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Amidst the national furore over calls for martial law by Altaf Hussain of recent days as well as the cricket corruption allegations, I fear Pakistan is at present digressing as a whole and losing somewhat its essential focus on the devastating floods and its victims.

Thus this very short post includes three different videos that remind us all of the pain and anguish that has befallen Pakistan and reminds us that the flood victims be our singular focus in Pakistan, both today and tomorrow.

The first video begins its focus on the flood victims with an emotional rendition  of the great Allama Iqbal’s ‘lab pe aati hai dua’  and it is shared below:

The second video is an appeal for the flood victims by Angelina Jolie on behalf of UNHCR. Angelina Jolie is a favourite on OP and a great supporter of Pakistan as can be seen in a previous post here. Angelina Jolie’s latest act of kindness and support for Pakistan is shared below:

Lastly I share a moving song about the floods sang by Laal  courtesy of Pak Tea House and it is shared below:

I hope this post and the videos all serve to renew the nation’s focus on the flood affected people of Pakistan.

August 2010′s B-side looks at Pakistan’s impending water shortage crisis which is shocking given Pakistan is overflowing in water at present. The remaining focus for the B-side centres on British Prime Minister David Cameron’s crude comments against Pakistan. August 2010′s B-side contents are:

• Drowning Today, Parched Tomorrow by STEPHEN SOLOMON
• The PM Should Listen More and Talk Less by DAVID MILIBAND
• PM Spoke As True Friend of Pakistan by SAYEEDA WARSI 

The first article is an article written by Stephen Solomon and looks at Pakistan’s impending doom. as sadly more doom awaits us owing to Pakistan’s water shortage crisis.

Drowning Today, Parched Tomorrow by Stephen Solomon

Hard as it may be to believe when you see the images of the monsoon floods that are now devastating Pakistan, the country is actually on the verge of a critical shortage of fresh water. And water scarcity is not only a worry for Pakistan’s population — it is a threat to America’s national security as well.

Given the rapid melting of the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Indus River — a possible contributor to the current floods — and growing tensions with upriver archenemy India about use of the river’s tributaries, it’s unlikely that Pakistani food production will long keep pace with the growing population.

It’s no surprise, then, that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made Pakistani headlines a few weeks before the flooding by unveiling major water projects aimed at bolstering national storage capacity, irrigation, safe drinking water and faltering electrical power service under America’s new $7.5 billion assistance program. In March, the State Department announced that water scarcity had been upgraded to “a central U.S. foreign policy concern.” Pakistan is at the center of it.

This is because a widespread water shortage in Pakistan would further destabilize the fractious country, hurting its efforts to root out its resident international terrorists. The struggle for water could also become a tipping point for renewed war with India. The jihadists know how important the issue is: in April 2009, Taliban forces launched an offensive that got within 35 miles of the giant Tarbela Dam, the linchpin of Pakistan’s hydroelectric and irrigation system.

Pakistan needs to rebuild and overhaul the administration of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation network. For decades, Islamabad has spent far too little on basic maintenance, drainage and distribution canals, new water storage and hydropower plants.

To some extent, these deficiencies have been masked since the 1970s by farmers drilling hundreds of thousands of little tube wells, which now provide half of the country’s irrigation. But in many of these places the groundwater is running dry and becoming too salty for use. The result is an agricultural crisis of wasted water, inefficient production and incipient crop shortfalls.

Like Egypt on the Nile, arid Pakistan is totally reliant on the Indus and its tributaries. Yet the river’s water is already so overdrawn that it no longer reaches the sea, dribbling to a meager end near the Indian Ocean port of Karachi. Its once-fertile delta of rice paddies and fisheries has shriveled up.

Chronic water shortages in the southern province of Sindh breed suspicions that politically connected landowners in upriver Punjab are siphoning more than their allotted share. There have been repeated riots over lack of water and electricity in Karachi, and across the country people suffer from contaminated drinking water, poor sanitation and pollution.

The future looks grim. Pakistan’s population is expected to rise to 220 million over the next decade, up from around 170 million today. Yet, eventually, flows of the Indus are expected to decrease as global warming causes the Himalayan glaciers to retreat, while monsoons will get more intense. Terrifyingly, Pakistan only has the capacity to hold a 30-day reserve storage of water as a buffer against drought.

India, meanwhile, is straining the limits of the Indus Waters Treaty, a 1960 agreement on sharing the river system. To cope with its own severe electricity shortages, it is building a series of hydropower dams on Indus tributaries in Jammu and Kashmir State, where the rivers emerge from the Himalayas.

While technically permissible under the treaty provided the overall volumes flowing downstream aren’t diminished, untimely dam-filling by India during planting season could destroy Pakistan’s harvest. Pakistan, downriver and militarily weaker than India, understandably regards the dams’ cumulative one-month storage capacity as a potentially lethal new water weapon in India’s arsenal.

Now, on top of all this, come the monsoon floods, which have obliterated countless canals, diversion weirs and huge swaths of cropland. Pakistan needs help, and projects like those heralded by Secretary Clinton, while valuable, are not on the scale needed to turn things around.

The best first step is a huge one: for Washington to kick-start progress on the Diamer-Bhasha dam, an agricultural and hydroelectric project on the Indus that’s been on the drawing board for decades. The project, likely to cost more than $12 billion, has languished for want of financing. It has also has run afoul of the developed world’s knee-jerk disfavor of giant dams.

But there is simply no other project that can add so much desperately needed water storage and hydroelectricity — Pakistan is tapping just 12 percent of its hydropower potential. Giant dams, moreover, can be inspiring, iconic projects — the Hoover Dam was a statement of American fortitude at the height of the Depression. Beleaguered Pakistan could use a symbol of progress.

There are other projects, already shown to be successful, that on a larger scale could save more water than building half a dozen giant dams. Managers at one Punjabi canal branch, for example, are working with international experts to replace the traditional supply system called warabandi — in which farmers draw water on a simple rotational basis — with one that requires less overall water but delivers it on a reliable, as-needed basis.

Finally, President Obama should take a lesson from John F. Kennedy. In 1961 President Kennedy and President Ayub Khan of Pakistan established a technical collaboration between American experts and a young generation of Pakistani engineers who, together, largely ameliorated Pakistan’s seemingly intractable problem of waterlogging and soil salinization. Yes, Washington’s interest may have been more related to the cold war than to helping the Pakistani people, but we’ve again reached the point where national security and benevolence align.

The Pakistanis may never come to love us. But as the current spectacle of Islamic jihadists bringing emergency aid to flooded areas warns us, we can’t afford to ignore Pakistan’s looming freshwater crisis.

Steven Solomon is the author of “Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization.”

Published in The New York Times

WASIM VIEW- Solomon’s article is a tough read for a Pakistan in ruin after the devastating floods. Solomon’s first few words say it all ‘hARD as it may be to believe when you see the images of the monsoon floods that are now devastating Pakistan, the country is actually on the verge of a critical shortage of fresh water.

Solomon’s article is a must read for all policymakers in Pakistan given it has the potential to make or break Pakistan. Water shortages would add to Pakistan’s unending woes and seem to be on the horizon unless Pakistan deals with this issue head-on and in supersonic speed.

Solomon warns in his article that India could use untimely dam-filling during Pakistan’s planting season to destroy Pakistani harvests. Furthermore global warming is likely to decrease river flows with Solomon warning ‘ the future looks grim. Pakistan’s population is expected to rise to 220 million over the next decade, up from around 170 million today, terrifyingly, Pakistan only has the capacity to hold a 30-day reserve storage of water as a buffer against drought’.

Solomon ends the article with credible solutions and asks for US support in helping Pakistan with the Basha Dam and other water projects. Sadly Uncle Sam has shown little interest in these areas, however Solomon’s article clearly shows America can help Pakistan, indeed that America can too, do more!

The second article is the first that focuses on David Cameron’s comments against Pakistan and is written by the former British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.

The PM Should Listen More and Talk Less by David Miliband 

David Cameron has used the past two weeks to make a verbal splash on foreign policy. Like a cuttlefish squirting out ink, his words were copious and created a mess. The cancellation by the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, of a security meeting with our services shows that, in foreign policy, words can be our most powerful tool. But the Prime Minister’s have been destructive. The mindsets in Israel, Pakistan and Britain have all been given the once-over. But making a splash is not the same as making a difference. Mr Cameron either has a loose tongue – his comments about Gaza, terrorism and the Second World War were made off the cuff at press conferences or in interviews – or he is desperate for headlines. Neither is encouraging.

The Pakistan issue is the most important. It is the region’s tinderbox. We have 10,000 young men and women at risk in Afghanistan. Only a political settlement can bring an end to the war. For that we need Pakistan; and they need our economic and military support. David Cameron is right that terrorist groups have launched attacks from Pakistan, and links into parts of the Pakistani state have been an open secret over the past 20 years. Militants have moved with comparative ease across the Durand Line, and the insurgencies in the south and east of Afghanistan are directed partly from Quetta and Peshawar.

But that is only part of the picture. Pakistan has also been the victim of terror. A few days before David Cameron’s visit, a suicide bomb near Peshawar killed seven people near a gathering mourning the death of a Pakistani cabinet minister’s son. His death, too, was claimed by the Taliban. Bombs and attacks blamed by the Pakistani government on Taliban and al-Qa’ida-linked militants have killed more than 3,500 people in the past three years. Benazir Bhutto was killed by terrorism in her own country.

But the Prime Minister, in attacking Pakistan for “looking both ways”, did not tell this side of the story. In highlighting attacks originating from areas like Peshawar, he ignored the murder of people from Peshawar struggling to prevent them. And he showed no understanding of Pakistan’s path back to democratic rule in the past two years.

It would have been better for the Prime Minister to talk about ways we can support Pakistan. The level of EU funding in Pakistan is just half a euro per person compared to five to 10 times as much in other parts of the world not only more developed, but less crucial to global security.

For an Afghanistan settlement we need regional peace, and Pakistan is the key player in achieving that, along with India, Russia, Turkey and China. For that to happen it is vital that the political and military effort that Pakistan has shown is recognised. Then he would have been in a stronger position to argue for the Pakistani authorities to do more – to tackle the infrastructure of front organisations for terrorist groups in Pakistan, to complete the prosecution of those linked to the Mumbai attacks, to act with full complementarity with Afghan and Isaf forces at the Afghan border.

The Conservatives are putting domestic politics before sound foreign policy. The truth is they are continuing Labour’s policies on Turkey’s membership of the European Union, on the need to open up Gaza and on trade with India. After all, it was the British presidency of the EU in 2005 that opened membership talks.

Trade with India became a priority for the British government when Robin Cook announced a bolder policy in 1997, and between 1998 and 2008 inward investment from India into the UK increased by 3,559 per cent. That the Prime Minister wants to build on this is to be welcomed. But to laud this idea as being revolutionary, and righting a policy wrong, is just spin.

The real worry is that Mr Cameron has a shrivelled notion of Britain’s role in the world. We are not a superpower. But our open, creative economy and society are the essential counterpart to our strong role in the worlds of ideas, diplomacy, culture and security, from our handling of the economic crisis to climate change, from development to Afghanistan. We break this link at our peril.

The Prime Minister’s trade drive in India was overshadowed by a self-inflicted wound: his heralding of a cap in skilled non-EU immigration as the answer to “uncontrolled” immigration. It doesn’t add up – at home, where the cap is a minor part of the immigration numbers, or in India, where it was received with bemusement.

Equally he says he wants to export culture and British identity, but we have a government policy at home that seems to not care about British culture at all. For example, the UK Film Council is to be axed without consultation. For every pound the UK Film Council invested in British film-making, £5 was made at the box office. As an export alone it is worth £1.34bn; and as a cultural export it reflects Britain’s history and way of life.

If Britain shrinks at home, and if we make the wrong decisions for expansion in our economic and cultural identity, then there is quite literally less to export. Britain needs strong partnerships in the world. We depend on stronger international cooperation and stronger international institutions. We don’t need bluster. We all have two ears and one mouth. Foreign policy demands that we use them in that proportion.

John Rentoul is away

David Miliband is Shadow Foreign Secretary

Published in The Independent

WASIM VIEW- David Miliband’s article does well to ridicule British Prime Minister David Cameron after his crude comments against Pakistan. Miliband is cutting and correct when he said ‘David Cameron has used the past two weeks to make a verbal splash on foreign policy. Like a cuttlefish squirting out ink, his words were copious and created a mess’.

Later on in the article Miliband is right in highlighting how Cameron attacked Pakistan for “looking both ways” accusing him of not telling the other side of the story, that Pakistan is the worst victim of terror. Moreover Miliband’s article does well to bring home to the British readership the pitiful support Pakistan has received given that Pakistan is fighting a war thrusted onto it by the West.

As such Pakistan sadly acts as a mercenary force for the West with Uncle Sam paying a pittance to do its dirty work and the EU funding according to Miliband ‘just half a euro per person compared to five to 10 times as much in other parts of the world not only more developed, but less crucial to global security’. That said Miliband cannot absolve his government and his person from criticising the EU support for Pakistan or the lack of it given that Miliband and the Labour government did little to help Pakistan vis a vis increased EU funding and market access when his person and party was in office.

Miliband’s article ends as it began, with cutting words and that say it all and are condescending in nature for a new PM clearing learning on the job, Miliband ends with ‘We don’t need bluster. We all have two ears and one mouth. Foreign policy demands that we use them in that proportion’. I couldn’t agree more.

The final article is an attempt by Sayeeda Warsi to defend David Cameron’s comments against Pakistan and is necessary reading.

PM Spoke As True Friend of Pakistan by Sayeeda Warsi

A war of words has broken out between David Cameron and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari ahead of their talks at Chequers tomorrow. The PM has enraged Pakistan’s leader by accusing the country of looking “both ways” at home-grown terrorism. Here Tory chairman Baroness Warsi, whose parents are from Pakistan, explains why the spat will not damage the countries’ long-term relationship.

There are two countries I feel I know pretty well. One is my home, Britain, where I was born and which I am privileged enough now to serve in government. The other is Pakistan, where my parents and grandparents were born and where for eight years I have run a women empowerment charity.

What seems to have been lost in the headlines this week is that Pakistan is a friend of the UK. And a friendship is meaningless unless you can be honest with each other.

David Miliband accused the Prime Minister of speaking too frankly about the terror threat Pakistan faces. But the best relationships between countries have to be rooted in honesty and mutual respect and it is absurd to deny that Pakistan has a problem with extremism and terror inside its country.

Pakistan is paying an incredibly high and tragic price for the ongoing terror threat within its borders. Thousands of Pakistanis have been victims of suicide bombs and other attacks in recent years. Many live in fear of attacks every day. Raising this issue and speaking candidly about it is the very least that a true friend can do.

And what’s more, this isn’t just about being a true friend to Pakistan. It’s also about showing respect and support to the British Pakistani community, many of whom have lost loved ones in Pakistan and are too frightened to travel there because of the threat.

Our relationship with Pakistan is also not a one-way transaction and it is not just about counter-terrorism. Pakistan is currently facing its worst floods in living memory, affecting an area of Pakistan I know well, as do the one million British Pakistanis.

In that true British tradition of helping those in need, our International Development team has offered support to 800,000 people, of whom 630,000 are women and children. We stand ready to assist the relief effort and have already given support to provide drinking water, hygiene kits and basic sanitation.

I spoke to aid workers in the region yesterday, who stressed that the need for international action is immediate and great. However, our relationship is not just about aid. That is why, in one of his first trips as Foreign Secretary, William Hague travelled to Pakistan and met not only counterparts in Islamabad, but also investors and entrepreneurs at the Karachi Stock Exchange.

It’s why Andrew Mitchell, Secretary Of State For International Development, also made an early visit, and not just to Islamabad but also to Peshawar, announcing that we had increased our level of aid to Pakistan and in particular the money we provide to drive forward educational reform.

And that is why, just a fortnight ago, I returned from a four-day trip where I talked about women’s empowerment and civil society. Long-term friends are not lost over a weekend just because honesty is brought to the table.

Under David Cameron’s leadership, this Government will have honest, robust and frank conversations with our friends. Pakistan will be no exception. Straight talking won’t break a relationship based on mutual respect which goes back more than 60 years.

Published in The Sun

WASIM VIEW- Before commenting on the article, it is important to state for the record that Sayeeda Warsi has been lavishly praised by me in the past, and was made the subject of a detailed post that can be read again here. Today the same Sayeeda Warsi is criticised by me for penning an article full of verbose and meaningless words.

In defending David Cameron’s offensive comments against Pakistan. Warsi was always playing on a sticky wicket. It seems to me that as a British Pakistani and as a Cabinet Minister she had to prove her loyalty to Britain over and above Pakistan and her Pakistani roots and she does achieve that and not much else in her article.

Warsi being a lawyer puts up a weak defence of David Cameron’s comments centring on the notion of a Pakistan-Britain friendship arguing that friends can talk frankly to each other. Warsi conveniently forgets that true friends also appreciate one another and their respective concerns and that the Pakistani-British friendship if there is one would be mindful of Pakistan’s concerns vis a vis India. The fact that Cameron uttered his foolish words in India is what riled me and Pakistanis across the world and is the proverbial Indian and African elephant in the room that Warsi and Cameron seek to ignore at their peril and hide.

If we accept the weak plea from lawyer Warsi that David Cameron’s foreign policy doctrine has a focus on being frank to friends then where was during his India visit?. Clearly the trip centred on improving trade relations a la the heralding of a new East India Cameron Company with British Cabinet ministers falling head over heels to win over their Indian friends to buy British.

Frank words on India’s occupation of Kashmir and their human rights abuses did not feature and it is this double standard that irks me and Pakistan’s Prime Minister when he said ‘”In India, you talk about terrorism but you don’t say anything about Kashmir. You forgot about the human rights abuses going on there. You should have spoken about that, too, so that we in Pakistan would have been satisfied’.

Warsi’s article is missing any mention of India or Kashmir although she boasts in her article that ‘under David Cameron’s leadership, this Government will have honest, robust and frank conversations with our friends. Pakistan will be no exception’. India will clearly be an exception to that rule as the Cameron government heralds the dawn of a new era of trade and commerce in South Asia, all hail Cameron Raj!

Malik Riaz of Bahria Town fame is one of Pakistan’s richest men. Moved by the Pakistani floods, Malik Riaz has written an open letter to the rich elite of Pakistan urging them to help the Pakistani masses who have lost everything owing to the devastating floods. The letter is shared below:

The Pakistani elite have been set the challenge of their lives by Malik Riaz and I praise his efforts in seeking to awaken the comatose elite of Pakistan. The key challenge before the rich elite is whether they can serve the masses of Pakistan in principle and not for profit.

The masses have been hungry and angry for decades whilst the Pakistani elite have been blind to their suffering. The burning question before us that needs an urgent answer, is whether the rich Pakistani elite will take an about-turn and make up for their deeds or will they remain unconcerned even now, if they do then they risk drowning in the sea of anger that is today’s Pakistan.

Pakistan is the land of pure death and destruction after the monsoon floods that devastated Pakistan. As a consequence from Swat to Sukkur and from Khyber to Karachi, Pakistan is a land of untold doom and gloom. It is with this in mind that we mark this August 14 in a sombre mood.

All independence day celebrations have been correctly cancelled as the people are in no mood to celebrate. Other Pakistan therefore will not share today any milli nagmey nor will it happily celebrate Pakistan’s 63rd independence day. Instead the focus is on some introspection with a view to moving Pakisan forward.

In this regard I wish to share the example of Baba Mujahid as an example for all Pakistanis. Baba Mujahid featured in Geo’s George Ka Pakistan and I share two video clips of a true Pakistani:

 Part 2 is shared below:

Let us hope that Baba Mujahid can inspire us all to work selflessly for Pakistan.

Pakistan Zindabad 

GUEST BLOG by Imaan H. Mazari

In Pakistan, critics are extremely popular. The reason being the fact that we all continue to criticize every single initiative taken in the country, regardless of it actually making sense. The ANP, along with several other segments of our society, opposed the construction of the Kalabagh Dam, for a range of reasons. One of the most pertinent reasons they presented was that Nowshera would drown had this dam been constructed.

The tragic irony here is that Noshwera actually drowned without the dam. We criticize without realizing how many lives we can save, by seeing something through. This generalizes to our governments, past and present. There is no consistent policy line that is followed, where foreign affairs, illiteracy or any other major areas of concern are put forth.

So while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is drowning and our fellow brothers and sisters there have no way of moving forward, the President of our country has decided to flee. What’s worse is his choice of country to visit at this point in time. The UK being that ridiculous choice, due to David Cameron’s absolutely preposterous remarks regarding our country. These remarks were solely made to please India, and our President not only visited the UK, met David Cameron, but he also failed to extract an apology or any sort of remorse on the part of Cameron for making the statements he did.

One feels rather frustrated thinking of how the average citizen lacks the rights and ability to change how things are going. What’s even more frustrating is the fact that our government and its officials are seen to be absolutely crass and insensitive when it comes to a crisis they have an obligation to address. The monsoon comes every year. It’s a season in this country which we’ve had for 63 years. So why is it that the government cannot gear the country towards better disaster management, knowing that thousands of lives are lost each year due to the monsoon rains?

In addition to this, we see that the government hasn’t even set up any camps or initiated any sort of relief effort where these flood victims are concerned. All the relief effort is either of private individuals or the UN. Even NGOs have failed in this regard as not one NGO camp is seen between Risalpur and Noshwera, despite the fact that the latter is the worst hit area. Whereas, the NGOs inaction can be seen as depressing, the government’s failure to live upto the social contract it has with its people, is simply unacceptable.

President Zardari graced Birmingham with his presence today as the Presidential tour of Europe reached its final destination. The President was slated to address the overall Pakistani community but in truth it was a PPP bash for PPP workers only.

The Birmingham bash did not pass off without incident and included a substantial  public demonstration against his UK visit.  However by the end of the day, the  event and the Zardari speech were overshadowed by the alleged shoe attack on the President. It seems that President Zardari was the recipient of a ‘shoecide attack’ from an elderly man in the audience who has yet to be named, however more information is set to come forward in the coming days.

As an demonstrator at the Zardari rally I do wish to inform OP readers of the now infamous Zardari Birmingham bash and it particular the anti-Zardari demonstration. As is usual for Pakistani politics, the demonstration included some catchy slogans and chants. Indeed the anti-Zardari messages were numerous and humourous and included many examples of ‘Pinglish’ as readers will decipher from the below photos that I took:

The best slogan was of course the first one that made reference to Zardari’s indifference to the plight of ordinary Pakistanis which drew parallels with the Munna Bhai character of Bollywood fame.

In terms of the demonstration it was a cross party event with Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf in the ascendancy whilst civil society activists were aplenty. The police security cordon was tight and prevented the demonstrators from reaching the President and thankfully the demonstrators adhered to it. The following photos show some of the demonstrators and the security cordon as shown below:

That said the PPP supporters were out in force and were plenty in number and passionate as ever as shown below:

On a seperate note it was encouraging to see that the Pakistani Christian community had also arrived at the demonstration and they too bought their own viewpoints to the event in particular on the blasphemy law, as the photos show below:

All in all, the demonstration was peaceful and as polite as it could be given the strength in feeling amongst the British Pakistani community against the Zardari tour of Europe whilst Pakistan’s people remain under water.  With the now infamous shoe attack, President Zardari’s Birmingham bash is sure to be etched in the collective Pakistani memory bank for a long time that is for sure.

Source: Daily Times

The grins and smiles above sicken me and say it all.

Legend has it that the Emperor of Rome, Nero fiddled whilst Rome burnt. Today another emperor of sorts is following in his footsteps. The Pakistani ‘Nero’ is President Zardari who is fiddling whilst Pakistan drowns.

With over 1400 deaths so far and 3 million Pakistanis affected by the floods many made homeless and facing possibly death and disease in the coming days, the President of Pakistan has left his people in distress and not cancelled planned visits to France and Britain.

Instead the Zardari family is on tour, a vacation and holiday of sorts as shown in the photo above which shows Bilawal Zardari and Asifa Zardari accompanying the President on his official visits to France.

President Zardari has rightly been criticised  for leaving Pakistan at a such crucial time. Instead of unifying the nation and leading relief efforts personally, the President has swanned off to a foreign jaunt it seems as reported in the Nation newspaper today, as shown below:

Meanwhile the analysts have termed this tour of the Pakistani head of the state, as more to the interest of the Zardaris, than for the sake of Pakistani people. Introducing the Zardari children to the president of the strongest EU countries is, in fact, a move to bring these young people in the field of politics, they said, adding that the president was doing all this at the expense of national exchequer collected from poor people’s earning. The President is also scheduled to visit his father Hakim Ali Zardari who lives in a big villa in the suburbs of Paris, for which the President has hired a helicopter…. After his official schedule, Zardari was to make a brief private visit to Normandy in northern France where his family owns a holiday home.

It is clear that Pakistan is drowning as President Zardari fiddles in France and soon in Britain too.

Source: Dawn

Today Pakistan is a people and a nation that is under water and struggling to stay afloat.

Pakistan is in dire need of a collective national prayer with the monsoon floods have devastated Pakistan in recent days. Over 1100 people have died in the worst monsoon rains in 40 years and in living memory.

Over a million people have been affected by the floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province alone with the number set to rise. Balochistan is flooded as is Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir, FATA and many parts of Punjab. The list of major cities affected are endless from Dera Murad Jamali and Swat to Nowshera and Mianwali and the list can go on and on whilst the number of villages and towns affected too many to list.

The floods follow the Margalla plane crash of recent days, Pakistan is facing immense challenges and as a Pakistani I must say that these are testing times for Pakistan. I urge all Pakistanis inside and outside of Pakistan to do whatever they can to support Pakistan at this crucial time. Financial help will be needed urgently and I urge you to support in any way you can. Readers can donate to the the following charities shown below by clicking on their name and following the instructions:

• Edhi Foundation
• Islamic Relief
• Muslim Hands
• Oxfam

Pakistan must unite as a nation and face these testing times with solidarity.

July 2010′s B-side should be called the American Betrayal of Pakistan for it includes two honest articles by two Americans no-less of how America has  betrayed Pakistan. For that alone July 2010′s B-side is a must-read, as well as this the B-side is a must-read for its focus on the burning fire that is Balochistan. July 2010′s B-side contents include:

• I Cried for Jalib by MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR
• US Must Grow Up on Pakistan by MICHAEL SCHEUER
• Partisan Gridlock’s Long Reach by DAVID IGNATIUS

The first article covers an issue that is very close to my heart, Balochistan. The killing of Habib Jalib is a national tragedy and Malik Siraj Akbar’s article on that great man is a must read for all Pakistanis especially those who are both arrogant and ignorant of the fire that is burning in Balochistan.

I Cried for Jalib by Malik Siraj Akbar

Finally, I have no option but to delete 03003823908 from my cell phone. This was the phone number I often used to dial or get calls from. “late” Habib Jalib, secretary general of the Balochistan National Party who was killed here on Wednesday by unidentified assailants, used this number and humbly received phone calls after the second ring.

In the last couple of years, I have deleted several phone numbers from my cell phone after the contacts were target killed from time to time. I deleted the phone number of Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, the chairman of Baloch National Movement (BNM), even though he had promised to meet me “soon” in Quetta.

Every time 03003823908 rang, I would hear from the other side:

Han Siraj Kooo jaaa hey tho [Hey Siraj, where are you?]

I loved Jalib’s accent.

“Waja [sir],” I’d say jokingly, “You even speak Balochi in a Russian accent.”

He laughed. Straightened his long hair. Resumed talking.

Tho Harjoka hey, maan wathi gari hey sara kaheen. Tho bas sadak e sara bosth.

[Wherever you are. Stand on the road. I will come in my car (to pick you up).

Jalib had a wonderful sense of humor.

"You know what," he told me one day as we drove from Zarghoon Road to Prince Road, "Pakistanis do not value us. We have so much gas that if Dera Bugti was located in a Gulf country, all these Bugtis would have to add "Shiek" with their names," he said.

I agreed.

I was feeling inconvenient in my conversation due to the loud noise his kids, who were also in the car, made.

" waja thi gwando baaz kokar kanaan," I brazenly complained. [Sir, your kids make a lot of noise].

He laughed again, indicating that he would still not silence them.

” Let’s give them some democratic space. Let them say what please them,” he replied.

Jalib was man who staunchly believed in freedom of expression and democratic space.

Now that Jalib is no more, A Pakistani journalist based in Germany, who had met Jalib in Quetta while preparing a report on Balochistan, Facebooked me:

“OMG! He mentioned his small kid so many times when I went to see him last sept(ember).”

It took me several months to convince Jalib to write his memoirs. Finally, he agreed but insisted that I should write it for him as he did not find sufficient time to do the job. I reminded him that he was an extraordinary figure in the Baloch nationalist movement.

” Becha waja, Raziq Hancho shoth….hech he na liktha. Tho chosh makan. Thi yaad dashth baz alimi inth pa Baloch raja.”

[Sir, see Raziq (Bugti) died even without penning his memories. You should not do so. Your memoir is very important for the Baloch nation].

Jalib never got time to write his biography and I remained guilty of not visiting him more frequently.

Nargis Baloch, editor Daily Intekhab, is right: ” Balochs barely get time to do anything else except burying their dead bodies, mourning the disappearance of their beloved ones or nursing their wounds from a military operation.” Amid such circumstances, how would one get the peace of mind to sit and jot down one’s autobiography. Jalib’s autobiography would have been a wonderful addition to literature on Baloch nationalism. Perhaps both of us underestimated the enemy and overestimated the perpetuity of life.

Jalib never liked it when journalists added the word “Mengal” with BNP. He said calling his party BNP-Mengal was unfair because it was the real BNP. The rival faction, in his words, had the right to call itself “awami” or whatever but the BNP was simply BNP (not Mengal).

The best time for me to see Jalib very closely was a trip to Islamabad in which we spent several days together. I found him a very very humble, punctual and principled man. Jalib was an avid reader and one of the very few people who truly knew what Baloch nationalism was all about. As long as he was on the stage as a speaker, I remained convinced with my eyes closed that Balochitan’s case was being cogently pleaded. I envied his command over Baloch history, theory of nationalism, statistics on economic affairs and the maneuvering and penetration of the military in coastal areas of Balochistan. He was a marathon orator. He could speak for several hours without being repetitive at all.

Jalib was not a sardar, nor a Nawab’s son. He was a powerful man. A self-made man: Self-made from head to toe. Empowered by education. Like every middle class shining star, he was unacceptable to Balochistan’s tribal elite and the country’s military establishment. Tall trees cannot survive long in Balochistan. People with a tall stature get their heads chopped off. Educated people are a rare species in Balochistan. They come once in centuries. Jalib was one of them. They killed him because he was too brave to be ousted from Balochistan. He did not surrender in spite of being put into jail by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf.

I cried. (Honestly, I had not cried for Nawab Bugti or Balach Marri).

I cried once.

I cried twice.

I cried again and again.

Jalib was among us: The middle class. The poors. The pedestrians. The dreamers.

This friend of mine whined that The Baloch Hal went overboard in covering Jalib’s assassination.

“Jalib wasn’t such a big guy to fill the whole of Baloch Hal with his news,” he grumbled.

I agreed with him. Jalib was not a big guy. He was not a landlord. He was not a feudal. He was not an intelligence tout. How could he then be a big guy?

The Pakistani media did not cover him the way he deserved to be reported. Except Samma TV and Duniay TV, rest of the TV channels put the news on number six to seven of their headlines’ list.

Was it that Jalib was not a big guy because Nawab Raisani or Nawab Magsi could not spare time to attend his funeral? No. Jalib was the big guy of the voiceless, educated middle class Baloch. Jalib was the hero of our times. He inspired our generation. He left a generation to adore his struggle. He captured the full page of the Baloch Hal and the front pages of several newspapers simply because he was Habib Jalib not the grandson of a great tribal chief who inherited large agricultural lands for collaborating with colonial masters to enslave the people of this land.

Those of us who knew comrade Jalib would surely testify Jalib’s love for Atta Shad’s couplet that I cite here to pay panagryic to him at the end of this rambling write-up. He never forgot to cite these lines in any speech he made.

Tao Pa Sarani Goddaga Zende Hayalaan Koshe

Pa Sendaga Daasht Kane Pulla`n Che Bo Taalanya

[Can you, by serving the heads

From the bodies,

Kill the living thoughts

And ideas?

Can you, by wrenching

The flowers from branches,

Stop their fragrance

From spreading]

Published in Baloch Hal

WASIM VIEW-Akbar’s article is more of a personal and heartfelt tribute to the work of Habib Jalib Baloch than a serious article.  That said, I wish to echo the words of praise and want to pay tribute to Habib Jalib Baloch for his service to Pakistan as a senator and as a leading lawyer

Much of the content in the article makes for difficult reading for me as it is loaded with negative concepts of the ‘Baloch nation’ and the like. That said, Balochistan is a burning fire today and has been burning for decades owing to Pakistan’s step-motherly treatment.

Habib Jalib Baloch was a man who stood for Baloch rights yet he wished to work within the Pakistani system and became a senator and  continued to believe in the federation of Pakistan.

It is this fact, that makes his death, a national tragedy for Pakistan, Habib Jalib Baloch  was loyal to the Balochi and Pakistani cause as evidenced by the recent full court reference in the Balochistan High Court in his honour.  The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said of the man that ‘Habib Jalib was a voice of reason, both inside and outside the parliament, for disempowered people, not only in Balochistan but across the country.”

Habib Jalib Baloch’s death will weaken the federation and  give succour to the voices of darkness. However those voices must fail if Pakistan is to succeed and it is in this context that Akbar’s article should be read as a wake-up call for Pakistan to continue a mission the Quaid began in 1947. The mission is a prosperous and autonomous Balochistan within the federation of Pakistan, when that is achieved, Habib Jalib Baloch can rest in peace.

The second article is written by Michael Scheuer and it is quite possibly the most honest article you will ever read on US-Pakistan relations.

US Must Grow Up on Pakistan by Michael Scheuer

Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Islamabad last week demonstrated how far the US government has slipped into senility and how desperately it’s seeking an easy—some might say miraculous—way out of the Afghan war by getting others to do its fighting.

Clinton carried a Santa’s bag of $500 million in US taxpayer funds for Pakistan’s leaders and pledged that Washington will be a long-term ally in Pakistan’s economic and democratic development.Her hosts were gracious and naturally accepted the funds, but they know the money is a bribe and the only thing Clinton, the Obama administration and US generals want is for Pakistan’s army to keep shedding blood against America’s Islamist foes.

And Pakistan’s leaders know two other things: (a) their ability to do more of Washington’s dirty work is marginal because the destabilizing civil war caused by being a US ally is entering the Punjab region; and (b) the Islamists can only be beaten if the US military does its own killing and bleeding.

The Pakistanis also must have had quite a laugh when Clinton said she is aware that ‘some Pakistani official’ knows the location of Osama bin Laden and hoped that data would be given to Washington. Even if true, the Pakistanis must have wondered why they would give bin Laden to the Americans now, after Obama and NATO have said they’re leaving, and earn hatred from tens of millions of Muslims when they’re already faced with cleaning up the mess Western military failure will leave in Afghanistan.

How did Pakistan get into this state? Well the disaster is based on a mistaken judgment: former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf believed the US government was serious about destroying the Islamists who attacked it on 9/11. As a career military officer, Musharraf surely thought US political leaders and generals would react as he and his peers would have reacted; that is, by destroying the attackers. Based on this expectation and under intense US pressure, Musharraf provided more aid for the US war effort than any other US ally, NATO or otherwise.

After 9/11, Musharraf allowed US military and intelligence services to expand their presence in Pakistan, and provided much needed military airspace. His security services worked with US counterparts to seize multiple, senior al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan’s cities. He helped destroy the Taliban regime, even though Islamabad couldn’t have had an Afghan regime more compatible with Pakistan’s national interests. He also allowed part of Karachi harbor to become a naval and resupply base for US and NATO forces.

Most damagingly, though, Musharraf sent Pakistan’s conventional army into the Pashtun tribal lands along the border with Afghanistan for the first time since Pakistan was formed. Until Musharraf’s action, the tribes had tolerated the Islamabad regime only because the latter didn’t interfere in their affairs and provided various economic subsidies.

To date, the Army’s offensives in the tribal area have killed more than 3000 soldiers; killed and wounded several times that number of tribal fighters; displaced more than 500,000 people; and destroyed myriad villages and buildings. Even more disastrously, the Army’s operations have sparked a civil war between Islamabad and the tribesman. For several years this struggle was confined to the tribal lands, but since 2008 it has spread into Pakistan proper, bringing repeated bombings, ambushes, assassinations and commando-style raids to military and intelligence facilities, as well as to major cities like Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi.

The results of Musharraf’s understandable, if potentially fatal decision are wrecking Pakistan. And yet Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani—whose term was just extended three years—and President Zidari heard Clinton ask (order?) them to do more US dirty work, apparently not realizing (or caring?) that Pakistan’s aid caused the civil war now threatening the country’s viability. Kayani and Zidari, as noted, accepted US aid and vowed to help. But both men—especially Kayani—know Pakistan’s string is played out.

With President Obama’s pledge to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan (the target date of 2011 is less important than his publicly pledged intent) Pakistan’s leaders know the United States isn’t serious about Afghanistan, that the Taliban-led insurgency will ultimately triumph and that they must look out for Pakistan’s interests, which can’t include the continued existence of the Karzai regime in Kabul.

As Afghan president, Hamid Karzai’s actions have created what can only be seen by Pakistan’s general officers as an existential threat to their country. With NATO’s acquiescence, Karzai has built strong ties to Iran and Russia—long Pakistan’s foes—and, more troubling, has been encouraged by Washington to permit an enormous expansion of India’s physical presence in Afghanistan.

The latter negates what Pakistan’s generals have always prized as their ‘strategic depth’ in case of war with India by putting an Indian presence on Pakistan’s western border that in essence puts the country in a vise that can be squeezed at New Delhi’s pleasure. (Nothing better shows the intellectual bankruptcy of US diplomacy than demanding Pakistan help against the Taliban while pushing the expansion of India’s presence in Afghanistan. Islamabad believes that Afghanistan-based Indians already are funding Baloch insurgents.)

While Kayani and his military and intelligence subordinates will keep providing data to facilitate U.S. drone strikes—which hurt but can’t beat the Taliban and al-Qaeda—they will act aggressively to begin re-stabilizing Pakistan. Among their actions will be:

—Major efforts to slow the growth of Islamist radicalism and violence in the country’s economic, agricultural and industrial heartland in the Sindh and Punjab. This will require a modus Vivendi with the tribes on the western border that encourages them—with subventions of (probably US) money, weaponry and other support—to stop attacking in Pakistan proper and begin aiding their Afghan brethren against Karzai.

—Pakistan’s intelligence service (ISI) will try to mend fences with Pashtuns on both sides of the border, and influence them to attack Karzai’s regime, NATO forces, and Indian targets, all in an effort to hurry NATO’s defeat and help the Islamists to retake power in Kabul. This is the only long-term result that meets Pakistan’s national security needs.

—The Army will reduce the lethality of its tribal-area operations as its contribution to ending the civil war Musharraf ignited. No doubt Kayani will keep the Army active in the tribal lands, but only with Potemkin operations meant to keep US aid flowing while not further alienating the Pashtuns. This tack also will start to ease the deep discontent in the Army over being tasked to kill Muslims for US infidels.

—Zidari and Kayani will seek promises from Riyadh to financially assist Pakistan if Washington cuts aid to Pakistan. Since Islamabad’s goal of replacing Karzai with a Taliban-like regime is compatible with Saudi and Gulf state foreign-policy goals—indeed, much of the Taliban’s funding is from the Gulf—such a pledge from Riyadh is likely. As a sweetener, the Pakistanis will help insert young Gulf jihadis returning from Iraq or graduating from so-called reeducation camps into Afghanistan to fight US-NATO forces.

For Kayani and Zidari, the time clearly has come to stop being a US proxy and to focus on halting Pakistan’s drift toward becoming a failed state. Because Washington has no clue that the services rendered it by Musharraf and Zidari caused the civil war now raging in Pakistan, Kayani and Zidari can expect nothing from Obama’s administration except demands for actions that would ultimately destroy Pakistan’s stability, with unforeseeable consequences for its nuclear arsenal. To do less than this—at least for Kayani and the Army—would breech not only their oath of allegiance, but of their self-interest.

Such Pakistani action might also have a bracing, reality-inducing impact on the US government. It might start to see what was obvious on 9/11—that is, annihilating al-Qaeda is Washington’s responsibility. To have help from NATO, Pakistan and others is nice, but not a substitute for depending on US military forces to extirpate as much of al-Qaeda, the Taliban and their supporters as possible and then withdraw immediately. Since 9/11, this has been Washington’s only achievable Afghan task. By not accepting this reality, Bush and now Obama have fought a war that today leaves the United States farther from victory than in 2001 and which will require far more US money and blood to win than has been so far expended.

In one of the quirky opportunities history sometimes yields, there’s a chance the still- young Pakistani state, by looking to its own security, might breathe a fresh breath of adulthood into the now toothless, irresolute and increasingly adolescent 234-year-old US government and push it to the commonsense conclusion that—in the words of the Prophet Muhammad and Theodore Roosevelt—God helps only those who fear Him and take their own part.

Sadly, however, there’s little solid reason for anyone to bet on this godsend occurring.

Published in The Diplomat

WASIM VIEW-Scheuer’s article is a pure masterpiece and should be essential reading for every Pakistani and every American. For Pakistanis who are pro-US and wish to blindly ape America and worship its largesse, Scheuer’s article makes it clear that whatever Pakistan does can never be enough. And worse that by doing so Pakistan risks its very own survival as a functioning and sovereign state.

Scheuer’s article is just brulliant in bringing to the fore the folly of Musharraf in supporting Bush after 9/11, an evil act that has taken Pakistan to hell and back daily. The facts are simple, Uncle Sam has used, is using and wants to use Pakistan as its proxy mercenary force to kill its Al-Qaeda enemies. In acquiescing to this, both the political and military leadership of Pakistan have failed Pakistan from Musharraf to Zardari and not forgetting General Kayani.

The timdity shown by the Pakistani state to America and her games especially from our khaki kings a la drone attacks is a matter of national shame. Moreoover it is clear from Scheur’s article that such Pakistani weakness has provided India with the space to meddle in Pakistan’s affairs. Indeed Balochistan and FATA are lands suffering from Indian intrigue yet it is Pakistan who has to apologise for Mumbai profusely. In the meantime the Indians are free to create havoc by supporting the Pakistani Taliban and Balochi secessionists, and not even a word of condemnation is aired against India by America who knows exactly what RAW is doing in Afghanistan and Balochistan. 

That said, the wind is blowing in another direction of late thanks to the American end-game which has allowed the Pakistani power corridors to make up for their failure to protect the national interests. Scheuer’s article points towards this at the end, indeed it is hoped that the Pakistani power elites wake up and smell the coffee and chai too, that America will never be satisfied with Pakistan, end of.

The final article is written by another American and looks at US support for Pakistan, vis a vis some promised American support for the so-called badlands of FATA.

Partisan Gridlock’s Long Reach by David Ignatius

I am embarrassed when I think back to a conversation last October in Wana, South Waziristan — deep in the tribal areas — with Maj. Gen. Khalid Rabbani, the commander of Pakistani forces there. He was about to launch an offensive against Taliban fighters, but he worried that the “clear and hold” phase of the campaign would fail if Pakistan couldn’t also “build” through economic development.

Be patient, I told him. Congress is drafting a bill that will take a first step toward bringing more jobs to the region Now it’s nine months later, and Congress is still caught in a partisan gridlock over the plan to create Reconstruction Opportunity Zones in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA.

The House passed the bill in June 2009, but the Senate hasn’t voted on its version because Republicans oppose the labor-protection standards that were included the House measure. The GOP objects that the bill would set a precedent for similar pro-labor rules in future trade legislation.

It’s incredible — sickening is a better word, actually — that a parochial business-labor dispute is blocking a measure that is so obviously in America’s national security interest. Members seem to have forgotten that this plan would undercut al-Qaeda in its safe haven, at a time when U.S. soldiers are dying across the border in Afghanistan, and when Americans everywhere are threatened by terrorists based in the FATA.

The Obama administration has argued for the bill, but not very effectively. More than a year ago, Richard Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, wrote to Congress: “We need ROZs now — economic opportunities must be expanded to quickly follow up military operations.”

Yet the administration hasn’t been able to broker a compromise — even though Democrats have strong majorities in both houses. That’s a sorry performance — and another illustration of how the Obama administration’s agenda has been hijacked by partisan feuding.

“This is a national security imperative, and we should be focused on it like a laser beam,” argues Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chief sponsor of the House measure. The bill would allow duty-free exports to the United States of some textiles and other products produced in or near the FATA. It isn’t a “miracle cure” for the tribal areas, but it’s a small step in the right direction.

A Senate bill (without the House’s strong labor protections) is sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Every time a compromise seems near, she says, business or labor groups object because they don’t want to concede on the labor issue. The stalemate might be broken by White House intervention, but the administration so far hasn’t been willing to spend enough of its scarce political capital.

“It’s frustrating,” says Cantwell. “Somehow, the issue doesn’t rise to the level of importance it deserves.”

Powerful senators, prodded by the lobbyists, haven’t been willing to budge. Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Finance Committee, opposes Senate action unless the House promises to drop its labor provisions from any final bill; he argues that the House language is more restrictive than past trade agreements and could set a new precedent. On the pro-labor side, Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, has opposed any deal that doesn’t include the strong House standards.

Van Hollen argues that the Senate should pass the milder Cantwell bill, and then take the issue to conference where the two chambers can negotiate a compromise. He says the House side is “willing to make adjustments.” But Grassley doesn’t want to throw the issue to a House-Senate conference, so the impasse continues.

While the U.S. Congress dithers, al-Qaeda and its allies continue to plan deadly attacks from their haven in the FATA. The most savage bombings in recent months have been against Pakistani targets. The Pakistani public, which has been hearing promises from Washington for three years about the FATA opportunity zones, is doubtless wondering why the great superpower can’t get its act together. Pakistan’s leading business groups, which would be most affected by the labor standards, have already blessed the deal.

Recall the Pakistani general in Waziristan: He warned me that his military campaign would falter if, in a year, there wasn’t more economic opportunity in the FATA. There are still a few months left to reach a compromise on a measure that would provide a modest boost for the good guys. But for now, this legislative debacle offers one more sign of our dysfunctional political system.

Published at Realclearpolitics.com

WASIM VIEW- Ignatius’ article is the perfect proof if any was needed of how American words of financial support for Pakistan are not materialised into actions. I recall vividly that the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones were the brainchild of President Bush who announced it on arriving in Pakistan in 2006. Four years on, including one year of President walking-on-water Obama, it does not surprise me that the legislation has not been passed.

Four years on from the lofty promise of helping FATA and its people , Uncle Sam has done little except for its daily FATA drone attack adding only more murder and mayhem to its FATA death tally. For Pakistan, it is interesting to note how on one hand the Americans expect turbo-fast and prompt action from Pakistan daily in taking on the Taliban yet the power corridors from the President downwards in Washington enjoy the thrill of a slow pace when dealing with how to help Pakistan.

It is in this context that the Ignatius and Scheuer articles should be read together, both pointing towards a deliberate and deadly American betrayal of Pakistan in my opinion.

Source:Dawn

I feel a pain deep in the pit of my stomach today as I mourn those Pakistanis who perished in the Margalla Hills this morning. For the families who have lost their loved ones no solace or words of condolence can ever be enough for theirs is an agony that cannot be measured nor understood. As a Pakistani all I can do is share their grief and pray for those who have departed.

At a personal level, I am really feeling the pain today, I am both angry and sad, depressed and deflated, despondent and demoralised at the deadly and daily death tally that never tires of adding more Pakistanis to its list. Optimism is hard to come by from me today as I am at a loss as to where Pakistan is headed and feel helpless, indeed Adil Najam a friend and mentor has summed up the feelings of the Pakistani nation that like me has just about had enough, Adil writes movingly on ATP  about Pakistan’s predicament:

The pain gets into the very marrow of the bones of all of us. But it never becomes less painful. You never get used to it. Each time is like a ton of bricks hitting you. Then, something like this happens and it hurts even more. Maybe, because there is no one to lash out against. All you can do is to offer words of condolence and silent prayers to those who have lost their loved ones. You know the words will change nothing, but you hope they will offer some solace in solidarity to the grieved, and maybe some little venting to your own pain.

I can only echo what Adil bhai has said above and pray for the departed and for those left behind.