastal areas of Indian Ocean about a year ago. The international aid agency, Oxfam, had earlier stressed that the rich Governments should not disappoint their public. Unfortunately, additional aid commitments fell far short of the required amount of at least U.S. $ 5 billion estimated for rehabilitation. As the relief operations have now been extended to hitherto inaccessible areas and thousands of hilltop villages and hamlets, the enormity of the damage to infrastructure and houses is becoming clearer. President Pervez Musharraf observed in an interview with the Financial Times that the funds required for immediate relief and subsequent reconstruction and rehabilitation would far exceed the initial estimates. The world has to give a matching response to the monumental disaster.
Some sceptics may begin to suggest that while the Christian world had shown generosity to non-Muslim majority affectees of Tsunami tragedy, it was reluctant to help the Muslim population devastated by the catastrophe in Azad Kashmir and the adjoining areas of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. However, before a fallacious impression is created, the rich countries must cough out much more funds to help the devastated survivors as quake ravaged region is facing a second catastrophe and a new wave of deaths if the world does not come forward to help them before harsh winter sets in. No doubt, the relief and medical contingents sent by foreign Governments and international agencies have been doing a commendable job in rescue and relief operations. But much more needs to be done by them and they can surely do this. To quote Mr. Egeland, chief of humanitarian affairs in the world body, “the funds were required yesterday” but it is never too late. The rich counties need to do much more. This is a monumental tragedy that calls for much greater assistance from international community to scale up its already significant and timely response.

A forgotten country

AUNG San Suu Kyi, the charismatic champion of democracy in Myanmar, has completed ten years in detention. Amazingly, the ten long years of imprisonment and persecution by the junta have failed to break the resolve of the soft-spoken, frail woman and her commitment to democracy and rights for her people. Through her relentless struggle against a ruthless and corrupt regime and enormous sacrifice, she has not only captured the imagination of her own people but evokes genuine respect and admiration around the world — even from those who wouldn’t know where Myanmar is located. Suu Kyi truly belongs in the exalted league of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.
She remains resolute and committed in the face of great odds and despite living in extremely trying circumstances — alone, without visits from family and friends and even without a telephone. Suu Kyi would of course be prepared to spend another ten years in detention if her country and people could get freedom from the clutches of the junta and choose the leaders they want. However, this has gone on long enough and it’s high time the world stepped forward to help the unfortunate people of Myanmar. The world community has watched in detached indifference save for perfunctory calls to the junta to release Suu Kyi and restore democracy. The global movers and shakers, who are ever ready to intervene in places like the Middle East before you could say ‘regime change,’ have steadily ignored the Myanmar issue as some sort of minor irritation not worth serious attention. Maybe because Myanmar is not sitting on a huge reservoir of oil!
Is it surprising then the junta has been little concerned about the consequences of persecuting its people and detaining hundreds of democracy activists including Suu Kyi without so much as a trial? Myanmar’s dictators are smug in the knowledge that they can get away with murder and the world is not going to act against them any time soon. This is really unfortunate and a challenge to all those who genuinely believe in democracy and people’s right to determine their own destiny. It is a real shame that Suu Kyi remains a prisoner in her own home despite having won a landslide election in 1990 with 80 per cent of the vote going to her National League for Democracy. This is the greatest mandate any political party could ever hope for. Yet the dictatorship — as in Algeria — refused to accept the popular verdict and instead unleashed a long, uninterrupted reign of terror on the country. If there is any country that really and urgently needs a ‘regime change,’ it is undoubtedly Myanmar. The world must act to save the people of Myanmar — now.

—Khaleej Times