Centre, State tie up to tackle the J&K crisis
The flood situation in Jammu & Kashmir, which has already claimed 17 5 lives, is a national calamity, and it is heartening to note that all state agencies are working in tandem to contain the damage and bring relief to the people. This is the first time in 60 years that the State has witnessed flooding on this scale, and, therefore, many were caught unawares. However, the Armed Forces especially have quickly taken the lead in carrying out relief missions. By Monday, the Army had rescued 22,000 people, including 2,000 from Srinagar city. More than 200 Army columns have already been deployed alongside more than 65 medical teams and 15 engineering task forces. Thousands of tonnes of relief material — food and water packets, blankets and medicines — have been delivered, and more is on the way. Naval air commandoes have also been involved in rescue efforts for the first time, while the Indian Air Force has played a stellar role in airlifting hundreds of victims and airdropping relief material. The National Disaster Response Force, often criticised for its lacklustre performance during such crises, has also had its act together. It has sent a 700-strong team from Delhi and rescued more than 5,000 stranded persons. Notably, the State and the Union Government are also coordinating with each other in an effective manner. This is as it should be — blame games and political brinkmanship should have no place in such situations even though they have been unfortunately commonplace during some previous crises. Despite their best efforts, relief workers have had difficulty in reaching all affected persons. This is primarily because of the difficult terrain. To make matters worse, phone lines have been down through much of the weekend and satellite phone connections have been weak, making it enormously difficult to coordinate and implement rescue plans.
Across the border, the situation is no better in Pakistan which has lost almost 200 persons, mostly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Punjab. like in India, the floodwaters have washed away entire villages and inundated fertile plains, destroying crops and livelihoods. Given the shared nature of our troubles, both Prime Minister Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif have offered to help each other with relief missions. This is a rare gesture of mutual goodwill that can help improve the troubled atmospherics of the India-Pakistan relationship. Meanwhile, those who claim to be the only true voice of the Kashmiris, separatists of various hues, Hurriyat leaders and others belonging to their ilk, have had little to offer the distressed. After conducting a brief survey, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq concluded that the flood situation was god's way of testing human resilience. His advice was echoed by another separatist, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who urged the people to pray in the face of disaster, and then threw in some criticism of the Government's supposedly hollow relief efforts.