The floods in Pakistan defy belief for their persistence and destruction. After heavy rains comes gradual relief usually. But in the case of Pakistan the rivers were rising even a month after the rains. The humanitarian crisis is enormous. Millions have been left homeless.
Not, one would hope, a time for politics. But hope again. Hope in vain. We have this from Edina Lekovic, communications director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (based in the US):
The first media coverage that I saw about the flood had more to do with whether the victims were going to rely on extremist groups for aid and relief. Of course, those extremist groups, which their apologists seem constitutionally unable to name, are the folks who like to kill the innocents. And, indeed, there were stories that Islamic charities with connections to terrorist groups were distributing aid to the homeless.
That their basic humanity and suffering comes second to questionable aid sources is insulting, and misses the point, Ms. Lekovic piously intoned.
Her universalist sentiments are only hypocritically applied. If the questionable sources of aid are Islamic terrorists who kill the innocent, then, of course, their aid should be accepted without question. But what if the aid is from Israel? Whoa, wait a minute. Then, suddenly, it is perfectly OK for the likes of Edina Lekovic to play politics with humanitarian relief. For while she is bemoaning the insulting questioning by the media of the sources of aid, Pakistan is drawing distinctions between aid that would arrive from Israel and aid that would arrive from American Jewish groups.
It will not be easy for them to accept aid from Jewish groups from Israel, but they will be OK with American Jewish groups aid, writes Aoun Sahi, a journalist in Lahore. But there will be some problems with the word Jewish if printed on clothing especially.
We are awaiting news as to whether the communications director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council regards this too as insulting.
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