.......Embedded in tragedies

Najum posing with South Sudanese children in July 2014

   Najum-ul-Saqib Iqbal was searching for a job high and low after earning bachelor’s degree from the University of Azad Jammu ad Kashmir (AJK) in 2005. Unlike most of his contemporaries, the 20-years old was desirous of working with foreigners rather than in public sector, which he believed divested the energetic and ambitious youths of dynamism and ebullience.
    However, in those times hardly any international organisation had significant presence in Muzaffarabad. And if there were any, they were working in partnership with the public sector, without hiring local staff.
   While his hunt was on, Muzaffarabad was struck by the ruinous earthquake in October the same year. A common impression in the initial days of tragedy was that life could hardly return to normality in the ravaged AJK capital. Apparently, the temblor put the kibosh on the hopes for employment he and his likes had been aspiring to grab. Instead, they were overwhelmed with worries about sustenance of their respective families.
    But as they say every cloud has a silver lining, the destructive earthquake too had brought opportunities in its fold for people like Najum-ul-Saqib.
    In less than three weeks of the earthquake, he clinched a job in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which had by then opened its office in Muzaffarabad to launch rescue and relief operations in the affected zone.
    Today he is serving in the same organisation as deputy head of Media and Public Relations, to the pride of his family and friends.
    “Working with such a prestigious institution was a dream. Unquestionably, the earthquake devoured our town... but at the same time it provided opportunity to youngsters like me to translate their passion into life changing experiences,” he says.
    “The disaster gave me opening to prove my worth on the one hand and build great relationship with the people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and races on the other,” he adds with a beaming face.
    Though exact data is not available, but it is believed that hundreds of educated youths got well-paid jobs in and around the places they lived, after the UN agencies and national and international humanitarian organisations came rushing to the quake-hit Kashmir to embark on rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations at a massive level.
   “In the aftermath of the earthquake, few could see the silver lining. But since opportunities are embedded in tragedies I had a hunch that this disaster will also open a window of opportunity for the local educated youths on the basis of their unexplored talent,” says Khizar Hayat Abbasi, a Muzaffarabad based media consultant.
    Mubashir Nabi of Act International, the second NGO he raised after 2005 to deliver in the fields of health, education, governance and youth empowerment, backs his views.
    “The young people had spark and potential but lacked exposure to the working and expertise of international humanitarian organizations.  The earthquake gave them opportunity and today hundreds of them are delivering and competing not only within the country but also in the global market,” he says.
   More than men, the women were able to see a new world. Prior to October 2005, the easily available or mostly preferred jobs for the members of the fairer sex were either in education or in health sector. Women in other public sector organisations could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
   However, after the earthquake those barriers were also broken and young girls took up challenging assignments in UN agencies and national and international non-governmental organisations, showing their true mettle.
   Quratulain Zubairi, now 32, is one of them. She lost her both parents in the earthquake in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Her mother belonged to Muzaffarabad and father to Balakot.
    Then holding a bachelor’s degree, she shifted to her maternal grandmother’s home in Muzaffarabad. But for almost next ten months she would daily commute between Muzaffarabad and Balakot to work with a national NGO as a social organiser.
    In the following years, she switched over to some three other NGOs in Muzaffarabad, apart from improving her qualifications. Last year, she joined an international NGO in Muzaffarabad as project officer, looking after both office and fieldwork.
   “Yes indeed, the earthquake opened up new horizons not only in economic and infrastructural development but also in the human resource development.... though we had to pay a heavy price for this it,” she says, referring to the around 73,000 deaths in the disaster.

  “But this is not the end of my career. I am looking forward to more feats.”

    Dr Bushra Shams, UN Women’s gender adviser for AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), praises UN agencies and other organizations for their contribution to capacity building and the training of youth in AJK in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake.

“They facilitated a paradigm shift in approaches, assumptions and working patterns vis-à-vis women and youth,” she says.

    Sociologists also admit that people from different regions, races and cultures influenced local population in many ways.

   “No doubt, women were socially and financially empowered after securing jobs in national and international NGOs… They (women) also gained control over financial resources as well as role in decision making and freedom of mobility,” says Nazneen Habib, head of the sociology department in the AJK University.

     However, she maintains, when the girls became earning hands for their respective families, their parents tended to overlook their job schedules, which ultimately gave birth to too many social problems.

     “At that time, focus was to earn money and therefore many taboos associated with working in NGOs were overlooked…Even when the girls were made to stay outside AJK in the name of official engagements, it met deliberate oversight,” she says
   Not too long after the earthquake, the affected areas were abuzz with gossiping about the alleged exploitation or harassment of women in the NGOs. Some incidents of exploitation did come to fore, but many went unreported or were intentionally swept under the carpet for fear of calumny.
   However, ten years after the calamity, situation has improved according to Ms Habib

 “Now there is resistance... People do consider pros and cons of jobs before allowing their females to join,” she claims.

    After the earthquake, local economy also got a boost as local construction firms and skilled and unskilled manpower from the area got contracts and employment respectively as reconstruction began.

    Before the earthquake, the telecom sector in AJK was monopolized by Special Communications Organisation (SCO); its cellular phone service was limited and erratic. Collapse of landline telecom system and erratic cell phone coverage delayed rescue work during the earthquake.
    Scores of human lives could have been saved if a reliable communication system had existed in 2005; this realization compelled Islamabad to allow private cellular companies to launch their services in AJK.

    Anjum Farid Khan, a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority official in Muzaffarabad, says that cellular networks not only provided a much needed facility particularly to the people living in isolated areas up in the mountains, but also job opportunities to the local youth.
     The facility also turned out to be blessing for media persons who had to rush towards the fixed line phones to dispatch their stories, prior to quake.
   “Whether any natural disaster or tensions along the Line of Control, journalists receive firsthand information from the affected people instantly which they pass on to their respective organizations after verification, thanks to mobile phones,” says media consultant Abbasi.
    However, these benefits apart, a vast majority still believes that the service disturbed the social fabric of their society.
  “No technology is negative or positive. It’s the usage that makes it so,” says Rahat Farooq, a practicing lawyer and social activist.

   “However, unfortunately, unchecked use of mobile phones has badly affected our values, leading to frequent incidents of elopement and other social evils. Situation is worse in the rural area,” she adds

  Former AJK Assembly member Gulzar Fatima has same views.
   “The mobile phone, allied internet and cheap call packages are leading our younger generation to destruction and we must rise to the situation to take remedial measures,” she asserts.
    Not only mobile service, the government also permitted, around same time, private FM radio stations to start transmissions from AJK.
  “The FM radios were a valuable addition, providing awareness, education, information and entertainment to survivors,” says Basharat Mughal, an FM radio presenter.

   In April 2005, India and Pakistan had launched a fortnightly bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad to facilitate divided Kashmiri families. The service, which was described as ‘mother of the confidence building measures’ between the two countries, came to a halt after the earthquake, only two days after its 14th trip.

     On October 18, the same year, the then military ruler Pervez Musharraf made a proposal to open the Line of Control (LoC) to allow flow of relief goods and reunion of quake affected divided families. 

    On October 29, the same year, both countries inked an agreement to open the LoC at five points. The first crossing point linking Tetrinote with Chakan da Bagh was opened on November 7. The Chakothi-Uri crossing point was opened after two days. Two of the remaining three points were also opened afterwards. .

A family crossing Kaman Bridge on foot to enter AJK

     The frequency of cross-LoC travel was also increased gradually and, according to conservative estimates, more than 30,000 people from both sides have availed themselves of the facility over the past ten years despite frequent complaints about bureaucratic hurdles.

    Trade between the two sides was launched in October 2008, and continues to this day. “This activity has engaged former militants, and thousands of other low paid workers for livelihood,” says Muzammil Aslam, one of the traders.

    As the badly damaged road infrastructure was also revived and revamped in accordance with the NHA specifications, it gave tremendous boost to tourism sector and subsequently to the local economy.

   For example, Neelum valley had always been a great tourist attraction, but its dilapidated road network would discourage nature lovers from visiting it.

    Following the construction of a quality road to Neelum’s headquarters, the area is pulling tourist crowds from across the country. In peak seasons, it’s difficult to find accommodation there, even though over a 100 guesthouses have emerged there in a short span of time.

   Similar is the scene at other tourist sites where road network has been improved under the reconstruction programme.

  Khawaja Owais Ahmed, a leading tour operator and hotelier, appreciates that road network has wonderfully improved in the aftermath of earthquake.
   “Let’s be thankful for what we have got… But they should not stop here. Economic activities are rooted in good quality roads. Let’s hope they always keep them in good condition.”   ... Tariq Naqash