Deadly Earthquake

//....Folks PLEASE let`s not bring Pakistan-India politics/conflict into all of this....//

I agree... but consider this:

Indian soldiers go into pakistan and save lives of quake-victim pakistanis by airlifting them to hospitals in India....[ NYtimes report:]

On the same day - paki jihadis come into India and KILL quake-victim hindus in their broken homes...

I mean - what do you want Indians to do?... How do you reconcile this , really?.....

Consider this >

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP306176.htm

Troops involved in the search and rescue operation have fought militants and in the worst encounter late on Saturday eight guerrillas were killed in a gunbattle.

Soldiers ran into the militants trying to infiltrate into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side near the ski resort of Gulmarg in Baramulla district.

Elsewhere, militants shot dead 10 Hindus in two separate attacks late on Sunday on remote villages in Rajouri district, also affected by the earthquake. Rajouri is about 170 km (110 miles) north of Jammu, Indian Kashmir`s winter capital.

... this is very, very painful ... I am saddended beyond belief. This is an unparalleled tragedy. My heatfelt condolences to those who suffered ... they all remain in my most fervent prayers. Let`s help in any way we can ...

Re: # 81

My friend I understand your anger. I`ll admit I was being a bit naive expecting that in such a volatile region we can look pass our thorny political differences. And I guess the events on the ground (especially ones that you mentioned) are enough for a reality check anyways....

I`d answer your specific questions, but once again I think that will drag us into a lenghty debate, and this particular thread is not the place for it. And actually really that was my original point.

I would at some point really like to talk to you about those issues....just not here :-).

this is a terrible tragedy.. worse than katrina by an order of magnitude

but musharraf misses an opportunity



Musharraf misses chance to mend fences
(Filed: 11/10/2005)

The earthquake in the Hindu Kush literally shook the foundations of the boundary between India and Pakistan in Kashmir. Yet it took a while to jolt General Pervez Musharraf out of accustomed ways of thinking on one of the great political faultlines of our day.

On Sunday, India offered to put helicopters at the general`s disposal. At first, Islamabad said they weren`t needed, which, given the scale of the disaster, was manifest nonsense. Then it came up with the feeble excuse that there could be no question of joint rescue operations because there was no population on the line of control. Finally, it agreed yesterday to accept a 25-tonne planeload of relief supplies.

The greatest natural disaster in Pakistan`s history offered a rare chance to warm the slight thaw in relations with India. By first prevaricating, then accepting only limited help from a neighbour with vast resources, Gen Musharraf has displayed a depressing lack of imagination. And that small-mindedness at the highest level was yesterday reflected in the refusal of the Pakistan High Commission in London to grant a visa to Krishnan Guru-Murthy, the Channel 4 News presenter, because his parents were born in India.

Natural disasters and shared grief have the power to break barriers of prejudice. That happened after the earthquake in northwest Turkey in 1999, when the Greeks sent rescue workers and ships and planes loaded with relief supplies, bridging the gap between neighbours who had been at odds for decades over the Aegean and Cyprus.

A few weeks later, the Turks were able to reciprocate when a smaller earthquake struck Athens. More recently, the Indian Ocean tsunami hastened a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh movement, thus ending a struggle that had lasted nearly 30 years and taken 15,000 lives. However, there was no breakthrough in Sri Lanka, another tsunami sufferer, which has long been racked by a vicious war between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

In the wake of Saturday`s earthquake, Pakistan has not totally snubbed India. But it should have made much quicker and more extensive capital out of New Delhi`s offer. With a faultline like that across the sub-continent, you need leaders with the political courage to seize the moment.

In failing to do so, Gen Musharraf has let down the earthquake victims and damaged the long-term interests of his country.

``In Tsunami, while thousands died, worst affected were from militant prone areas. Militancy in the island of Banda Aceh and Srilanka`s North was hard hit.
In this earthquake, POK is hard hit, with Muzaffarabad the capital of POK razed to the ground. The militant organization Lashkar-e-toiba and its affilitated fronts have been wiped out in the area. It is now known that the organization was gearing up for more attacks on Indian Kashmir after having received the green signal from Mushy the rat.
Is this all just a coincidence or is there a message here?``

thousands of children have died to vindicate this sh1thead`s sick existence - or so he thinks.

``BTW, I already sent in my contributions to Pakistan through Oxfam``

yippee-dee-do-dah.

ONLINE DONATION FOR EDHI AND PRESIDENT`S RELIEF FUND

You can donate to

1) Edhi
2) President`s Relief Fund

at www.DevelopPakistan.org

Your donation is not only tax deductible in US but will also be matched dollar for dollar.

re:#86 by r.a.janjua
F*ck off Ahole.
BTW, did u send some contributions or yippee-dee-do-dah is all u can say.
Sridhar

re:#85 by warpster
As i have said already, Pak is a sick place and their dictator is a weirdo.
Sridhar

re:#74 by sri
Good point. Also, do not forget most deaths in earthquakes occur following collapse of buildings than by earthquake itself. If homes are made of wood, death toll would be much less (just my guess).
Sridhar

I don`t know if this is relevant here, but here is a letter from an American reader in today`s Dawn:

IN the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we Americans heard an earful from Muslims worldwide about how God was punishing the United States for its actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder if the same reasoning is now being applied to the devastating earthquake in Pakistan? I am interested in hearing from all the self-appointed Muslim apologists whose knee-jerk reaction to all that happens in the world is to blame America.

STEVE ELISHA
Colorado Springs, CO, US

r.a.janjua: this is indeed a terrible tragedy.

as for those few still carrying on ``mud-slinging-business as usual`` on chowk, just ignore them. as catchy wrote about qazi hussain muhammed on unplugged, ``zameen jumbud, na jumbad gul muhammed``.

if pakistan is a sick place then why are certain interactors professing to have made contributions? is it to show how good and kind your heart is? and why is this same person asking if other interactors have made contributions.

the deeds of people speak for them. no one has to talk about how they have given or what they have given.

re:#89 by rsridhar
I am sorry for my post # 89
I only bemoan the fact that the 2 nations could not come together even during this tragedy.
It would have been great if India and Pak had formed a common Task force to work together towards rescue efforts. The world would have applauded such effort. But that did not happen. Politics won over compassion and common sense.
I saw the videos of small children affected by the tragedy. It is really tragic to see small innocent children affected the most.
Sridhar

#94 by rsridhar
[I am sorry for my post # 89]

Rest of the chowk community is sorry that you were born...... I hope they start making sturdier condoms in India.

In the situation that we have, it takes a black, hateful heart to write the spiteful, hatefilled posts that we see coming from rsridhar. Although being a Hinju, he is immune from getting flushed on chowk.com.

Re: # 39

Dear Yasser,

Thanks for the inspirational post. Keep up the good work in bringing people together.

I know now is not the time. But today`s Washington Post has a column by George F. Will. Here is the clip that should be looked at, even in these darkest hours of our countries. Keep this in your back pocket for easy reference....

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After Earth`s heavings subside, they reverberate in people`s minds. Winchester says that after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake killed 60,000, ``priests roved around the ruins, selecting at random those they believed guilty of heresy and thus to blame for annoying the Divine, who in turn had ordered up the disaster. The priests had them hanged on the spot.``

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in what is now Indonesia fueled the growth of an extremist strain of Islam, bent on purging society of impurities displeasing to God. That strain has twice recently been heard from in Bali.

San Francisco`s 1906 disaster prompted the explosive growth of a Pentecostal movement based in Los Angeles, a movement then embryonic but now mighty.

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Remembering this cataclysmic tragedy with utmost and deepest sorrow, I just remain