Reshun flood victims flay ‘humiliation’ by PML-N

RESHUN, Sept 13: The flood-affected people of Reshun are living under the open sky with no relief coming from the government. When the devastating flood hit the village on August 1, about 50 families lost their houses, properties, cattle, gardens and agricultural fields. A local shepherd also lost his two children. Since then, the relief goods and other assistance coming from the government and NGOs have been very insufficient to say the least. The relief items provided to the flood victims by the local PML-N administration have even been termed a joke by the victims. Talking to ChitralToday (chitraltoday.net), Abu Lais Ramdas, one of the  PPP leaders in Reshun, said the relief package given to the affected people by the PML-N consisted of 10 kg substandard flour, half a kilogramme cooking oil, some spices, two kg sugar, one kg pulse and one poor quality bedding. He said they never used such items even for their horses. However, he acknowledged that the tents were of good quality. Mr. Lais alleged that the district forest officer was not allowing the flood-affected people to take permits for buying wood to reconstruct their houses as the winter was around the corner. He thanked the Booni local administration, especially the assistant commissioner, and other NGOs, including Focus Humanitarian Assistance, for their cooperation with the victims. He said a number of PML-N leaders visited the area but they extended a very insufficient and insulting assistance to the displaced people.

I have kept the relief items provided by the PML-N office-bearers in a corner of my house. Whenever the PML-N top leadership visits us I will burn these items in front of them: Nizamuddin, a flood victim in Reshun.

He also said the PML-N local administration even didn’t consider the flood-affected people as human beings. Another resident said such aid was not enough to disentangle us from this testing time. He further said it was not the central management who hided about more than 50 trucks filled with aids coming to Chitral. It was the local PML-N administration. He also said that perhaps the local PML-N leaders could not make a list of the actual victims after passage of two months. He further said where were the claims of Malik Aurangzeb Khan who recently told the media about his party’s strategy regarding the flood-affected people of Chitral which proved a hollow claim. One of the residents said taking pictures while giving aids to the local victims will not resolve the miseries of the victims. They are trying to promote their own organizations and it is also against human dignity. “Reshun has become a calamity-hit place and our lives are totally at risks because we still live along the stream. So the government should try to rehabilitate us in a real sense.” Shaukat Ali, another resident, said, “We are totally frightened after that massive flood and it was difficult to understand the high sound of the water flowing beside our houses whether it was a flood or routine flowing of the water which paralyzed our routine life.” He said a project for the homeless people should be launched. The displaced are living beside the Nala and they are highly affected. Another resident said that the season was getting colder day by day and our children are being affected by different diseases. Moreover, there is no doctor at the BHU in Reshun while the Aga Khan Diagnostic Centre has become overburdened. Inexperienced nurses cannot diagnose patients. Nobody knows what types of medicines are being given to the patients, he feared.]]>