The wrath of God!
By Ishtiaq Ahmed
Daily Times | October 18, 2005
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=
05%5C10%5C18%5Cstory_18-10-2005_pg3_2 The news that a severe earthquake hit Pakistan and Azad Kashmir and parts of the Indian-administrated Kashmir on October 8 2005, while tremors were felt in much of northern India and Afghanistan induced a depression in me, but my evening turned out to be truly wretched when I received an email from an Islamist asserting that the earthquake was only a warning of Allah's displeasure at Pakistan having sided with the Americans in the attack upon the Taliban regime in 2001; seeking a peaceful solution to the Kashmir problem (a sell out to India according to the twisted mindset); and, later joining the war against terror. The totally callous and inhuman reasoning went on to make connections between the fact that the US attacked Afghanistan in Ramazan and now in Ramazan God had decided to punish Pakistan for having allied itself with the USA. The message ended with the warning that much greater punishment could follow from Allah for Pakistan. As always the message was embellished with out-of-context quotations of Quranic verses. That more than 50,000 people might have died in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir because Allah was angry with the pro-American policies of the government of Pakistan makes no sense to me, because even in our very imperfect world we proceed from the assumption that justice means that the innocent should not be punished. I am convinced that the vast majority of those who died or were injured were pious individuals observing the Ramazan fast with great solemnity and conviction. Among the dead were thousands of schoolchildren who were buried under the debris of falling masonry. How could and why should Allah choose to inflict so much suffering on people who have no say in the Pakistan's foreign policy is a valid objection even from a purely religious point of view. Now, the problem is that however obnoxious the reasoning, the person who considers the earthquake of October 8 a warning from God is not alone in making such bizarre connections. When the tsunami struck the coastal areas of South East and South Asia some demented Christian fundamentalists in the USA said that the white God was punishing heathens (Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and so on), forgetting that several thousand white holiday-makers had also perished in that terrible calamity. Some Muslim fundamentalists responded by saying that Allah had punished the white holiday-makers for their sexually-lax lifestyle in the holiday resorts. The fact that most lives (250,000) were lost in Aceh (Acehnese are generally regarded as the most pious Muslims in Indonesia) was not taken into account by the Islamists. The Dalai Lama, when asked to comment on the fate of the tsunami victims, came up with nothing better than the suggestion that they must have done something wrong in their previous karma! Then we have the tragedy that broke upon the poor in New Orleans which was also seen as an indication of the Christian God's displeasure. This time it was an anti-abortion activist in the USA, Steve Lefemine, who asserted, "In my belief, God judged New Orleans for the sin of shedding innocent blood through abortion. Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. Greater divine judgement is coming upon America unless we repent of the national sin of abortion." Fundamentalist Christian journalist Stan Goodenough saw Americans being forced out of their homes in New Orleans as God's vengeance for the removal of Jewish settlers from their homes on the occupied Gaza strip. He remarked, "Is this some sort of bizarre coincidence? Not for those who believe in the God of the Bible... what America is about to experience is the lifting of God's hand of protection; the implementation of His judgement on the nation most responsible for endangering the land and people of Israel." The aim of presenting variations of the 'signs of God' approach is to demonstrate that such reasoning can be put into service by any religious fanatic. All religious texts seem to lend themselves to such interpretation however hard we try to argue that God is all love and mercy. There is, however, no denying that when natural calamities take place fatalism helps overcome the loss and the concomitant sense of helplessness because an emotional shock cannot be overcome through cold logic, but exploiting the suffering of human beings for callous and heartless propaganda in favour of one's own political objectives or religious ideology can never be condoned. I believe that instead of drawing political capital out of the pain and suffering of innocent people we should direct our resources at improving our knowledge about how the physical world functions and behaves. I am told that an earthquake prone region extends from the Himalayas to Turkey. Perhaps greater cooperation between Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey on this common problem can help establish some sort of collective response to natural disasters. While some improvement has been made about hurricanes and typhoons, technology has yet to succeed in gaining reliable and accurate advance knowledge about natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis. But more research can considerably improve our preparedness against such disasters. We need also to argue for the construction of houses that are less vulnerable to earthquakes. Japan and the State of California in the USA are earthquake-prone regions and have been hit by very severe earthquakes in recent years. They have managed to reduce the damage considerably because of improvement in building materials and techniques. Poor nations and the poor among nations are always the victims of natural disasters. Of course, poor countries like Pakistan do not have the resources to provide earthquake resistant housing to their people, but even in this sector things can improve with better knowledge and research on cheap construction materials and technology. There can never be complete protection against the ravages of nature, but we can always reduce the intensity of natural calamities through better preparation. We, in the Diaspora, felt utterly helpless and shocked when we saw dead bodies being carried away and mothers beating their chests bemoaning the loss of their children. But was the earthquake of October 8, 2005 a warning from God? Punishing the innocent can never be right. Also God's anger always afflicting the poor makes no sense. This we, human beings, should be able to grasp easily. The author is an associate professor of political science at Stockholm University. He is the author of two books. His email address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! 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