Insurgency, neglect hurt flood relief in Pakistani province
GANDAKHA, Pakistan — Maryam Jamali should have been preparing for an economics exam. Instead, the teenager from the flood-hit Pakistani province of Baluchistan was helping to organize postpartum clinics and shelter for people neglected by relief efforts.
Baluchistanis Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, plagued by under-development, corruption, and a long-running insurgency. When floods submerged much of Pakistan this summer, about 75% of Baluchistan’s population was affected.
Recovery has been slow; residents say they are paying the price of years of neglect by the local and central government.
Ms. Jamali, her father, and dozens of volunteers have helped more than 20,000 flood survivors since mid-June.
“We haven’t seen any international organizations come here themselves,” said Ms. Jamali, 19. “Maybe they think this is a scary place. It’s not, it’s just a lack of effort on their part. It’s difficult to navigate through the bureaucracy.
Because of all those hurdles they just didn’t come here this time.”
A drainage canal not far from her village illustrates what residents say is infrastructure that protects Sindh at the expense of Baluchistan.
Water from Baluchistan’s Gandakha city is meant to be drained toward Sindh. But only one of the canal’s five gates are open.
Though Pakistan’s largest province, Baluchistan is its least populated. It’s also a center for the country’s small ethnic Baluch minority, who say they face discrimination from the central government. That has fueled a separatist insurgency demanding independence.
The government says it has largely quelled the insurgents, but violence persists, with frequent raids by security forces and counterattacks by insurgents. But the closest flashpoint is several hours drive away from the areas hit by flooding.
Local politician Sana Baloch claims the flood relief focus has been on Sindh and that there is a closed-door policy for Baluchistan, unfairly using the insurgency as an excuse.
“International agencies and groups are willing to support people, but they are not welcomed by the federal government,” said Mr. Baloch. “They are not encouraged or allowed to come here.”
But there has also been criticism of local authorities for doing little even as the scale of the crisis grew.
An official from Baluchistan’s disaster management authority, Naseer Nasir, said the central government had provided sufficient funds that were being distributed locally. He also said the authority had passed on people’s complaints to the provincial government.
The tents of Pakistani charities can be seen across flood-affected areas. Because of bureaucratic hurdles, foreign NGOs are partnering with local organizations, which don’t need permits for their work, said Huzaifa Rafique, from one Pakistani charity, Baitussalam.