Transcription

In the Name of ALLAH, most gracious, most merciful!

We are here with Hafiz Abdur-Rauf Sahab, who is the chairman of FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION (Welfare of Humanity Foundation). The Foundation has shown excellent performance in providing relief to the flood-victims. We are going to ask Hafiz-Sahab a few questions regarding their work & the current situation Q: What is the Vision of FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION? What is your motto? A: In the name of ALLAH, most gracious, most merciful. FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION is entirely a Welfare organization whose purpose is to help humanity, and formulate such public prosperous and betterment programs from which they can receive basic necessities of life in a better way. Our mission is especially to help those who are suffering from shortage of economic resources and they lack the resources to live the life properly. For daily problems such as regarding food, drinking water, hygiene & health, accommodation & education, etc., we have continuous projects working to encounter them and similarly when there comes a natural disaster in this World, we start working on rescue & relief operations. And we aim, that those people who are deprived & less-privileged get those rights which a normal person gets. Q: During the earthquakes of 2005, as well as the flood of 2010, it was observed, to which media reports support & similar is the opinion of the effected people, that FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION was the first one to arrive at their rescue & relief in a very organized manner. What is your strategy that makes you so efficient that you reach to the effected people even before the government organizations? A: As I have said before, we have continuous projects. Whenever a natural or terrible disaster comes, our projects that include Dispensaries, Blood banks, Ambulances, Water Filtration Plants, Scholarship programs, awareness programs, social programs, community boards, women forums & student wings, farmer’s councils, almost all-over the country, are already active and our volunteers and members are already there, they just divert and start the rescue and relief operations. So we can say that we have such a powerful Structure, AlhamduLILLAH, that whenever a catastrophe invades the land, our workers, members & volunteers start the rescue & relief operations and start providing them food & shelter! Though our system is centralized, yet when it comes to immediate decisions, decentralized work starts to encounter the devastation of the catastrophe. Like in the Muzaffarabad Tremors, our School, Hospital & Medical Centers were already functioning and their workers handled the rescue & relief operations themselves. The operations were held from the very equipment of our hospital there. So we don’t need to mobilize people from other cities or our direct command is not required. In Mardan, Peshawar, Muzaffargarh, Charsadda, Rajin-Pur, and almost all other cities we have our volunteers & ambulances working there and they start their relief operations immediately. The central team after suggestions, making-decisions and formulating strategy reaches there, and by then a lot of work has already been done. So the perception that we are the first ones to reach there is not correct, in-fact, we are already there! Q: I’ll extend the last question in this way, how did you start the relief operations in the Flood effected districts. How much area have you covered? As you have said that your workers are already there, so do you have resources stored as well? There is a general perception that you get foreign-aid, is it true?

A: We were stationed in Gilgit, Skardu and surrounding areas in May and June & we were Medical-camping & there were some other issues regarding the lake over there that had to be resolved. So we were already working in those areas on a large scale and we had an idea that situation might worsen over there and we had stored a lot of resources over there already. After the flood waters hit the area, the resources were limited as the way to reach was very difficult and petrol was available for Rs. 500 there and Mobile charging was for Rs. 100, a liter of Milk for up to Rs. 250. On 28th of July, at night, suddenly brothers from Charsadda called and informed that water has flooded our area while we were sleeping and we have been awakened from the screams of women when their children were floating away in water. They told us that they tried to look for ways to exit that area but all the bridges & Pulls were broken down. So we told them to find ways to swim above water such as using empty water cans or if tire-tubes are available and tie them below the Charpais (bed) and start exiting the location. That was our way to make rescue boats in the first phase. More than 1500 people were rescued on these Charpai-boats. The first meal was cooked & served in Charsadda by borrowing rice from surroundings, in a relief camp that was established there immediately. The supply of rice in a uniform way was assured within a while by support of contributors but until then our volunteers and workers there, managed rice or flour & pulses on loan. The food was cooked and loaded in ambulances as trucks were not available for our support. Now was the time when it had been raining for more than 70 hours non-stop and it was looking like the situation was pretty grim. We were out of contact from our brothers in Deer and Pemargarah, and the region of Mingora. There was rain in Kashmir, All of the Northern areas & all of the Sawat region and its mountainous surroundings. Then we got a call from a brother who told us that it was a very bleak situation and thousands of people were stuck at the banks of the river there and we are watching houses falling in front of our eyes and large hotels are falling down too. And the water of the lake is moving above the road and the water level is above 33ft high. Everything is facing destruction, cars, buses, trees are floating by like the rest of dirt. Similarly when our team from Lahore reached Nowshera, there was 18ft water there and trucks were immersed into water and cars were floating by like they were some stems of a tree. Even the strong buildings on whose top people were taking refuge were shaking from the pressure of water as they seemed that they were about to fall down. Fathers’ drowning in a try saving their Sons, mothers drowning saving their babies and brothers drowning saving their sisters, was a scenario almost all people had witnessed there. Similarly when Islamabad people mobilized, the Pull of River ATTAK was breaking down. So did the Pull to Charsadda. And when some people reached Motorway Pull, it had broken down too. So first in that scorching heat, the effected and stuck people on both sides of that Pull were relieved with drinking water and then breaking down the Net on both sides of the Road, our volunteers and workers made people crossover from both sides one by one and cars from each side returned with passengers from the other side. At this point of time, there was a slight prediction to which area was about to be flooded. In Mianwaali, we arranged tractors and started shifting people and their luggage and when flood hit the area; our boats had arrived too, so the rescue mission did not stop. Houses were being

destroyed and over 5000 homes were destroyed in that region. So as we were moving forward, Food & Medical relief camps were being established in the left-behind areas. After Mianwaali, the water entered Layyah, then Sultan Colony, Qasba-Gujrat, Baseerah & other areas. In Baseerah region, people were starving on hill-tops and others were surviving on unripened dates that they had grabbed from the trees. Our boats rescued them and took them to our camp near-by and food & medical relief was provided! Then the waters entered Rajanpur, KotMitthan, few districts of Raheem-Yar-Khan, Jaffarabad, Sujawal, etc. All areas are been relieved with food and tens of thousands of people at the moment are being fed on our camps and Shelter, Medicines & Ration is being arranged for them. Similarly when THATTA received warning, Sujawal went under water and the streets of Sukkhur were flooded with water, brothers from Karachi & Hyderabad arrived and brought aid with them, while Hyderabad itself was an effected area. Tando-Adam, Kotri & other nearby-areas had thousands of refugees in our camps and hundreds of Degs were being cooked daily. The rescue missions were not stopping alongside as well! In Baluchistan, only a few people could arrive. Jaffarabad & Dera-ALLAHyaar are regions where relief was very in-efficient as only a few NGOs were able to reach there. Even today there is up to 5ft moving water and people travel through it as they cannot afford the boat rent. Now our volunteers and workers have arrived and boats are being provided for free of cost travel and food & drinking water is being provided. Tents are being arranged to save from the unusual Weather. These are a few areas I have mentioned, we are operating in all areas that are affected by the flood and there is any population in that area! Q: You seem to have lacked resources in the past, yet now there is a stream of donations to your Foundation. Do you receive Foreign-aid as well? A: Alhamdu-LILLAH, by the Grace of Almighty ALLAH, there hasn’t been lack of resources as ALLAH helps us & people trust us! The main reason for being trustworthy is that we prove ourselves from our work to be most trustworthy. Whoever of the Donators or Traders donate us with funds/aid watch it from their own eyes, their funds being transferred to the rightful needy ones. Media and the People are its witness as well! Even the flood-effected people become witness to our work, hence our work convinces the donators to help us with their funds/aid. Whatever we receive, we consider it as an AMANAT and spend it in the best way possible and ALLAH SubhanahuWata’Ala helps us in all ways. Hence we have built such a trust among the donators that we request a thing and it gets delivered to us right away. Regarding foreign donators, almost all over the world, whoever has a soft corner for the flood-effected people, donate to us and even several NGOs within Pakistan have joined and work with us! Even small level trusts that are founded by the people living in a same block or by schools & colleges are working with us. People know that well-organized and well-secured relief works are held at the FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION. So we have foreign as well as local donors injecting their charities, fund collections & Zakat into our Foundation. Q: There is a general impression regarding Islamic Relief Organizations that you have Political, Personal or other Interests from these effected-people and you have a different agenda rather than helping out the needy in bad times. What do you say about it? A: Let us focus on the fact that there is visionary clash between the Muslim Nation & other Nations of the world which we cannot hide. It is not us but them who say that there is a “Clash of

Civilizations”. Now there goes on Blame game & series of Propaganda, however we assure you that our work will be written in the history in Golden Words. We worked for relief in the Muzaffarabad Earthquake & Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly N.W.F.P.) Earthquakes, what did we get from there? We did not run for Elections, we did not win any seats in the Parliament, we did not start a School or Madrassah to propagate our beliefs or vision in those areas, we did not post our flags on streets, there was no Wall-Chalking to be found, we did not arrange huge rallies in the name of FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION. In fact, we are doing this all for the sole purpose of RAZA of ALLAH! We perform all the activities as an obligation to our Religion & Nation. We did not have any hidden-agenda; neither will we have an open-agenda. We only want for the Humanity to be helped and that they get the life they have lost, back! If people love us and donate to us due to our honesty and simplicity, we can’t stop them! And there is a tension in the world that why do people love us, they love us for ALLAH! As ALLAH wants His believers to love other believers. Q: It has been two months since the waters flooded our home-land! What do you think are the sectors where rehabilitation requires attention? What are you doing regarding those sectors? A: ALLAH has put us all in such a test that neither a phase can be left out, nor can we stop working on a phase we are already working on! There are four main phases which we have to work on after a natural disaster; rescue, relief, reconstruction & rehabilitation. In our situation, we have to work on all phases at a time. Even the rescue operations have not ended yet. People are still striving for something to wear in feet, a mat to sleep on, a utensil to cook in and ration to cook in those utensils! It is a very long process and a program on a large scale. The situation is severe as the ripe crop of the farmers has been destroyed & 80% of the effected people are farmers. These men, women and children are slaves to the Feudal System Waderas & Jageer-dars. Those farmers are destroyed while their Masters are safe in their large and concrete homes in large cities like Karachi & Islamabad! They haven’t lost much from the destruction of this one season’s crop however the farmer’s source of food has been ruined! So our teams are occupied in all phases, our boats are rescuing people who have clung on to trees or taking refuge on top of some concrete buildings or even some hill-tops. On the other hand cooked food is being served to thousands of people each day, twice. Moreover, reconstruction has started in many areas as well! First we have planned to construct homes for widowers, then for the poorest of all, then the homes for Imam’s of Masajid & School Teachers. Some families do consist of men, but either they are sick or handicapped, we have planned to construct homes for them as well. A case came in front of me that a widower had five daughters and one of them had 4 children as well & now the daughter had become a widower too! The old lady had no food or ration, yet she only requested to give her four walls so that she could save the Dignity of the left-over members of the family. In the wake of such cases in front of us, we have started surveying all areas to estimate losses and in some areas we are even reconstructing complete villages. For those whom we are unable to reconstruct homes, we handover cash and ration for up to 5 months, clothes for each family member, utensils and charpais. Q: We have observed that throughout the country, several groups have started to work; small NGOs and Trusts are working on their own. So don’t you think that a strategy should be formed on a national level for all to join hands and work together, even with the government so that the costs of operation are cut down and we become self-sufficient in funds?

A: The basic problem is this that the public’s problems are different than those being discussed in the offices of large NGOs. People with resources & funds are unaware of the ground realities! Some are suggesting constructing homes with fiber; some are suggesting we would construct homes with CGI sheet; dear brother these people live in homes made of Sand! They are unaware of the culture & problems of these modern homes! Most of the Huge NGOs, decision-makers and policy makers have not even visited the affected areas while they have meetings day by day in large hotels and conference rooms. We request everybody to come and live in those tents & huts these people are living, eat the food that they are eating and drink the impure, infected & smelly water THEY are drinking, then one can understand the requirements of these people and solve the problems of this effected public. The problem would not be the conflict in-between organizations, it is overlapping & non-coordination. We will be doing one job, so will be any other organization, so will the government, hence lacking coordination will waste loads of money! And several places where money has to be spent will be ignored. We have requested many organizations and even the government to work together. In the earth-quakes of Muzaffarabad and Ziarat, we formed Coordination boards where at night, all NGOs and DCOs, etc were to sit together and discuss the focus of their works. One organization would focus on supply of clean water, other would focus on reconstruction of homes, one would focus on medical relief, another would focus on sanitation works, one would perform the surveys, another would focus on food and ration and so on, so that not all organizations are focusing on the same issue and work and load is distributed. For that purpose, every organization will have to generate trust in other organization and people who can prove transparency should come forward to gain trust. Q: Last and most important question is that being a nation and Muslims in general, don’t you think that we need to rescue and relief our Ideological and Visionary boundaries as well? What do you think we should learn from this test and what paths do you suggest that we should follow from now on? A: It is true that this is the most important question! Because until we do not mend our vision and turn towards ALLAH for help and for showing us the straight path, this test, difficulty or mess or whatever you call it will not be lifted away from us entirely. And we have to remember that this is a test over the nation collectively, if a part of a nation is in pain, the other parts of the nation should feel the pain too. Only together as a nation can we produce the means to face the current severe situation and bring it to an end. If our thinking says that the Flood effected Sukkhur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab are none of my concerns because I am from Karachi or Lahore or Islamabad and I don’t need to worry, then we need to re-think & change our visions entirely and turn back towards ALLAH and ask for His forgiveness and repent from our former sins that we have committed. We should take example from the Ansaar-e-Madeenah who gave up their Gardens, Homes and Businesses over to the Muhajireen-e-Makkah who were empty-handed. If we follow the same path of our religious ancestors, and stay together and sort out our problems together, like we did in the past in the post-earthquakes destructions in Balakot & Muzaffarabad, then Insha’ALLAH we won’t even need any foreign-aid to fix our broken home! JazakALLAH-u-Khaira! We are grateful to you for granting us a few moments out of your precious time and our prayers are with FALAH-e-INSANIYAT FOUNDATION that may ALLAH accept its workers and volunteer’s efforts and help them in expanding their work and performing their duties even in a better way!