ISLAMABAD, October 11: It was 9.30 am, just 40 minutes after the tragic earthquake hit Islamabad on 8th of October 2005, when this scribe reached the tragic scene of F-10/3 Margalla Towers where three blocks of the huge building had collapsed burying more than 100 families alive under tons of debris.
After the strong jolts, I was pushed towards Margalla Towers as an elderly friend living along with his son and wife was not responding on his cell. I stayed there for almost the whole day and saw scenes which raise umpteen number of serious questions about our authorities' attitude and their state of preparedness to deal with a catastrophe like this.
At times it appeared that the law enforcement agencies had no clue, no equipment and no desire to help the hundreds of people trapped under the tons of rubble. They just wanted to get pictured on TV and get away with anything valuable they could pick up from the debris.
When I arrived there was a group of young lads of the local vicinity who were removing the debris to rescue those who had survived, though their screams were fading gradually under the debris.
Laborers working in the same area joined them and relief work started getting some shape. Until the police arrived, a large number of dead bodies and injured had been pulled out of the debris by the selfless group of laborers and young boys living there.
Then the custodians of the law reached the scene and their first act was a baton charge on the voluntary relief workers. Many boys scuffled with police on this unreasonable behavior. The Inspector General of Police Islamabad also arrived and observing the presence of some TV cameras asked the police to join the rescuers instead of beating them up and obstructing in their rescue work, howsoever rudimentary and disorganized.
It was 11.30 am when armed soldiers of 111 Brigade reached the scene commanded by two colonels. Instead of bringing equipment to rescue people, they had machine guns in their hands. Remove the civilians was their first order.
Most of the Bloody Civilians who were doing hard work on their own to help humanity were immediately pushed away. When an armed soldier grabbed one boy's shirt from the back to push him away, the lad burst out at the soldier. Are you here to kill us with guns? Get lost and let us work.All Relief and Rescue Departments of the Capital of Pakistan soon appeared on the scene but all were unprepared, unequipped, incompetent, irresponsible and disorganized. Civil Defense, CDA, Fire Brigade, Crisis Management Cell and Police were making only a hue and cry, shouting out countless orders, instead of pulling the dying victims out of the rubble. Every department had arrived on the scene empty handed except the police which had guns and batons.
In sharp contrast the common folks started reaching the crash site with water, torches, spades, pickaxes and other manual equipment.Shortly after the brave Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, had an aerial tour in a helicopter he came to Ground Zero, accompanied with General Musharraf. He had probably directed his Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao earlier to visit the site. The Interior Minister wasted no time in telling the Press that every thing was in control as soon as he arrived to watch a pathetic effort by some volunteers.
He was making this claim when Islamabad's IG Police was asking the electronic media and TV channels to broadcast appeals to civilian construction companies to send their earth moving machinery since none of the government department had this machinery.
At around 5:30 pm the army carried out another assault on the bloody civilians, one more severe than the last one. A subedar who thought himself to be a seismic expert, made a highly scientific announcement predicting that another earthquake was about to hit again and the remaining part of the building will collapse, so all the civilians should get away from the site.
Once the announcement was done, his fauji jawans started pushing and beating the bloody civilians who had came to give a helping hand.On the other side of the building at the entrance another scene was being enacted. A young lady with her cloths covered in dust, a tired face and with hands and feet bruised, had received some very indecent remarks from a Brigadier accompanied by some other officers.
However, the lady responded to him in a much harder tone than the senior army officer had anticipated. She had four young guys helping her. Two of them ran after the Brigadier, who was saved by his soldiers. The lady was shouting: What the hell are you people doing here, you are just standing here doing nothing but bullying around, Im working my ass here since morning and we have pulled nine people out, alive till now. What have you people done, you A.. .ole! Tell me! You have pushed away two of my most hard working boys. Go and disappear, you stupid!
The Brigadier took off his cap and showed a half inch bruise on his bald head and loudly proclaimed: Look here Im myself injured. The brigadier then was escorted by his men to be saved from the harsh response.
Such scenes were becoming common. One lady was arguing with a Major while a guy in civilian cloths was trying to mediate but clearly siding with the army officers as he most probably was an ISI or MI official.
Getting the response, the army men were getting angry and one volunteer suddenly was caught in the crossfire when he was beaten up for no apparent reason. He was told to get away and the expletives used were heavy.
There were a lot of people, even coming from Rawalpindi with food for volunteers but they were stopped at road blocks set up by the Army. The stuff they brought was seized. I saw a man with his car full of mineral water boxes. The boxes were taken away but he was not allowed to get close to the scene.
After sunset some heavy machinery used for digging tunnels and excavation arrived, all brought and driven by civilians. The Army brought a few typical military cranes that are used to drag disabled army vehicles. These cranes did not seem to have any utility at the site.
Once the Army had taken over the Margalla operation it became a fight for who would handle the bounty as the dwellers of the fallen buildings were rich people and their stuff, including a lot of cash, buried in the debris, was of the expensive, imported kind. All that would be retrieved intact would make a lucrative booty.
After the strong jolts, I was pushed towards Margalla Towers as an elderly friend living along with his son and wife was not responding on his cell. I stayed there for almost the whole day and saw scenes which raise umpteen number of serious questions about our authorities' attitude and their state of preparedness to deal with a catastrophe like this.
At times it appeared that the law enforcement agencies had no clue, no equipment and no desire to help the hundreds of people trapped under the tons of rubble. They just wanted to get pictured on TV and get away with anything valuable they could pick up from the debris.
When I arrived there was a group of young lads of the local vicinity who were removing the debris to rescue those who had survived, though their screams were fading gradually under the debris.
Laborers working in the same area joined them and relief work started getting some shape. Until the police arrived, a large number of dead bodies and injured had been pulled out of the debris by the selfless group of laborers and young boys living there.
Then the custodians of the law reached the scene and their first act was a baton charge on the voluntary relief workers. Many boys scuffled with police on this unreasonable behavior. The Inspector General of Police Islamabad also arrived and observing the presence of some TV cameras asked the police to join the rescuers instead of beating them up and obstructing in their rescue work, howsoever rudimentary and disorganized.
It was 11.30 am when armed soldiers of 111 Brigade reached the scene commanded by two colonels. Instead of bringing equipment to rescue people, they had machine guns in their hands. Remove the civilians was their first order.
Most of the Bloody Civilians who were doing hard work on their own to help humanity were immediately pushed away. When an armed soldier grabbed one boy's shirt from the back to push him away, the lad burst out at the soldier. Are you here to kill us with guns? Get lost and let us work.All Relief and Rescue Departments of the Capital of Pakistan soon appeared on the scene but all were unprepared, unequipped, incompetent, irresponsible and disorganized. Civil Defense, CDA, Fire Brigade, Crisis Management Cell and Police were making only a hue and cry, shouting out countless orders, instead of pulling the dying victims out of the rubble. Every department had arrived on the scene empty handed except the police which had guns and batons.
In sharp contrast the common folks started reaching the crash site with water, torches, spades, pickaxes and other manual equipment.Shortly after the brave Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz, had an aerial tour in a helicopter he came to Ground Zero, accompanied with General Musharraf. He had probably directed his Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao earlier to visit the site. The Interior Minister wasted no time in telling the Press that every thing was in control as soon as he arrived to watch a pathetic effort by some volunteers.
He was making this claim when Islamabad's IG Police was asking the electronic media and TV channels to broadcast appeals to civilian construction companies to send their earth moving machinery since none of the government department had this machinery.
At around 5:30 pm the army carried out another assault on the bloody civilians, one more severe than the last one. A subedar who thought himself to be a seismic expert, made a highly scientific announcement predicting that another earthquake was about to hit again and the remaining part of the building will collapse, so all the civilians should get away from the site.
Once the announcement was done, his fauji jawans started pushing and beating the bloody civilians who had came to give a helping hand.On the other side of the building at the entrance another scene was being enacted. A young lady with her cloths covered in dust, a tired face and with hands and feet bruised, had received some very indecent remarks from a Brigadier accompanied by some other officers.
However, the lady responded to him in a much harder tone than the senior army officer had anticipated. She had four young guys helping her. Two of them ran after the Brigadier, who was saved by his soldiers. The lady was shouting: What the hell are you people doing here, you are just standing here doing nothing but bullying around, Im working my ass here since morning and we have pulled nine people out, alive till now. What have you people done, you A.. .ole! Tell me! You have pushed away two of my most hard working boys. Go and disappear, you stupid!
The Brigadier took off his cap and showed a half inch bruise on his bald head and loudly proclaimed: Look here Im myself injured. The brigadier then was escorted by his men to be saved from the harsh response.
Such scenes were becoming common. One lady was arguing with a Major while a guy in civilian cloths was trying to mediate but clearly siding with the army officers as he most probably was an ISI or MI official.
Getting the response, the army men were getting angry and one volunteer suddenly was caught in the crossfire when he was beaten up for no apparent reason. He was told to get away and the expletives used were heavy.
There were a lot of people, even coming from Rawalpindi with food for volunteers but they were stopped at road blocks set up by the Army. The stuff they brought was seized. I saw a man with his car full of mineral water boxes. The boxes were taken away but he was not allowed to get close to the scene.
After sunset some heavy machinery used for digging tunnels and excavation arrived, all brought and driven by civilians. The Army brought a few typical military cranes that are used to drag disabled army vehicles. These cranes did not seem to have any utility at the site.
Once the Army had taken over the Margalla operation it became a fight for who would handle the bounty as the dwellers of the fallen buildings were rich people and their stuff, including a lot of cash, buried in the debris, was of the expensive, imported kind. All that would be retrieved intact would make a lucrative booty.
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