A media man in a relief camp

As I moved around the camps I had nothing to offer survivors but my microphone. I had no answer to any of their questions, whether they were shouted at me or asked silently.

Waqas Rafique August 27, 2010
They say guilt is absent when an act is justified. Today I felt guilty because I could not justify sipping branded bottled water as our car moved some kilometers beyond Khan Garh. People from this fertile land were without any kind of drinking water as we were asked to halt by army personnel on the roadside.

Thanks to cable TV, these apparently uneducated folk have a good idea of what the electronic media can do these days. They tell me to talk about them. All they want me to do is talk about them. They want me to tell the world that they lost everything.

They want us to know that they have no clothes, no money, no transport and nothing to eat. One man comes up to me requesting that I at least arrange them a tent so they don't sit in the scorching sun. Another beckons me to his little boy. Flies hover around the child's head because boils filled with puss have broken out all over his scalp.  "Where should he take him?" he shouts at me.

Selfishly, I gave a live report for the English news broadcast from the location. I get feedback text from a friend asking why I looked so blank on air. I had no words to tell him that this is what happens when you cannot relay details of misery that was are around you in just 5 minutes of air time .

Come Iftar time and I land at another relief camp for flood victims near a grid station outside Muzaffargarh to see what was available to them. I felt ashamed to see they had nothing and their hopes shatter further as I had nothing else to offer them but my microphone. The eyes of one old lady were brimming with questions. She showed me a plastic water bottle and shouted at me asking if the women from my own family could drink from such a bottle. I had no answer to any of their questions ,whether they were shouted at me or asked silently. I didn't even have any answers to my own question as I moved back to Multan. Who is responsible for these Pakistanis?
WRITTEN BY:
Waqas Rafique An Islamabad based journalist who was a former employee of Express News. He tweets @waqasrafique (https://twitter.com/waqasrafique)
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (9)

Ambreen Abid | 13 years ago | Reply Pakistan is not only the country of my cherished childhood, but also like a favorite spoiled child. I grew up on the fertile plains of Punjab and spent years in boarding school. How can I possibly forget the love and education I got from my mother land. Now , the time has come to pay back for what I received and should be done without any hesitation. I've been an outspoken critic of Pakistan's failures, always hoping there would be change for the better. For this was the country which saw me grow and helped me become what I am today.
Faizan | 13 years ago | Reply People say " Pakistan is finished ". I wept and prayed to Almighty Allah to keep Pakistan safe . It hit me like a ton of bricks, that more than half of my beloved Pakistan is underwater, the rest also in peril. Waqas i have always been a fan of your great work. Your writing brings to us the depth and the real insight news. This is real embarracing that we as a nation are dead people and our emotions and feelings have also died out.
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