Ikram Sehgal

The damage has been enormous: whole villages washed away, roads and bridges broken and cut off, immense loss to agriculture, industry, infrastructure and services. Millions of people lost their homes and livelihoods. In addition to all the other damage the floods have caused, floodwaters have destroyed much of the health care infrastructure in the worst-affected areas, leaving inhabitants especially vulnerable to water-borne diseases.

A massive international effort is ongoing since August, providing emergency medical care, distributing food, water and shelter, and helping to rebuild Pakistan’s shattered infrastructure. Even so, almost 1.5 million people are still homeless, while 800,000 people have been cut off by floods and are only reachable by air. More than 70 per cent of Pakistan's population doesn’t have adequate access to proper nutrition, and food shortages will only increase.

The situation is still at a crisis point. Aid agencies are doing all they can on the ground to reach people, but support is necessary for this work to continue. As an EWI board member, I am proud of the Institute’s commitment to humanitarian causes. In fact, they are at the root of its work for a safer and more stable world.   Everybody committed to EWI’s efforts may therefore wish to support the millions left fighting to survive with little food, clean water or shelter.

Donations can be made to the reliable organizations listed below. I also stand ready to forward any assistance to responsible and effective local organizations that will ensure help gets to those really affected. You can contact me at ikram.sehgal@pk.g4s.com

Ikram Sehgal is a Board Member of the EastWest Institute.

• UNHCR
• UNICEF
• Red Cross
• Oxfam
• Save the Children
• Islamic Relief
• CARE
• Concern

In a detailed account of Pakistan’s previous natural disasters, Sehgal analyzes the importance of helicopters, and the high cost of not having enough of these transport vehicles.  Sehgal opens his piece with a discussion of the 1970 cyclone that hit East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, killing 300,000 people.  “The immediate need was helicopters (and more helicopters), followed by boats of all kind,” states Sehgal.

In a description of the necessary disaster relief for the earthquake of 2005, Sehgal explains that accessibility is a critical factor in effective and efficient aid: “The prime factors were simplicity of planning, cutting across red tape, effective implementation, plenty of flexibility and above all, accessibility.”  In the past, 50 per cent of the air powered disaster relief has come from international forces, which sends a negative signal to the citizens of Pakistan about their country’s internal efforts.  “The shortage of helicopters reinforced the adverse perception, both among the intelligentsia and the masses in East Pakistan, of indifference towards them in the face of catastrophic tragedy,” Sehgal writes.

The negative repercussions of a government’s inability to react quickly to natural disasters has larger effects on the country overall.  “That had grave political repercussions, affecting the general elections only 20 days later and one (if not the prime) catalysts leading to East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh a year later,” Sehgal says.

In the case of natural disasters such as the current one, the cost of additional air power is far less than the number of lives lost.  “The human cost of not having more helicopters is far too expensive for us to morally sustain,” Sehgal concludes.

Click here to read Sehgal’s piece in The News.

"Independent analysts warned that most of the intelligence material was of questionable value coming from sources inimical to Pakistan," Sehgal writes in the Pakistani daily, suggesting that much of the information was coming from Afghan and Indian intelligence sources. He further argues that the leaked documents paint a picture of Pakistani intelligence services that is no longer accurate, pointing to Pakistan's own struggle against extremism. "There is a radical difference in the ISI that existed during the Afghan war and the ISI that exists today," he writes. "Clandestine organization like the ISI, CIA, MI-5, KGB, etc necessarily operate in grey areas. But that any would work against the best interests of the state is ridiculous."

Sehgal further argues that the media attention has unfairly focused on Pakistan despite incriminating evidence against other actors in Afghanistan. "The documents leaked by WikiLeaks include details of war crimes by the U.S. and coalition forces and the involvement of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s family in drug smuggling," he suggests. "Yet these got only cursory media attention."

He is also disappointed by the fractured response in the United States. He applauds "U.S. lawmakers who have taken into account the tremendous sacrifices rendered by Pakistani security forces." But he lambasts pundits such as Richard Haass and Fareed Zakaria for their criticism of Pakistan, which Sehgal claims is based on politics and not policy.

"Perception is nine-tenths of media law," writes Sehgal, arguing for a concerted public relations effort to counter negative views of Pakistan.

"As a coherent platform for our national security strategy, our present media policy is quite impractical and is tilted inwards, rather than being focused externally," he concludes. "The stakes are high, a comprehensive media strategy must incorporate the new ground realities and must project Pakistan abroad by coalescing and force-multiplying the talent and potential of the private sector. The attacks on the army and the ISI have grave national repercussions for us, and they will happen again and again unless we do something."

Click here to read Sehgal's article in The News