Aftershocks and Afterthoughts

Recently I read a story posted on Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051022/ap_on_re_as/quake_echoe s_of_katrina_pk1) about the earthquake in Pakistan and the comparisons that can be drawn between the earthquake and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The author of the piece drew parallels between the two regions – the confusion and fear of the people, the responses to the government, the way people in both places used faith to get through the disasters. Perhaps the comparison between New Orleans and Kashmir is stretching it just a bit, but the spirit in which it was written is still very touching You get a sense of the writer’s compassion and empathy for the people who are suffering in Pakistan, which is something not seen much before for this country.

So it’s been four weeks since it happened, and now they’re saying the dead number anywhere between seventy to eighty thousand. It’s really just impossible to comprehend, no matter what it is. The bodies are still being retrieved from the rubble, although it’s now almost certain that everyone still in the demolished buildings must now be dead. And we have a new crisis to attend to: the homeless, the injured, the destitute. I used to have a poster up in my room that illustrated the plight of the world’s refugees, and a slogan that I think applies perfectly to this situation: "Desperate Millions on the Move". I used that line in my novel Where They Dream in Blue and I think it applies just as well to this situation.

The region has been having hundreds of aftershocks, but down here in Karachi, where there are no tremors, I’ve been having afterthoughts about what the outcome of this earthquake has been. Because of course there’s the immediate effect, the deaths, the displacement, the homelessness, the shock. Then you look at the long term effects of the earthquake, the wiping out of a generation, the need to rebuild and reconstruct an entire nation within a nation, the need to get relief to people before the winter sets in, counseling people through the psychological trauma, adjusting as a nation to the new realities the earthquake has created.

There are two things that really stand out in my mind about this earthquake. The first is that it has effectively put an end to the Pakistani campaign in Kashmir. There is no way we will be able to support an active freedom operation in Kashmir now that our infrastructure has been so badly damaged. And now that the area is crawling with foreign rescue teams and helicopters from everywhere, there is no way Pakistan can conduct its operations in secret, which is what we have been doing for a long time now. Training camps will be exposed and ended if they haven’t already been destroyed. There will be fewer people allowed unchecked into the area. The Pakistan Army is already keeping security checks on people who are going up there - to discourage pedophiles and slave traffickers from preying on the children who have been orphaned in the earthquake. This will discourage jihadis from making the trek up to Kashmir as well. Plainly put, we won’t even be able to afford - in financial or strategic terms - to continue our operations in Kashmir anymore.

This is, in my mind, a good thing. Kashmir was always going to be a hotbed of trouble, and something that would have bled both India and Pakistan dry if it had continued for years and decades more. It is possible we may even have gone to war over the territory, and that war would definitely have turned nuclear. Perhaps God, in making this earthquake happen, saved the two countries from an even worse fate. Because I know that Pakistan would never have backed down from the fight for Kashmir - even if was no longer politically wise to continue. This earthquake has forced us to stop. It might even be God’s warning for us both: stop arguing over this region or I’m going to take it away so that neither of you can have it. Perhaps it was meant for us to put away our guns and work for peace, instead of war.

Secondly, the earthquake has had the result of rehumanizing Pakistan in the eyes of the world. Before this happened, all that people believed they knew about us was that we were terrorists and camel riders and insane people. All of a sudden, they’re seeing different images of us - a nation hurt, wounded, struck, traumatized. They’re seeing the women and the children. They’re seeing the men caring for those women and those children, crying for their loved ones, digging the dirt and rubble with their bare hands. They’re literally seeing us bleed in front of them.

And no longer am I hearing that we’re terrorists, that we’re monsters. Instead, the world is realizing that we are human. The world is seeing that we need help and they are responding. Rescue teams from all over the world have been rushing here to help. I don’t know a single country that isn’t contributing to the rescue and relief efforts or sending donations of clothes and money, even our old enemies India and Israel. People in churches and synagogues and temples all over the world are praying for us. Isn’t that amazing? Have you ever seen people halfway across the world care about Pakistanis? I haven’t, before this. This is definitely the compassion of God at work, through his people on earth.

Please don’t get me wrong. It horrifies me that fifty thousand people have died because of an earthquake that only lasted six minutes but whose effects will be felt for six generations to come. I have a hard time believing that anything "good" can come out of something so "bad". But as a Muslim I do have to believe in Allah’s plan for all of us, and I do have to accept that Allah’s plans are much wiser than anything we humans could think up. A popular saying goes, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans". The reverse of that, really, could be, "If God told us his plans, we would probably all cry". Not for nothing is Allah called both the Creator and the Destroyer – Al-Khaliq and Al-Mumit.

What I’m trying to do is to find Allah in this situation, as I believe He exists in every situation. It’s obvious where Allah is in the aftermath of this earthquake – nowhere more obviously than in the compassion that we are exhibiting for those who have been injured and afflicted in this earthquake. In the patience that those who have been affected are showing, and in their faith in Allah as the one who can be most trusted with all affairs. And perhaps there was kindness and mercy even in His plans for those thousands that died that terrible day two weeks ago. Perhaps He took their souls in an instant. Perhaps it was such a surprise or shock for them that they had no time to be afraid. Perhaps those who were trapped and eventually died drifted into a state of unconsciousness and died in some peace. Perhaps Allah sent his angels to comfort and support them even as their lives were ebbing away.

At least, this is what I hope. I can’t claim to know, but if I believe in a God who is both just and merciful, then it makes sense to hope for the best. But of course, Allah knows best.