KARACHI Where floods have wreaked havoc across various districts of the country, they have also presented Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with numerous daunting issues. In the recent past, the resilient Pashtuns of the province have successfully battled natural calamities such as the October 2005 earthquake, as well as inetnsive military operations in Swat which led to a massive exodus from the valley leaving thousands without a home or a roof over their heads. The phenomenon of internally displaced persons is not new to the province, but this time it has brought a number of new governance challenges along with it.
According to preliminary estimates, the losses suffered just in agriculture amounts to Rs 35 billion, with crops of rice, sugarcane and maize being affected the most. Charsadda, Nowshehra, D.I. Khan and Malakand have been hit the hardest. Floods have swept away all bridges, roads, telecommunication facilities, agricultural produce and irrigation system in the northern districts of Malakand area. In the days of militancy, Swat saw almost 400 schools bombed by the hands of extremists. This time the floods have left 69 schools damaged in the area.
Asghar Ali, Director Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), has been nominated as the focal person in the province who is coordinating with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Damage Need Assessment (DNA). “The numbers are coming from the ground and we are sharing the reports with WB and ADB. The full impact of the floods can only be understood once the DNA is completed,” says Ali.
The number of casualties in the province is by far greater than any other province as most of the people were caught unaware in their sleep when flash floods inundated villages and towns in a matter of few hours. In various news reports, thousands of people in Swat, Charsadda and Nowshera had been marooned in flooded and inundated villages, who sought refuge on their rooftops. It was a classic text book style failure of the national disaster management system, a coordinating body, which failed to pass on the flood warning at local level. One of the reasons cited by the officials, on conditions of anonymity, at the PDMA for this failure is that they do not have any local presence on the field. Even in the relief and rescue operations, they were coordinating with other bodies and organisations instead of the locals on ground. A special committee on disaster management of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly recently criticised national and provincial disaster management authorities for their poor response. The relief work on the ground has either been spearheaded by army or by the district machinery. Asif Farrukh, Director Relief PDMA, says, “PDMA has no staff on the ground in districts. It has to rely on the local District Coordination Officer (DCO) for all the relief efforts and for getting damage estimates.” However, even with low funds and staff, the PDMA could have built local networks with either teachers or revenue officials which they failed to do so. The only viable existing local networks in the province are of rural support programs, which may be utilised in the recovery and reconstruction process. The community groups formed from these rural program networks have been an effective tool of social mobilisation in the province.
The absence of local government system has also added to the woes and has been a major hurdle in carrying out relief operations on the ground. With a local government system the Nazims could mobilise councillors in Union Councils. Now that the Union Councils have been virtually abandoned, it is proving very difficult for a DCO to effectively spearhead the relief and recovery phase in his area. The role of local government in recovery and reconstruction period can not be underscored.
According to various sources, the new local government bill of the province spells out a similar structure of local governance to what was adopted in 1979, though the financial decentralisation of 2001 has been retained. Thus in essence, the province is more likely to revert to a bureaucratic led provincially managed local government.
Dr. Ata ur Rehman, financial controller Peshawar, stated that MPA's role in the reconstruction will lead to politicisation of the whole process. He suggested that local government elections should be held as early as possible to speed up the recovery and reconstruction process. It still remains to be seen when the local government elections can be held in the province.
Aside from damage to crops and agriculture, the damage to governance institutions has been immense. Although court buildings in the province have suffered damage, they are still operational. Local government infrastructure and post offices have been hit the hardest. The police force in the province, which had already been stretched due to volatile security, have lost several vehicles in the floods while a number of police stations in Charsadda, Swat, Nowshehra and D.I. Khan have been affected.
In various areas, land records have also suffered damages. In the event of loss of land records many land disputes can arise, which if not addressed through a proper redressing mechanism may lead to social unrest as was witnessed in Swat earlier. According to Mubashir Hussain Shah, Secretary Board of Revenue, Provincial Planning and Development Department, “the damage to records have been greater in Nowshehra and DI Khan as compared to any other district, but still they can be reconstructed from the backup copies. One copy is at Tehsil record rooms while the backup is placed at district patwarkhanas.” He is hopeful that any catastrophic situation can be averted.
According to Subhanullah, EDO Revenue of Nowshehra, around 50-60 per cent of land records have been damaged in the district. “We have shared the numbers with the provincial government. Although the damage is extensive yet we do have backup copies with us. We have informed the provincial government about our needs. We have asked for around 15 patwaris so that the work of restoration and restructuring of these records can begin.” It is important that in the process of appointing new land revenue officers in the local areas, political expediencies should be avoided. Any politicisation of the process can lead to serious ramifications. Similarly, in a case where land disputes arise either due to the loss of land records or loss in demarcation of lands, a mechanism must be devised to address such feuds, otherwise they might end up clogging at the courts.
The recent incidents of terrorist attacks in the province have also raised the stakes to an alarming level. The impunity with which the terrorists have struck recently signals that post-floods governance issues can very easily be exploited by them. It will be a mammoth task for the ANP government in Peshawar to overcome all these governance challenges and start reconstruction while ensuring the security of the people. Reconstruction should also be considered as an opportunity to not only rebuild but also to organise the province in such a way that can help us in future to manage such disasters and to reduce the risks associated with it.
Husham Ahmed is a public policy consultant, youth activist, and freelance writer. He blogs at hushamahmed.wordpress.com and tweets at twitter.com/hushamahmed
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