Death in Kyrgyzstan

It was three days after news of ethnic clashes in Osh, Kyrgyzstan broke that Pakistanis first heard of the death of their fellow citizen, student Ali Raza. Hundreds others were stuck and scores taken hostage. The morning after, the government was sending a plane to evacuate those still in the country, and making efforts for the release of hostages.

What was the Pakistan embassy in Bishkek doing all this time? Knowing full well that Muslims were at risk in these ethnic clashes it is beyond appalling that no proactive measures were taken to lift our citizens to safety. In a typically callous, incompetent and utterly negligent fashion it’s been demonstrated that the embassy staff, who’s very purpose for being in Kyrgyzstan is to promote and protect the interests of Pakistan and Pakistanis, was sleeping on the job.

Ali Raza’s family came to know of his death three days prior to the news breaking in the media. It was only after this that our government started to move like a Tyrannosaurus Rex to react to the situation, announcing it would send a plane to Kyrgyzstan to evacuate Pakistanis.

Much has been made of taxes in this year’s budget presentation. Is this what the government does with taxes paid by the poor? Use them to maintain a mammoth machinery of bureaucrats to live in style as foreign office staff without sparing a thought for the job they are supposed to be doing? The foreign office and foreign ministry is no less culpable in the matter. There is no evidence that they instructed the embassy in Bishkek to act proactively to ensure safety of our fellow countrymen.

The family of Ali Raza is grateful to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for assuring them of efforts to bring Ali’s body back to Pakistan. Grateful? The mother is heartbroken and speaks of Muslims being persecuted the world over. She should ask her government why it did not act earlier, actions which may have saved her son’s life. The majority of people in this poor country do not even know what they should expect of their government — that instead of being grateful they should be holding those in power to account. This is exactly what our rulers want from us.

This criminal negligence calls for a full-fledged independent inquiry into the role the embassy in Kyrgyzstan, the foreign office and the foreign ministry played since the day ethnic violence broke out in Osh. Those students who made it safely to Pakistan did so entirely due to their own efforts. On their way back to Osh from a picnic, they were advised by friends not to return to the city and made their way straight to Bishkek from where they flew home. There is no account of any role the Pakistan embassy played in their safe return.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2010.