Investigating deliberate breaches

Reports of breaches are too numerous and accusations have come from parliamentarians of all political parties.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s statement on September 8 dismissing reports that influential politicians had breached dykes and embankments to divert floodwaters from their constituencies is unlikely to placate many. The reports are too numerous and the accusations have come not just from the media, but from parliamentarians of all political parties, including the ruling PPP. It is now too late for a simple presidential statement to douse the suspicions of a justifiably sceptical population. An independent inquiry, comprising men and women of unimpeachable character and independence, will have to be instituted to look into these allegations. Any MNA or minister found to have used his influence to breach dykes and embankments to divert flood water will have to be dealt with accordingly as per law.  In response to the allegations, on August 29, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif announced the formation of a judicial commission to look into such allegations in Punjab.

Already, flood rehabilitation and relief efforts have been hampered by a lack of trust and cooperation. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has consistently complained that it is not being given a fair share of the aid and the role of the provinces and the centre has not been clearly delineated, leading to further in-fighting.  The federal government has been too slow to act against these accusations, with the prime minister only now announcing an all-parties conference to hash out political differences. The prime minister also took too long to call a meeting of the Council of Common Interests, which will ultimately adjudicate on inter-provincial disputes such as the one brewing on flood aid distribution. On top of that, accusations of deliberate breaches in embankments play into the fear of smaller provinces. A former prime minister from Balochistan has publicly accused members of the PPP in Sindh of deliberately diverting the floodwater to Balochistan to save their own lands. Similarly in Punjab, a PPP MNA has accused some MPs from the PML-N in Punjab of doing the same. There is a possibility that the breaches were caused naturally by the floods but it would be better if an independent commission were formed so that these allegations could be investigated thoroughly.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2010.