Absence of vision

KARACHI: This is with reference to Ayesha Siddiqa's article "Absence of vision" (August 22). What vision is the writer talking about? Desperate times demand desperate measures. Considering the enormity of the disaster and the little time available to respond, any government would have lacked direction and vision. We will not be able to relive and reconstruct our lives if we keep calling Pakistan a ticking “time bomb”, a phrase I have been hearing for many years now. This is a strange bomb that is only heard ticking and never explodes despite many who wish it would.

The writer also criticises individuals and organisations for marketing themselves for funds. How else can they generate money? I don’t agree that those involved in this noble activity are competing for honour.

I would also like to point out that image building is the last thing on the minds of the army when they respond to national disasters. I have noticed that whenever the army fails – the 1971 war, Kargil or the failures of the governments it heads – the failures are attributed to institutional failures. But when it is seen unilaterally and successfully managing a national disaster the writer, and many like her, start reminding us about Article 245 of the constitution and the fact that it is “technically an arm of the government”. If this is the case why accuse the army of any failures at all.

It’s not the arm’s fault (the army) – it is the body (the government) that fails it. Lastly, why should the writer address the world and warn them that unless it is careful, a lot of resources may disappear in secret Swiss accounts. For every reference we make to the world community about our own incompetence and corruption, we send a message abroad to not send us any money.

Lt-col (r) Muhammad Ali Ehsan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2010.