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Unprecedented floods or India’s water war?

THE United Nations says 3.5 million children in Pakistan are at risk from waterborne diseases, warning of a “second wave of death” from the country’s devastating floods. U.N. humanitarian spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said Monday as many as six million people in Pakistan face the risk of contracting diarrhea, dysentery and other illnesses if donors do not provide more aid following the country’s devastating floods. The World Health Organization’s representative in Pakistan, Guido Sabatinelli, says a lack of clean water and unavailability of medication is a “deadly combination” for those already in poor living conditions. The U.N. has launched an appeal for $460 million, but charities say the response has been sluggish, with only about 35 percent of the goal being met so far. Three weeks of monsoon rains have triggered Pakistan’s worst flooding, with an estimated 1,600 people killed and 20 million affected in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh provinces. On Monday, authorities said a new wave of flooding was likely along the Indus River in Punjab and Sindh. The Daily Mail finds that the death and destruction following a natural disaster of unprecedented torrential rains has man-made imprints on it. The sudden swelling of the rivers continues even after the rains have stopped or their intensity has reduced. The surge of water is not due to the melting of glaciers alone.

It has been brought about that the Sarobi Dam on the River Kabul close to the Pak-Afghan border, is being maintained by India. The sudden flow of water in the River Kabul could have only occurred if Afghanistan had been hit by the same level of torrential rains as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, meteorological data indicates that neither was there unprecedented rainfall in Afghanistan this summer, nor any glacial melting contributing to the flooding in River Kabul. That leaves only one option available, that the flood gates of Sarobi Dam were deliberately opened to cause extreme flooding in River Kabul bringing devastation in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but none in Afghanistan. Simultaneously, carefully synchronizing the Kabul River’s flooding, the over a dozen dams built by India in Indian occupied Kashmir, release their water, flooding Chenab and Indus, causing maximum damage in Punjab and Sindh. This sinister plan is one regarding which The Daily Mail has been warning since ages, but the Indus Water Commission and concerned authorities have paid no heed. The Indian manipulation of Kabul River along with Chenab and Indus has done its damage, although as the UN warns, the worst is not over, while more floods are expected, the onslaught of epidemic and waterborne diseases is going to wreak greater havoc. For India, it is a dream come true. On the one hand, death and human misery has left the flood stricken people shell shocked, on the other, the communication infrastructure is totally devastated. The standing crops have been ruined and there is now an acute fear of famine. India bet on Pakistani leader’s callousness, corruption and selfish attitudes to act as a catalyst to catapult the devastation.

True to their salt, the Pakistani leadership obliged willingly. Foreign aid is not forthcoming because of trust deficit. Whatever trickled through is being gobbled up by the government functionaries, with little or none reaching the hungry masses. Reports are now emerging that politicians, holding to their seats in power, ensured that the flood waters were diverted away from their lands. Mature and responsible leaders like Former Prime Minister Mir Zafar Ullah Khan Jamali alleged that some political elements broke the flood safety walls in order to save their agricultural lands from floods. He said that everyone is worried about safeguarding the US airbase in Jacobabad but nobody is concerned about the citizens of Pakistan. Thus India’s macabre strategy of “water wars” has met with unprecedented success and has been abetted by Pakistani leaders.
http://dailymailnews.com/0810/18/Editorial_Column/DMEditorial.php