Dispatches from #Pakistan Flood 2022
While accompanying Ehsan Masud Kiani of the Islamabad Jeep Club in their relief work, Jamhoor editor Arsalan Samdani documented the floods’ effects in various parts of Pakistan.
Dispatch from Bhag Nari, District Kachhi, Balochistan
Ehtisham visits Bhag Nari in Kachhi, Balochistan, where an entire village has been razed to the ground with the exception of a Hindu temple that is now providing shelter to the local predominantly muslim community. The temple is a concrete building situated on higher grounds, therefore it survived the floods. All around it were buildings made of mud that could not withstand the recent floods. Locals were welcomed into the temple and have been served free meals for a month now. The temple has become a hub for serving this community that is in distress after most people lost their homes and belongings.
Dispatches from Yarkhun Valley, Upper Chitral
Yarkhun Valley runs parallel to the Wakhan corridor in northwest Pakistan. Twenty days of constant rains, combined with elevated glacial melt, led to the overflow and branching out of Yarkhun river, causing immense damage to multiple villages in this part of Upper Chitral district. Road networks, internet, electricity and telecommunication were severely affected, rendering some villages completely inaccessible.
One resident of Power, a village in Upper Chitral, first saw the glacier melt in 2005. He told us he has noticed an increase in the level of glacial melt over the years.
Villagers rely on livestock and wheat cultivation for their subsistence. Following the summer harvest, they store much of the crop to sustain them through the harsh winter months, when farming is not possible. In addition to damaging houses in several villages here, including in Power, Brep, and Inkip, the floods have destroyed these much-needed crops.
At Power, we also met residents from the settler Wakhi tribe, who are labourers for the landowning classes. While the landed focused on rerouting the river to its original path, landless Wakhi labourers were demanding resettlement and financial help. Despite having no land to begin with, several had earned enough through hard labor to at least build makeshift homes. However, these homes were in vulnerable, high-risk areas – that was all the landless could afford – so when the floods hit, it washed them away. Many Wakhi laborers are now homeless.
Shehzad, from a village named Brep in Upper Chitral, described how the floods have demolished over 124 homes in his area, including his own. Roads and crops have also been destroyed – including that summer wheat crop that residents depend on for the entire year. Thus far, no government relief has reached his area.
Imtiaz Hakim, a resident of Power, explained how twenty days of constant rain, combined with glacial melt, overflowed the river channel, causing it to create new channels through the village. Twelve houses in the river’s new path were destroyed, while almost everyone lost their wheat crop. Imtiaz demanded that the world do something to stop the glacier melt.
Zared Beig talked about how the local primary school was now surrounded by water, making it inaccessible. Children hadn’t gone to school for four weeks. Locals have hired a crane to reroute the water to its original path.
Masar Khan is a resident of Power and belongs to the Wakhi tribe. While local landowners are focusing on rerouting the river to save their lands, landless workers like him are demanding financial assistance to relocate, and to be able to start working again. Masar was also critical of NGOs that focus only on short-term relief, explaining that their food and shelter needs were perpetual. Their must, he implied, be a more long-term solution.
Dispatches from Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan districts, Siraiki Wasaib
These are scenes from Kotla Rabait in Rajanpur district. As the floods started submerging their homes in water, villagers escaped with their livestock and found places to sleep on the more elevated roadside. Most of their crops have been destroyed and their livestock is in dire state.
Small farmers survive on cycles of debt, where credit is used to grow crops like wheat, which is then sold to repay the debt. The floods have not only destroyed their homes, but also damaged their crops, leaving them unable to repay loans and pushing them further into indebtedness and poverty.
People in the adjoining districts of Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan are some of the poorest in the country. Most people here are at the mercy of an aristocratic landed elite, who not only run large estates awarded to them by the British, but also mediate the state’s access to the people.
When we arrived in Darkhast Jamal Khan, a vast area originally the estate of a single 19th century landlord named Jamal Khan Leghari, we saw local volunteers of the right-wing Islamist party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). From my conversations with them, it became clear that these villagers were drawn to the TLP, less because of its sectarian religious views, and more because they saw it as a party of and for the poor. They also claimed that the TLP, unlike local landlords, did not discriminate on the basis of status or caste when delivering flood relief.
Saleem Anwar (pseudonym) described how a local aristocratic landlord, who belongs to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, exercises his will and manipulates villagers by blocking (or threatening to block) their water supply. A landlord even filed an FIR against Saleem for arguing with him. Saleem is currently completing his Bachelor’s degree, but worried that this may affect his prospects for a career.
Saleem too leans towards the TLP, telling me that it’s the only organization that did not discriminate between the wealthy and the poor.
Dr. Nezha Mahmood and Dr. Dilawar at a medical camp in Darkhast Jamal Khan. Apart from waterborne diseases such as malaria, dengue and diarrhea, Dr Nezha observed that most women are suffering from chronic issues such as anemia. Most children were malnourished, and most people lacked access to basic health facilities.