Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro (MNA Pakistan Peoples Party)

A. This question has been asked of us before. Democracy is young, needless to say. That’s obvious. If you see the money the Unites States is providing through Kerry-Lugar aid law, it is three times what [General (retd) Pervez] Musharraf got. The Reconstruction Opportunity Zones were never on the table when Musharraf was in power. If you see new market access, it was never even given, despite Pakistan being the most allied ally of the West, even when he [Musharraf] was in government. The amount of money that has poured in since the flood happened is also unprecedented. When Ban Ki Moon [the United Nations Secretary-General] came over, he said that in the 65 years of United Nations history, he had never confronted such a disaster as the flooding in Pakistan. If this is what CNN, Fox News, Express TV and Dawn News had highlighted on the first day of the floods, then the message would have gone through. The Kashmir [earthquake] death toll was a 100,000 which was unparalleled in the history of Pakistan. So that hit harder and it had a reaction. I am not at all disappointed in the world’s reaction; I am quite encouraged by it. What I am hurt about and feel concerned about is the reaction of our own people when we said, “we are going to tax the houses of the affluent, the people who are not affected by the floods.”

A. That is a matter of debate and you can research how much the country gets [in taxes]. It is very small compared to what our gross domestic product is. What is the running cost of the country of our size? What is the magnitude of the threat that we are facing? Like, for instance, the threat of terrorism [because of Pakistan’s] international geo-strategic location. This is a natural result of where you are located.

A. No, you did not stumble into it. You were created out of it. You supported the winning side in World War II. Out of that conflict, the Muslims of the subcontinent asked for a country and got a country despite a lot of opposition. The then Pakistan was like what you see in the flood areas. There was no infrastructure. Roads were made, areas were brought under irrigation, and look at the per acre yield and the amount of industries you have now. And in between you are struggling for your survival and had five wars.

When you talk about governance and about giving taxes and not receiving [anything in return], you must remember, we are living in a country of our own. I should be the one to complain the most. I have done prison time for 13 years without any conviction. 

A. There was no media, please give me that much. The media wasn’t even allowed to go there.

A. You cannot put it to that. This disaster is too humongous. You must understand when the world is saying that it has never seen such a disaster in 65 years. It is not a big disaster in terms of human toll but it is huge in terms of area covered which is approximately 100,000 square kilometers — the area affected is 2.3 million hectares. Twenty-one per cent of your population was affected, the houses affected are in millions, health and education facilities affected are in the thousands. Even the Haiti earthquake and hurricane Katrina were nothing compared to this. We are still not out of the symptoms and you are talking about the cure. The flood has not receded as yet. To pass judgment is easy. Can anybody else tell me an example from anywhere else in the world where they moved faster and did more? Look at the positives — the loss of life and the outbreak of disease is minimal, for now. Hunger deaths I don’t hear of. Mind you, there are areas where we still cannot reach, that are cut off from the rest of Pakistan and where we requested countries like China to help. Our information ministry is no match to today’s free media. There was a time when the ministry could be very effective but in today’s time where there are 64 channels, it is not possible. The media is a dragon that needs to be fed everyday. The best thing is to have a nice juicy democratic government which can’t even bite back.