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Bleak Eid for Pakistani quake survivors

Posted on: Friday, 4 November 2005, 01:37 CST

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."

Source: REUTERS

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