Pakistani Nation has a great quality, having no parallel in the world, the quality to bear shocks and horrors. Since the dawn of 21st century, this country is suffering from terrorism, political turmoil, earthquake, air crashes and now the century's devastating floods.
It is a natural disaster, which engulfed many areas of Pakistan but the most affected areas are Swat and Nowshera districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which are completely under water. Thousands of people have lost their lives, homes and much more. The extent of tragedy may be gauged from the mounting death toll.
The unprecedented floods are the result of confluence of western and eastern weather systems. The floods have crossed all previous records. The flow of water in rivers Kabul and Indus was beyond its capacity. The capacity of river Kabul is 180,000 cusecs, but the discharge of water on 30th July was 300,000 cusecs, almost the double of its capacity. That is why the surrounding areas up to three kilometres of the river Kabul were completely under water. This was beyond 45 feet at certain places so the resultant destruction was a natural phenomenon. The complete infrastructure and the communication system has collapsed. People are starving, but the great agony is that the government's response is much below their requirement.
Instead of visiting the flood affected areas our President Zardari is visiting Europe and the prime minister is busy in election campaign. What a country? Only Pak Army is doing great job of helping the flood affected people. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani himself is monitoring the relief operations and the whole Army machinery is put to help the people. The need of the hour is that the government officials come out of their luxurious offices and participate in rescue operations. People from all walks of life should also come forward and help the people.