It has been a week thats raining disaster on us, in amounts way heavier than the proverbial cats and dogs. Everything, including the humdrum of politics, has been pushed to the backburner with disaster after disaster, natural and otherwise, in province after province. As always, 'disaster and 'disorder have led to no new dimensions with a resigned attitude that only duas can resolve our problems. A lot also has to do with the preparedness or the lack of to be exact, to cope with anything that is out of the ordinary. We go from the first step on the ladder to the very top (which is collective repentance and beseeching to the Almighty) in a jiffy, primarily because all the steps in-between are missing. One is reminded of the recent calamity in Japan and how well the Japanese government and people bore up to the situation. What is happening to us is much less in comparison, but with so much more chaos. This, despite recent experiences of one of the worst earthquakes and last years floods of epic proportions. There seems to have been nothing learnt from these tragedies. It was extremely distressing to see the number of poor, ordinary people affected by the floods in Sindh and the almost sub-human conditions that they are being forced to survive in - if one can call it survival. The numbers, totalling in thousands, of those who are dislocated and sick as well, are all waiting to be helped. The plea for relief and donations has gone out yet again to the world at large and to Pakistanis at home. All the donors seem to have developed donor fatigue (can you really blame them?) with not enough being done nor quickly enough. Similarly, the misery and epidemic wrought by the dengue onslaught in Punjab is leading to panic measures like closure of educational institutions, as if the disease is contagious. If it was not so serious it would be funny to note that Raja Riaz was hysterically demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister because he could not conquer the dengue spreading mosquitoes. Who is to tell him that his timing is way off the mark The killings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan continue unabated. All these happenings on their own are depressing enough, yet there are analysts who sit on television and add further to our woes. They insist that, like the words of the song, chun liya mai nai tujey, sara jahan rehney diya, this is punishment being meted out by the Almighty for our deeds and those of our rulers. Hence, the only way forward is to do an Asthaghfarullah in no uncertain terms and to actually mean it. The President seems to have brought this line of thought and hence issued quarter page advertisements for collective prayers. The point I am trying to make is that, while praying is always a good option, I am sure there are definite measures that the ashrafulmakhluqat can also take for prevention of and coping with disasters. The Almighty will help us then. Somehow, we do not want to use and practise the basic rules for good governance and want to keep only the top tiers of society in the ashraf segment with the rest just remaining a mere makhluqat, about the same as animals. It is not even so much about corruption, as it is about the reallocation of available resources. Reactive measures can never replace thought-out policies for long-term good. We just have to elect a leadership that can be our Robin Hood and focus on the welfare of the common man - its education, its financial and physical security, its outreach and commuting capability and so on. A leadership, which is completely devoid of any other ambition, except wanting to uplift the country from the bottom of the barrel. A leadership without safe homes to return to in other cities of the world. A leadership that sinks with us, if we sink. Postscript: While the rest of the world keeps making more and more technological advances I read of something, pertaining to us, that was both amusing and interesting. DIG Ram Singh of Amritsar, India, has disclosed that pet pigeons are being used to ferry messages to and fro from Pakistan, and that this was extremely dangerous and must be stopped. (Since it may become difficult to stop birds flying across the border, perhaps, the problem can be addressed with a visa service for the pigeons) Apparently, the pigeons have been trained to carry mobile phone SIMs and other information to identified persons on the other side and return with money for the favour. The subcontinental romantic tales of yore always mentioned that notes were exchanged by the love-smitten in this ingenious manner. Some of you may even recall the famous movie song, which went, wasta ee rab da wai janwien wai kabootra, chittee meray dhol nu paunchavien wai kabootra. I wonder why the West never caught on to this novel approach. Coming back to the case in hand, the Indian DIG suspects that smugglers on both sides are using the pigeons to exchange information and could, perhaps, even exchange narcotics in this manner. Really takes all the romance out of the exercise, but does prove that you cannot beat the people of this region in innovative ideas, when given half a chance. The writer is a public relations and event management professional based in Islamabad. Email: tallatazim@yahoo.com