Bleak Eid for Pakistani quake survivors

By Simon Cameron-Moore

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani earthquake
survivors had little to celebrate at the end of the holy month
of Ramadan on Friday, nearly four weeks after more than 73,000
people were killed in the country’s worst disaster.

Political leaders spent the Eid al-Fitr holiday with
survivors in Pakistan’s northern mountains where an Islamist
leader said NATO relief troops were actually coming to look for
al Qaeda militants, not to help.

People in predominantly Muslim Pakistan mark the end of the
fasting month by dressing up in new clothes and visiting family
and friends but there was little festivity at a tent camp for
homeless survivors in the ruined city of Muzaffarabad.

“This Eid I have no clothes and no shoes but what matters
most is, this Eid my father is dead,” said 10-year-old Sana,
camped out at a tent village on a sports ground near the
devastated university in the capital of Pakistani Kashmir.

“I’ve lost everything. I don’t know how many days I will
sit here because everything is gone,” said Sana, who was living
with her mother and grandfather.

Pakistani Kashmir and adjoining North West Frontier
Province bore the brunt of the 7.6 magnitude quake, which also
seriously injured more than 69,000.

It was the strongest to hit South Asia in 100 years and
left more than three million people in need of emergency
shelter with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching.

“I don’t know what God will decide,” said a baker in his
40s. He lost his shop and home in the quake and is now living
in the muddy tent settlement in Muzaffarabad, the city closest
to the quake’s epicentre.

“This Eid I will read prayers and stay with my family but
how can I celebrate?” the man asked.

President Pervez Musharraf, who was expected to visit
Muzaffarabad, called on people in a Thursday evening holiday
message to celebrate Eid with simplicity this year and make
generous donations to help quake survivors.

“KEEP WATCH”

A prominent leader of a broad alliance of religious
parties, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, led about 2,000 people in prayers
on open ground near Muzaffarabad’s university and said people
had to be wary of foreign teams involved in earthquake relief.

“There are a lot of foreign relief teams in the earthquake
zone. We need to keep a close watch on them and not allow them
to work without supervision,” said Qazi, who has a long white
beard and was dressed in a brown cloak and lambskin hat.

Referring to up to 1,000 NATO troops who are due to help
with earthquake relief, Qazi said: “They are actually coming
not to help us but to look for al Qaeda in our distress.”

“People talk about al Qaeda and accuse them of terrorism
against humanity but the same people are doing nothing to stop
injustice against Muslims.”

Former Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, now a
politician, visited Muzaffarabad and hailed what he described
as the country’s unprecedented response to the disaster.

“The show of solidarity and the spirit, I’ve never seen
this in Pakistan before. It makes me feel very proud of being a
Pakistani,” he said.

A separatist politician from Indian Kashmir, Yasin Malik,
said he hoped India and Pakistan, which have gone to war twice
over Kashmir, would show flexibility to ease people’s
suffering.

“I expect India and Pakistan will show more softness in
this human issue to allow people to help each other,” said
Malik, who has spent the past month visiting earthquake-hit
communities in both Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of
Kashmir.

The old rivals have agreed to open five points along their
border in Kashmir from Monday to help with quake relief.

Malik, a former psychology student, said he had been trying
to help people cope with their anguish.

“I came to realize that only relief cannot work here. These
people need emotional and psychological support.

“I’ve tried my level best to give them this support. I sit
with them in their tents so that they will overcome and start
their lives afresh.”