|
Letter from America
Pak-Israeli hobnobbing causes a flutter
Fazle Rashid
10/14/2005
ONCE arch rival in not too distant a past, the recent hobnobbing between Pakistan and Israel have caused quite a flutter not only in the Muslim world but elsewhere as well. Pakistan's President Musharraf has been the prime mover. Whether Musharraf acted voluntarily or was prompted to open dialogue with Israel is still not clear but it is having an impact on the global plane.
If Musharraf's meeting with important leaders of the Jewish community during his New York trip for the special UN session was more a courtesy tete in nature than a serious dialogue, then Pakistan President seeking financial help from the Jewish community for earthquake-devastated areas in his country was a clear evidence of change of hearts in both Islamabad and Tel Aviv.
How this bid for rapprochement will be viewed in the capitals of the Muslim world is difficult to predict but the common people will not take it easily with Israel-Palestinian conflict not yet resolved. What was more surprising that it was not Jack Rosen, President of Jewish community in New York who called on the President of Pakistan. It was the other way round. President Musharraf called on Jack Rosen to make appeals for assistance. Musharraf is reported to have promised Jack Rosen to give the matter as much publicity as possible. Jack Rosen has pledged to raise donations for the quake victims in Pakistan.
There have been a spate of natural calamities around the world beginning with tsunami in Southeast Asia last December. Acute famine in Africa, floods in Guatemala, Tsunami in southeast Asia, earthquake in South Asia and hurricane in US have wrought havoc of unprecedented scale. Barring the natural catastrophe that afflicted the Gulf Coast of US, international aids both bilateral and through multilateral agencies have been pledged in billions for other affected areas. The important question is how much of the pledged money has been disbursed.
It will make an interesting exercise if UN undertakes the task of computing how much money has so far been released by the countries and agencies those have promised financial assistance. The other crucial probe will be to see that money given as aid has been used for the purpose it was intended. Mother Nature is going to be more harsh and cruel in future. Many more human lives will be lost and thousands will be rendered homeless by the fury of nature. With global population reaching six billion, people have started living in seismically, climatically and environmentally fragile areas, a columnist in NYT said today. The population in earthquake devastated region in Pakistan doubled in the past few years, cities are growing along Indian ocean and China's booming population occupies the flood zones, the same report said.
The calamities make friends of foes, Pakistan accepting aids from India and Israel, Iran accepting help from the US in 2003 after an earthquake there. The NYT columnist says that the US army will now be more frequently asked to render humanitarian service rather than doing normal duties. This will be because of the prompt manoeuvrability of the US army.
|