POK/PAK
DIARY
By: Sardar Aftab Ahmad
Khan in PoK
After The
Earthquake
Understanding Bagh (AJK)
The impact of October 8, 2005
earthquake on the life, livelihood and attitude of the people living in the
devastated areas of Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) is a subject of careful reading
and holistic under-standing. In the last few months District and Tehsil Bagh
in AJK has been projected in the media and in some reports as a trouble spot
in terms of working conditions for national and international NGOs (INGOs).
There are some demonstrations from local groups against the human resource
recruitment policy and working style of NGO’s especially alleged
exploitation of female workers and gender discrimination. In order to
analyze the myth and reality on ground we need to study the state of civil
society in District and Tehsil Bagh before and after the earthquake.
Before October 8, 2005
there wasn’t a considerable international NGO presence in this part of the
world. Islamic Relief and Kashmir International Relief Fund (KIRF) were the
only two UK based NGOs working in a limited geographical area on a small
scale.
There were also a few
religious charities working on their faith based extension strategy through
charitable activities.
The state of civil society
organizations in AJK for the last fifty-seven years was limited to some
areas governed by different Government laws. This system of governance and
prolonged conflict about the future status of Jammu Kashmir state has a
considerable impact on pro people and pro development attitude and policies
in AJK. Ordinary people have been told and made to believe through
canvassing that any development activity in their area whether a school,
water supply scheme, a road or dispensary is because of their vote and
support to their Biradri (Clan) leader. Participatory and community
development approach and concept have yet to take roots in AJK.
Most of the local NGOs are
charitable organizations having no long-term development plans. Their
capacity in terms of human and institutional resources is limited.
The culture of favoritism at
government level in allocation of different development schemes and even in
jobs makes an ordinary villager believe that the only way to have access to
clean water, a road or school is in obeying and showing allegiance to
prevailing pseudo system and rule of business. International civil society
organizations, INGOs and foreign nationals were not encouraged on government
level to directly participate or work with in AJK. The constitutional and
territorial nature of the area was another obstacle for international
insurance companies to provide insurance cover for foreign nationals to work
in the area before the earthquake as well. On October the 8, 2005 the
already weak and fragile physical infrastructure could not sustain the
powerful jolt of the earthquake and almost all the government buildings and
infrastructure fell like house of cards.
In AJK, total 7000 Sq. Km area, 1.8
million people and 977 villages were badly affected, 3,29,579 houses were
damaged, 46,528 people died and 33489 were injured. The whole socio economic
landscape was changed and behavior and social norms of disaster-survivors
were changed as well. This tragedy provided an opportunity for people all
over the world to respond in whatever way they could to help their fellow
human beings in AJK and Pakistan.
The iron curtain was torn
apart and people from more than 85 countries and hundreds of INGOs directly
participated in rescue and relief operations in AJK without a single
reported incident of any hate crime or any major disturbance during delivery
of relief.
The scale of devastation and
inaccessible terrain of AJK had never been a hurdle in the way of these
noble human beings who came here to help the people of AJK. They had
different nationalities and faiths but they responded to the call of
humanity and people of AJK will always remain grateful to these noble souls
for their help in the most difficult times of their lives. After one and a
half year, let us analyze the factors, which are now creating some
misunderstanding among the NGO’s and disaster survivors in Bagh.
1.The people of Bagh are hard
working, hospitable, generous and entrepreneurial. They are culturally
liberal and religiously sensitive. Pahari is the local language and majority
of people understand Urdu and a considerable number of people can speak
English also. Because of the regional sensitivities one can notice that
people often talk about and take political events that happen elsewhere in
the world seriously. The real issues directly related to their lives and
livelihoods are overlooked. That
is why they cannot articulate and present their needs and issues in a
tangible way and often people with vested interests influence their actions
for lobbying their demands.
2. The lack of credible socio
economic data and social mapping seriously hamper the ability of INGOs to
get first hand and fair assessment of local trends and needs. The management
and field staff of most of the INGOs is non-local. As most of the INGOs and
their international staff depend on the feedback and interpretation of their
non-local staff and they are as foreign to local people and conditions as
the international staff themselves so the miscommunication and
misunderstanding between disaster survivors and humanitarian aid workers is
obvious. The ever-changing policies and procedures of ERRA is another factor
for aggravating the situation as well.
3.
After living for more than half a century in a close and controlled setup
people are now seeing light of an open society where they can be masters of
their own destiny. They can design and manage development projects
them-selves with direct assistance from NGOs. This new progressive making of
civil society is a threat to the old guards of his master’s voice. That is
why they are trying to roll back the INGOs from the area so that they can
again influence the people of Bagh through development schemes and charity
donations for their power game.
4. Closing down the UN
affiliated agencies’ activities and limiting INGOs’ role in the 2nd phase of
reconstruction work in AJK will seriously hamper the early recovery and
rebuilding of livelihood in the affected areas.
The only way forward for all
the stakeholders in this situation is in fully implementing the
recommendations of ICRC, ECHO and DANIDA in their report titled “ Key
Factors for Developmental Relief” Annex III Principles and Response in
International Humanitarian Assistance and Protection adopted in 26th
International conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
A)
The people of Bagh need
assistance in rebuilding their life and livelihood with respect and dignity.
They are ready to be part of developmental projects as active partners
rather than helpless passive recipients of foreign aid.
B)
They demand that assessment
of Bagh area should be done through proper social mapping and real economic
data collection. Any micro finance, grant or aid package on projected
assumptions will be counter productive.
C)
All the initiatives in
livelihood sector should be in line with local production capacity. The use
of modern technology with local research and development in village based
training cum production centers with marketing backup will significantly
contribute towards the growth of local economy.
4 National and international
volunteer hosting in these training cum production centers and farms will
help in transfer of knowledge and technology which will help in reducing the
brain drain and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
5. Capacity building of local
community organizations and Kashmir based NGOs in designing, project
management and delivery of product and services will significantly
contribute towards the development of an accountable, sustainable and open
society in Azad Jammu Kashmir.
I would like to quote from
ICRC recommendations here: “We recommend that agencies seek to strengthen
local capacities by employing local staff, purchasing local material and
trading with local companies where possible agencies should work through
local humanitarian organizations or partners in planning, implementation and
cooperate with local government structures”.
The writer is from Kashmir Development Foundation (KDF) Pakistan.
He can be reached at kdfajk@yahoo.com
