No less a figure than Senate Deputy Chairman Jan Muhammad Jamali, a former Balochistan Chief Minister, has said that the flooding experienced by Balochistan was because an airbase, Shahbaz Airbase at Jacobabad, was being saved. It should be remembered that Shahbaz was handed over to the Americans at the time of their invasion of Afghanistan, and has since remained in their possession. The present government has pleaded that it was bound by the agreements concluded by its predecessor, the Musharraf government, and thus it continued to let the USA have Shahbaz. Mr Jamali has also written to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, asking him to take notice of the responsibility for the flooding caused by the breach of Thori Bund, near the Guddu Barrage, thus providing an example of Parliament needing the Supreme Court to redress a public grievance. The letter claims that the breach was carried out to save the standing crops of some influentials. However, while the allegation is serious enough, for it shows that the devastation in Jafferabad district, of which Mr Jamali is a native, was caused by the desire to save their crops by politicians, and thus an already restive province was further given cause for alienation; the really serious part of his statement relates to the desire to save the airbase, not to preserve the PAF, but American airmen and planes. This is the most obvious example so far of how the war on terror has affected the floods, and one of the costs Pakistan has had to pay for its participation, would be that same devastation. It also shows how the present governments support to the USA and its forces has outweighed the welfare of its people, and even the wellbeing of Pakistan. The most immediate remedy would be to cancel the Shahbaz lease, and tell the USA that it must vacate the airbase immediately. This might mean an end to the alliance with the USA, but since that does not seem to have brought Pakistan any benefit, and is unlikely to in future as the USA builds up India in the region. Even in the acceptance of Indian aid, though of a paltry amount, our subservience to the US becomes too clear. The government should recognize that politics are being played with the floods, and it must avert these calamities. By letting breaches of various canals be subservient to the needs of various politicians, the government showed the way to the importunities of foreigners. Such pressure, local or foreign, must be strongly resisted.