sparklingway
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This being one of the many arguments on military-rule sympathizers and apologists who wish to twist facts and historical evidence for susceptible and uniformed public, I mentioned this only some days ago. Hence I post it verbatim:-
Its just like when people sympathizing with the military oligarchy try to establish that the military's contribution in disaster management shows that it will go out of the way to help people for which my reply is always that the military is the only institution having the hardware resources to carry out these operations. For example, the NDMA and PDMAs are hopelessly under-resourced. They do not have the helicopters to airlift people out of a disaster zone. Nor do the paramilitary forces have the requisite aviation capabilities. Paramilitary forces across the world carry out relief efforts in the wake of a disaster, neither the Rangers nor the FC has the necessary resources at hand. The military does not have the hardware just because it is manned by far more honest people, but b/c other state bodies never have had the funding to acquire them. I'm not belittling the military's efforts but portraying a realistic image which most people fail to see (or rather try not to see) when portraying grandeur.
The army is not calling the shots nor managing the whole scenario.
Legal, administrative and in reality it is being carried out by NDMA, which is under-funded. As I mentioned, no other institution or force has the aviation to airlift people out of the place. Militaries are no messiahs in relief work, they carry out these duties worldwide. Even in the most developed and safety freak countries,civil works relating to bridge collapses and major natural disasters are handled by Corps of Engineers of the military (I can cite specific cases) and distribution of relief goods is supplemented by paramilitaries in all cases.
NDMA is working as the primary institution overseeing the work but it has to request for helicopters through the Defence Secretary. Similarly, construction of the spillway and adjoining civil works were carried out by FWO, NESPAK and NLC combined. NESPAK is a government owned autonomous construction company. NLC is under Planning Division and FWO is a company established by the authority of the Federation of Pakistan under the Ministry of Communications. All were government bodies. While we would like that NDMA be equipped with necessary hardware, it is unrealizable in our economic context and globally no disaster management/relief authority possesses the might to carve a spillway. It will obviously use a private entity or a government institution to perform civil work of such a case. While militaries across the world are equipped by hardware not relegated to other bodies, our case is downright hopeless where no state institution except the military has received the funds or the attention to carve itself. Militaries can be relied to perform duties as such for most likely they will be sitting down in peace times. Ours is not peace time but the role of the military is essential and a necessity for which the people of Pakistan pay for.
subko Allah paay chor doo specially when it all goes wrong! when you elect CORRUPT INEPT leaders then you seriously can't blame anyone else!
