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Outside President Asif Ali Zardari’s , I chatted to a middle-aged woman passing by about the floods in Pakistan. “I have every sympathy for Pakistan and the Pakistanis,jordan pas cher, but he is not helping them much, is he?” she said. Another womanasked me to explain why it was that the protesters were not focused on the floods but demonstrating “about all sorts”. Inside the rally, a young British Pakistani who had recently returned from a visit to his family home in Kashmir complained about negativestereotypingin the media of Pakistan that had reduced a country of some 170 million people to “a terrorist threat”.

If there is a common thread to to, it is asense of confusion,Moncler, not about whether to help, but how to help. That, andthe dehumanising impact of stereotypes -corrupt politicians,angry bearded protesters,suicide bombers to name but a few &ndash,chaussures air jordan;that obscure the impact of the floods on thevery real people &ndash,moncler doudoune; 14 millionof them -affected by the disaster.

In the short term, the weak civilian government has been slammedfor failing to come up with a clear plan to address the immediate needs of those hit by the floods. Nor has itprovided the leadership that might rally all institutions and people behind it. The result has been that the Pakistan Army, long , has stepped in to fill the void, leading efforts to rescue flood victims. Meanwhile, asPakistani politicians squabbled amongst themselves and , and as Zardaritravelled abroad to France and Britain,the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa &ndash,Piumino Moncler; the humanitarian wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group -, as itdid in the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir.

The United States, alongwithother countries, has been ratcheting up its aid efforts, and sending military helicopters for relief and rescue operations. However, I can’t help but feel a bit uneasywhen withIslamist charities like the Jamaat ud-Dawa. Thismay be partially true, but it isalso part of the same dehumanising process, as though the flood victims are no more than “hearts and minds” to be won over, rather than ,doudoune moncler.International and Pakistani NGOs are doing what they can – although for those who want to help,itcan be hard for outsiders to work outwhich charity best deserves donations (inside Pakistan, is widely respected.)

But ifunderstanding how to alleviatethe short-term crisis is hard enough, the question of how to help Pakistan in the long term is even more perplexing.The damage to itsfragile economy is likely to be feltnot just this year – -but ingrain sowings for food supplies in the future. The impact on society in a country in a battle against Islamist militancy is yet to be fully understood, although popular anger against the government over its response to the floods does not bode well.Add to that&ndash,moncler; – and the need to bolster Pakistan’s defences in the future against water crises (both shortage and excess) and you have a reconstruction challenge which would defy even the strongest of governments.

At a crude level, Pakistan needs better water management,nike air jordan, better irrigation and a reversal of the deforestation which has been widely blamed for exacerbating the flooding. Deforestation has a double impact.Firstly there isnothing to slow flood waters and mudslides,air jordan pas cher. Secondly, it contributes to soil erosion, silting up river waters so that dams and levees downstream .Pakistan’s forests have been ravaged by an illegal timber mafia, .Reversing that processis both an obvious need and -as with so many obvious needs in Pakistan -a political nightmare.

The economy itself might actually tick up slightly,Moncler Outlet. Naturaldisasters are often followed by a reconstruction boom. But reconstruction which does not take account of the need for sustainable development wouldleave Pakistan exposed to more natural disasters in the future, particularly if uneven monsoons combinewith fastermelting of the Himalayan glaciers which feedits rivers. Reconstruction which exacerbates incomedisparities and feeds corruptionwill tug even harder at the country’s fragile social fabric.