A Devastating Earthquake in Pakistan

Series: How the Caliphate will work?www.Caliphate.co.uk

IntroductionA devastating earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in the morning on Saturday 8th October 2005. Causality figures are so far in excess of 20,000 and will inevitably rise as more bodies are recovered.

Disasters like earthquakes are natural occurrences on the earth. We have no control over them. They are sent by the Creator - Allah (swt) and only He knows the good and bad in them. More earthquakes are something the world needs to get used to. As the Day of Judgement becomes closer, the frequency of earthquakes will increase.

How would a Caliphate in Pakistan deal with the Earthquake?

1. Earthquakes are a test from Allah (swt)

2. Counselling the victim’s families

3. Appoint a Delegated Assistant

4. Create a Natural Disasters Department

5. Caliph looks after his citizens

1. Earthquakes are a test from Allah (swt)

Earthquakes are a test from Allah (swt) and a reminder of His All-Powerfulness. This event should draw the Muslim population closer to Allah (swt). It should also trigger thinking in the dhimmi (non-Muslim citizen) about whether he is following the correct message or not.

When the earth is shaken with its appointed tremor. And the earth throws out its burdens.

And man says, “What has happened to it?”On that day earth will narrate its news,

Because your Lord sent a command to it. On that day men will return towards their Lord, in different groups, in

order to be shown their deeds. So whoever does a good deed equal to the weight of an atom will see it.

And whoever does an evil deed equal to the weight of the atom will see it.

Holy Qur’an: Surah al-Zilzal (The Earthquake)

2. Counselling the victims’ families

The victims families, especially those who lost children in the schools that collapsed will need counselling and help from their close families and friends. For the Muslims who died in the earthquake they are considered as getting the same reward as the martyr. Knowing that the Muslim victims will be in Paradise (jennah) inshAllah, will help them through their grief.

Abu Hurairah (ra) reported: The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “The martyrs are of five kinds: One who dies of plague; one who dies of disease of his belly; the drowned;

one who dies under the debris (earthquake) and one who dies while fighting in the way of Allah.”[Narrated in hadith books, Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

3. Appoint a Delegated Assistant

The biggest problem in responding to a natural disaster is the mountain of red tape and bureaucracy. The relief effort needs to be well managed so that there is a coordinated effort between the different government agencies and the Armed Forces. The US response to Hurricane Katrina and the slowness in getting the promised relief aid to the Tsunami hit countries is evidence of this.

Vice Admiral of Coast Guard and official in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Thad Allen (R) and President Bush after touring the French Quarter of New Orleans, September 12, 2005. On the same day Thad Allen resigned in the midst of relenting criticism over Washington's handling of the Hurricane Katrina Disaster.

Head of State(Caliph)Khaleefah

Armed ForcesJaish

State TreasuryBait ul-Mal

GovernorsWulah

DelegatedAssistant

Mu’awin ut-Tafweed

Department of Foreign Affairs

Revenues Division(Taxation)

Expenditure Division(Natural Disasters)

Government Departments

Da’irah

Natural Disasters Department

The Delegated Assistant

Unlike the ineffective and bureaucratic executive in the democratic systems, the Caliphate assigns full executive powers to the head of State – The Caliph. The Caliph can delegate these powers to a specific government post called the Mu’awin at-Tafweed (Delegated Assistant). This Assistant has the same powers as the Caliph in the context of an Assistant, and can perform the tasks listed above in responding to the natural disaster.

1. Control the armed forces2. Use funds from the state treasury3. Order governors of provinces to send help4. Impose emergency taxation5. Deal with international governments6. Coordinate all government agencies

involved in the effort.

The Caliph appoints a Mu’awin and delegates his full executive powers to him

4. Create a Natural Disasters Department

A Natural Disasters Department (Da’irah) headed by a Director-General will be created. This department will have responsibility for making detailed disaster response plans, creating building regulation codes for earthquake proof buildings and analyzing data from all the seismic monitoring stations throughout the Caliphate.

5. Caliph looks after his citizens

The Caliph is responsible for looking after the affairs of his citizens, and will be heavily questioned about this responsibility on the Day of Judgement. He would be severely punished in Hell (jahanam) for not fulfilling this responsibility. Therefore knowing that earthquakes will occur and are increasing, he should put policies in place to minimise the impact of earthquakes when they occur.

Contrast this to the current leader of Pakistan – Pervez Musharraf, who wastes the people’s money on policies designed to help Western interests only, like fighting wars against his own people in the tribal areas or implementing harsh IMF restructuring policies. In the North West Frontier province hit by the earthquake many that are not killed by the earthquake will be killed by Musharraf’s army searching for al-Qaida or through poverty due to his economic polices.

Musharraf’s Planning for Earthquake

Why in the capital Islamabad did the MargallaTowers (two Tower Blocks) - collapse even though others right next to them remained upright?

In the town of Balakot, North West Frontier, the aerial photograph shows most of the towns houses destroyed, but the government buildings and the rich homes remaining intact.

In the Pakistan earthquake the poor people suffered due to living in poorly built housing.

Musharraf’s Response to Earthquake

For initial hours, eyewitnesses confirmed, the police, the civil administration and personnel of other law enforcement agencies were so feeble-minded that they simply had no strategy how to approach the problem so that those buried under the debris could be rescued successfully.

In a situation of complete chaos and confusion, what was witnessed for initial hours of the Margalla Towers collapse was the relentless effort of unskilled labourers, volunteers and policemen to get the buried out with the help of sledge hammers.

To support them, a number of tractors and dumpers, hired from private sector, were engaged but cranes and lifters arrived quite late whereas there were no cutters till late in the day. The tractors and dumpers were doing their usual exercise of clearing debris without having any skill of the specialised job that was required in this case. The Engineering Corps of the Pakistan Army was the only having expertise, although not trained for such tasks.

While these unskilled and semi-skilled rescue operators were doing their best to save the lives of those buried under tons of rubble and also succeeded in pulling out many, the PM office was in panic to contact every official agency to evolve a strategy that could effectively combat this disaster both in Islamabad and elsewhere.

According to a PM office source, the Cabinet Division suggested that the Islamabad disaster was unique and needs handling by experts to save those living under the rubble. The Cabinet Division, the source said, suggested the PM office to call foreign experts to do the job.

Extract from article in Daily Jang by Ansar Abbasi on 9-10-05