Islamabad and Allies must win hearts and minds of flood victims with humane aid delivery

Even though the flood water is receding from Southern parts of Pakistan, the majority poor in Pakistan, in the North and elsewhere, are still suffering from the month long flood’s devastation. To redress this situation and to play the offensive strategically, the United States has pushed through a large aid package designed to re-acquaint the mostly poor people of Pakistani to the idea that the U.S. is out for something other than its immediate short-term interests. That narrative—the U.S. is Pakistan’s partner in its social and economic developmental goals– now seems to have been undercut by video-images that show inadequate, incompetent aid delivery and the unruly, violent fights that seem to spontaneously burst in flames in over-populated, shoddily built relief camps each time an aid delivery goes awry. These images register a violent state of nature, where animalistic dominance prevails over long-observed culturally sensitive tribal honor. The losers of these vicious fights ramble away, their dignity lost.