THIS has never happened to Pakistan in the last hundred years or so. The furious floods have devastated nearly one fourth of the country. Over two million people have been forced to flee from their homes. Scores of human beings and cattle have perished. Large areas of Sindh, Baluchistan, FATA and the adjoining areas have been marooned in these destructive floods. And as rains pour in, more havoc is feared.

The United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon saw the massive swamp that used to be central Pakistan from the window of an airplane and remarked that he had never before seen anything quite so terrible. Flood waters that gushed from the Indus River has inundated villages, towns and whole districts. There is immediate loss of human life, livestock, crops and food stores. It has destroyed homes and irrigation systems. Worse could happen if disease and hunger take hold. Millions of the displaced are at risk of diarrhea, malaria and other killers. Even snake bites are proving fatal.

The floods have washed away food and cash crops in the country’s agricultural heartland of southern Punjab. Infra structure network has got a beating. It would take years to get back to normal given the level of efficacy that country.

Worst still the civil administration is missing from the relief operations. These are largely the army and the jihad outfits that have been taking care of the hapless people. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has been conspicuous by his absence. He has been touring foreign lands, taking care of his open or hidden assets. He also wanted to promote his son’s political career as the floods swamped ever larger swathes of his country. Other ministers have been keener on getting their views in the media. Rage is building among flood victims and the rest of Pakistani society. The economic hardship could disenchant people and provide recruits for terrorist outfits.

Unprecedented floods require an unprecedented response. But Pakistan has shown signs of a failed state. It hesitatingly accepted five million dollars offered by India that too when America asked it to do so. But the Indian government and the people should have been more generous and should have responded in a better way. It was time to build bridges of goodwill across to the people of Pakistan.

India, Pakistan’s traditional foe, could also turn disaster into opportunity. Some have described the current floods as the worst battering Pakistan has taken since the man-made disaster of partition from India in 1947. India itself has suffered recent floods but delivering aid could show that India genuinely wants its troubled neighbour to recover and to prosper. A little money now could go a long way in building peace.

The utmost need in the coming weeks will be to build homes and roads and farms have to be replanted. There are signs of progress. Some $3 billion has been offered by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, the UN has set up a fund and donations from governments are starting to flow. America, a provider of much military and other aid to Pakistan, is lending helicopters and providing other help, hoping to show ordinary Pakistanis that it is not the hostile bully many of them believe it to be. Will that work, one doubt.

Pakistan is as ill-equipped as anywhere to deal with one of the most far-reaching natural disasters the world has seen for decades. Mired in poverty, misruled by soldier and civilian alike, and prey to insurgency, Islamist-inspired terrorism and sectarian strife, Pakistan has now suffered flooding that has deluged one-third of the country’s land mass. Some gloomiest pundits think Pakistan simply cannot cope. They foresee mounting social unrest and further usurpation of the functions of government by either the army or Taliban militants. This should be cause of worry for the Americans and Pakistan’s neighbours.

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