PressEthic

The aftermath of any natural disaster seems to hold a magnetic attraction for journalists to start commenting on the vulnerable infrastructure of the affected area. The levees were too weak in New Orleans, the tsunami gave no notice before spilling itself all over unprepared villagers -- and now the houses were too fragile in Kashmir to withstand a 7.6 magnitude quake.

Maruf Khwaja’ s article on opendemocray.com, takes a careful look at the badly mixed cement that led to the collapse of Muzaffarabad, as a deadly earthquake shook the city’s core.

He takes some shots at the Mullahs, and their explanation of natural disasters as God’s will, and then goes on to give a more educated and sophisticated analysis of the situation. He writes about the Mullah perspective

For while in the Asian tsunami it was mostly the “infidels” of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia who perished, the mountainous version of Allah’s anger has descended on many pious Muslims – and that, too, soon after the beginning of the Ramadan month of fasting.

This line of reasoning by (some) religious leaders, has made many liberals ( including myself ) want to pull their hair out, but it serves absolutely no purpose in this particular article. The Mullah’s and their take on such disasters can hardly be used as a premise to launch a tirade about corruption in the country. These two topics are mutually exclusive, and using one as a launching pad to attack the other in this case is really quite pointless.

It’s a wonder then, and a demonstration of the strength of their faith, that so many Muslims still retain their penchant for simple explanations of complex things. As one TV mullah said today: the will of God doesn’t need explaining. But what does perhaps need explaining is the part played by human neglect, ignorance and corruption in this calamity. As usual, God is being unjustly blamed for tragedies that are the consequence in large part of human failure.

While they have served as irritants in many legislative decisions the Mullah’s really don't have much to do with this destruction. NO- that honor can be solely reserved for the policy-makers. What’s more the liberal government currently ruling from Islamabad would not be caught dead endorsing Mullah opinions. The distinction needs to be made clear, and these two separate issues cannot be lumped together.

The flaws in the infrastructure that he points out are not an isolated phenomenon-rather they are part of a broader spectrum of corruption. It would really be more effective if such knowledge would be used before a natural disaster, in an effort to raise awareness. Furthermore, an analysis of what led to a tragedy of this magnitude should be focused on holding corruption and relevant authorities accountable. Making condescending statements about the perspective of Mullah’s is a separate article.