Earthquake 2005: AJK president, PM skip memorial events

Locals angered by govt apathy, criticise lack of progress on reconstruction work

MUZAFFARABAD/BALAKOT: On the ninth anniversary of the earthquake of October 8, 2005, government officials remained conspicuous by their absence at commemorative events that were described by victims’ families as lacklustre.

In Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Yaqoob Khan and Prime Minister AJK Chaudhry Abdul Majeed did not attend an annual ceremony to pay tribute to the victims of the quake at the Remembrance Monument in Khurshid Hassan Khurshid stadium. AJK’s prime minister and president have previously attended the event every year since 2006.



“More than 72 projects in Muzaffarabad city were dropped by the reconstruction and rehabilitation agencies on the instructions of PM Majeed.And his absence on a national day of mourning when we remember our 36,000 martyrs is an open message to us that the PM has no interest in the rehabilitation of areas hit by the earthquake,” said Chairman of Muzaffarabad Development Authority Zahid Amin Kashif.

Laying a wreath at the monument with Finance Minister Chudhry Latif Akbar, Rehabilitation Minister Abdul Majid Khan remarked, “If the government and the premier of AJK can forget the victims of the earthquake, I cannot. I lost 13 members of my family, including my mother and father, on that day.”

He added, “The prime minister and president should have been here to share our grief and show solidarity with the families. This day is significant as we thank the world’s community and our Pakistani brothers who came forward to help us in 2005.” The minister said, “When our premier and president are not here to pray with us, how can we expect foreign donors to care about families of victims?”

At AJK University, where more than 100 students were killed in the quake, the day passed without much notice. “I feel ashamed that we did not even organise any event to remember our martyred students,” said one postgraduate student.

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) staged a protest outside the Central Press Club in Muzaffarabad against the slow pace of reconstruction work in the area. Protestors demanded that the federal government provide Rs56 billion to the AJK government which was reportedly shifted to the Benazir Income Support Programme under former PM Yousaf Reza Gilani’s instructions.

Meanwhile, 40 km from Muzaffarabad, residents of Balakot and Mansehra observed a minute of silence at 8.52 am, marking the moment when the earthquake reduced the town of Balakot – on the quake’s faultline - to rubble. No MNAs, MPAs or cabinet members from the district were present on the day as locals gathered to offer fateha prayers for the victims.

Business activities were partially suspended as traders and residents from different villages gathered at a mass grave for 84 students of Government Boys High School Garlat and offered prayers. Tehsildar Balakot Muhammad Bashir was the sole government representative present on the occasion, even as Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yusuf belongs to this district.

In Mansehra city, Assistant Commissioner Dr Qasim, District Officer Revenue Amjad Iqbal and some officials joined locals at Jamia Masjid to offer prayers for the deceased.

Residents complain that the provincial government and Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority have failed to rehabilitate those affected by the quake even as nine years have passed since the tragedy.

Muhammad Khursheed, a local activist, said children here have been studying in open-air makeshift schools as only 645 of the 1,400 destroyed schools have been rebuilt. Work on 70 per cent of destroyed schools, colleges and hospitals is unfinished, Khursheed says. “When the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government took over in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, we pinned our hopes on Imran Khan’s party, hoping that it would work on the completion of these construction projects,” Khursheed said. “But the party has gone the way of its predecessors and its MPAs and ministers did not even visit the area to be with families affected by the earthquake.”

According to the District Reconstruction Unit Mansehra, of 68 healthcare facilities destroyed in the quake, only 22 have been completed so far, for instance. Work on 17 facilities including King Abdullah Teaching Hospital is underway while construction on 26 hospitals has yet to be started. Meanwhile, only 25 per cent of the road network has been reconstructed, while disputes over land acquisition and possession have stalled further work.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2014.