Floods exacerbate Pakistan's woes

Zafar Iqbal in the Eurasia Review: Trapped in decade-long Taliban and Bloch insurgencies and an economic and energy crisis, Pakistan is facing another natural disaster caused by monsoon floods which so far has killed 434 people, destroyed or damaged 1.5 million homes and affected 8.9 million people in the Southern provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan. 4.2 million acres of agricultural land have been inundated, ruining the crops, mainly cotton, which is key contributor of 60 per cent exports of the country. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the country has lost $10 billion in property and agriculture.

The cash-strapped Pakistani government, which faces sharp criticism by the victims for woeful response, has set aside $57 million for rehabilitation. Unpredictable huge financial needs for relief and rehabilitation process will rigorously endanger regular developmental infrastructure of the country, which heavily relies on foreign aid and $11 billion from the IMF credit to keep the economy afloat.

Pakistan is already struggling to cope with the colossal losses of last year’s floods, which killed about 2,000 people, made 11 million homeless and caused a $12 billion burden on the country’s shrinking economy.

...For the last few decades the country has faced many brutal natural and man-made upheavals but incompetence and the incapability of the government functionaries have been a major impediment in tackling such tragedies.....

...Today corruption is rampant in Pakistan. Transparency International (TI) world corruption index gives a 2.3 score to Pakistan, which parameters as defined by the TI places the country in highly corrupt regions. Two Pakistani ministers have been sacked in current government for corrupt practices; of late one of them was arrested for fiscal fraud. In spite of sub-standard cooperation from lawmakers and administration, the Pakistani judiciary has managed to recover millions of dollars plundered by high ups...

The mausoleum of Mohamad Ali Jinnah, in Karachi, shot by Shahid1024, Wikimedia Commons, public domain