[PAA-Discuss] FW: pakistan hindu kush river diverted to save US secret drone base
Lee Loe
leeloe at igc.org
Thu Sep 16 18:45:21 EDT 2010
What have we become? Lee Loe
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From: Lee Loe [mailto:leeloe at igc.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2010 2:35 PM
To: 'Lee Loe'
Subject: pakistan hindu kush river diverted to save US secret drone base
9-16-2010
"This Is the Worst Catastrophe to Hit Any State Since Biblical Times"-Just
Back from Pakistan, Feryal Ali Gauhar Describes the Suffering from the Flood
Pak <http://www.democracynow.org/images/story/47/19147/pak.jpg>
It's been over a month since the floods began in Pakistan. Although the
water has receded in many areas, there are still towns and villages that
remain submerged. Some 21 million people have been displaced from their
homes, and many have been forced to live outside their villages in camps or
alone on roadsides. We speak with Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer and
human rights activist, Feryal Ali Gauhar. [includes rush transcript]
Feryal Ali <http://www.democracynow.org/appearances/feryal_ali_gauhar>
Gauhar, Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer and human rights activist. She
served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. Her
most recent book, set in Afghanistan in 2002, is called No Space for Further
Burials.
Related stories
Rush Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: You know, I wanted to bring in another guest into this
discussion. As I was saying earlier, it's been over a month since the floods
began in Pakistan. Still, towns, villages remain submerged. Some 21 million
people have been displaced from their homes, and the threat of forcing
victims to stay outside their villages in camps or alone on roadsides.
We're joined right now by someone who has just returned from Pakistan. She
has been working in the flood-ravaged areas. Her name is Feryal Ali Gauhar.
She's a Pakistani actress, filmmaker, writer, human rights activist. She
served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund and
is the only UN Goodwill Ambassador who quit over the invasion of Iraq. Her
most recent book is set in Afghanistan. It's called No Space for Further
Burials.
Feryal Ali Gauhar, welcome to Democracy Now! It's interesting to go from
Kathy Kelly in Nevada, who's talking about this protest at Creech, where one
of the drone programs is based, to your experience of the flooded areas in
Pakistan. Can you talk about the connection?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Well, yes, there is a very real connection, although
that's not the only element that we're concerned about. But it is well
known, if not acknowledged by-particularly by the state, that the base for
the drones, where they're housed before they are automated, is in Pakistan.
The current government has literally gone blue in the face denying that.
But I just happened to stumble across a contractor-and that's not the
Blackwater contractor-the contractor who built the base, who inadvertently,
actually, spoke about it. But he was speaking about it in a different
context, and that context was the fact that he was there at the time of the
flooding-and, you know, this is the worst catastrophe to have hit any state
since apparently biblical times. So, he actually mentioned to me that the
River Indus, which is one of the largest rivers in the world, carrying now a
volume of water which has not been known in contemporary history, was
breached on the left bank deliberately in order to protect the base, which
is on the right bank. And the breaching caused, consequentially, the
inundation of an entire district, which resulted in the displacement of
millions, not thousands, but millions, because we have 170 million people in
the country, and this particular district is one of the most densely
populated. So, yes, there is a connect between, you know, what is considered
to be a natural disaster, but then the management of that disaster is not
natural at all.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is a base that is used, run by US military, to run its
drone attacks?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Oh, absolutely. In fact, it is a base where non-US
military personnel are not allowed. In fact, the person I was talking who
was there, who built the base, actually said to me that one of the reasons
why non-US military personnel are not allowed is not just for security of
the US military personnel, but because they do not wish to share the
technology. They are-you know, we've had a long historical and political tie
with the People's Republic of China. And so, there is this fear that was
expressed while the contractor was working on the base that the drone
technology, you know, should remain specifically in the hands of the US
military, and it should not be replicated by any other nation. So there is
that protection of the technology itself. It's not just the protection of
the personnel.
AMY GOODMAN: And this is in Sindh province?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Yes, it is. Yes, in-
AMY GOODMAN: Where-and for people who are very unaware, especially in the
United States, of any geography outside of our country?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: It's-if you go along the River Indus, which stretches
about 1,800 kilometers-and in miles, that's about over a thousand miles-from
the north to the south to the Arabian Sea. Jacobabad is named after a
British colonialist, Jacob, and it is situated on the banks of the river
between two provinces. The one province is Balochistan, which borders
on-partly on Iran and also Afghanistan, and that is a very volatile border.
And the other province is Sindh. So it is very strategically located, the
base itself. Ordinary Pakistanis are not supposed to know about it. I'm sure
ordinary Americans are absolutely unaware of it. But yes, there is a
physical American presence.
AMY GOODMAN: We had reports that both the water was diverted, which flooded
further Pakistanis, and also that the US military had to refuse to allow it
to be used as a staging base for aid.
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Also, also true. Yes, that is also true, and which makes
it even more ironic that, you know, in this so-called battle for hearts and
minds-I mean, we all know that, you know, the agenda behind this very poetic
sort of, you know, expression of hearts and minds, the agenda is really of
violence and imperialism. And it is even more ironic that we have had many
state-many visits by important personages from the United States government,
including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And, you know, there is this
desperate sort of a need to reach out to the Pakistani people. And the flood
almost seems to have presented itself as an opportunity for American foreign
policy to be accepted more readily by Pakistani people in exchange for
relief. And, you know, relief consists of food aid, as well as shelter. But
the irony is that, you know, while there is a physical military presence in
the country, that is cordoned off and cannot be used for humanitarian
purposes.
So American forces and helicopters have actually been flying in from the
Seventh Fleet into Pakistan and from other locations, possibly even from
Afghanistan, because in 2005 during the colossal earthquake, which cost us
75,000 lives, we did have a diversion of the particular kinds of
helicopters, which are the large-I think they're called the Chinook, which
was diverted from Afghanistan, from the duties there, which, again, is
ironic-I mean, I just find things all connected-which is again ironic
because at the time of Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard, who was
supposed to have been protecting the American people, the National Guard was
engaged in Afghanistan at that time, or in Iraq, one of the two countries.
So, you know, you have this ongoing irony, series of ironies, where the
state is meant to protect the people; it's actually protecting only its own
interests at the expense of the people.
AMY GOODMAN: You were in Pakistan, and you are Pakistani, but you were in
Pakistan with Palestinian doctors helping flood victims?
FERYAL ALI GAUHAR: Yes, I was. I mean, for us, it was very-it was a symbolic
presence, a very significant symbolic presence. The Pakistani people have
been friends and supporters of the Palestinian liberation movement and the
movement for self-determination of a sovereign people. And it was a very
small team, six-four doctors and two medical technicians. And I felt that,
of the foreign missions that had come-and there have been many, many, many-I
have had a long association with the Palestinian movement, and I felt that
this was my way of reconnecting with that movement. And my experience, of
course, with the flood affectees was something else, which we can talk about
if you like. But in personal terms, it was something I never expected, is
that, as a result of my association with the team, I was then offered-and,
in fact, given-the honorary citizenship of Palestine, which, for me, as a
Pakistani, you know, is like-is like, for a lot of people, getting the green
card to come and live in the United States. So I have had both a personal
fulfillment and a political fulfillment in this experience.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Feryal
Ali Gauhar, a Pakistani filmmaker, writer, actress, human rights activist,
served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN, the only Goodwill Ambassador to
have quit over the US invasion of Iraq. She has written a novel about
Afghanistan. It's called No Space for Further Burials.
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