Rage and Floods in Pakistan

EDITORIAL

The worst floods in a generation in northwestern Pakistan have killed more than 1,400 people, left as many as 1.3 million others homeless and destroyed as much as 70 percent of the region’s livestock. Responding to the needs of the region and its desperately vulnerable people is not something the Pakistani government or the United States can afford to get wrong.

The region, in the volatile province of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, formerly the North-West Frontier Province, borders Afghanistan and is a central battleground in the struggle against militants in both countries. And neither the weak civilian government in Islamabad nor the United States stands high in Pakistani public opinion.

A new poll by the Pew Research Center found that only 17 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of the United States; the same poll showed that the popularity of Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, has plummeted in two years from 64 percent to 20 percent.

Media reports are filled with tales of infuriated Pakistanis who say the government has provided minimal assistance. And it surely doesn’t help that Mr. Zardari is spending the week in Paris and London on an official trip. Instead of blindly sticking to his itinerary, he should hurry back to Islamabad and work with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the Army to execute a rapid and comprehensive rescue and relief operation.

Washington has pledged more than $10 million in relief aid. The government says that more than 300,000 meals prepared according to Islamic tradition have been delivered to Pakistani officials for the relief effort. American helicopters directed by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry have rescued more than 700 people and transported nearly 12,000 pounds of provisions to flood victims.

The United States also has provided inflatable rescue boats, water filtration units and prefabricated steel bridges. The United Nations offered $10 million, the European Union 30 million euros (about $40 million) and China, $1.5 million. But this can only be a beginning. More rains have started to fall, and there are fears that a breakout of water-borne diseases like cholera could cause a crisis. Apart from saving lives, a broad-based humanitarian response aimed at relieving human suffering needs to serve diplomatic purposes as well.

Islamic charities with suspected ties to militant groups are reportedly competing with the government to deliver services, including relief and medical camps. Washington and Islamabad cannot afford to be less generous or effective.