When the Information Minister Sheikh Rashid was asked about the damage and in particular the loss of life, he was completely vague. As is the habit of military government to hide facts - the damage caused by the earthquake was not confirmed. Lot of questions would be asked as to why the roads were so badly constructed? Why there was no access to the worst hit areas. Lot of lives may have been saved and lot of damage could have been avoided if more money had been spent on infrastructure. Strangely enough there is not even enough money to conduct a domestic relief effort - aid it is being sought from abroad because whatever the government has is squandered on absolutely useless things. Only later was the information about the extent of loss of life and the devastation revealed. It is a long tradition of the government to avoid reporting bad news. The general perception is if such things are reported it may reflect badly on the overall performance of the government. Now with the accept...
My reactions and impressions about Pakistan and some other issues which interest me in particular. Many of the things I have written never see the light of day here because of excessive restrictions and outlandish censorship.