Islamabad

Last week I travelled to Pakistan, where World Vision has one of its larger offices in the region with 700+ staff working across a range of relief and development programs.  Pakistan has suffered from successive natural disasters over the past 10 years, including massive flooding last year which affected an area the size of Great Britain and displaced up to 30 million people.  It's hard to get your head around the scale of impact in some of these disasters. Large areas of land are still flooded more than a year later, and the monsoon rains have started falling again.  All this in a country where approx 45% of the population live on less than $2 per day, and where militant extremism is rife.  Adds up to a potentially toxic mix of unrest and economic disparity.   It was interesting last week though, to watch the London riots unfold and hear the comments of Pakistani staff about how thin the 'veneer' of civility actually is for any society, and that it does not take much to upset the balance.

Downtown Islamabad

The main destination for my meetings last week was Islamabad.  This is city that is definitely NOT like the rest of the country. To picture Islamabad, think of a cross section between Canberra and Darwin and you would be getting close.  The city was a planned capital, and as such has broad streets, manicured gardens and orderly traffic.  People are generally friendly, although the city does have extreme security throughout, especially given some significant and high profile attacks on western targets in the city (including the Marriot Hotel in 2008, where enough explosive was used to level a high rise building).   

Iftar - the meal to break the daily fast in Ramadan

My visit to Islamabad co-incided with the middle of Ramadan, and it was interesting to see how the dynamics of the daily fasting and the 'Iftar' meal each evening play out.  Restaurants are completely overfull each evening, and there is a sense of contemplation, community and celebration around the various Ramadan activities.

Pakistan is a country of massive economic potential, but this is constrained by political nepotism, corruption and extremism in parts of the country.  Reading the local media gives some perspective on the level of hysteria and misinformation in public debate (maybe this is not so dissimilar from our own press??).  For example, reports came through early last week about the downing of a US Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan, killing all the soldiers on board.  Front page reports in Pakistan claimed that one of the soldiers on board had been the man who had shot Osama Bin Laden.  Great story, and ripe fodder for the masses but I'm not so convinced about its accuracy.  

As a final point, it was interesting to meet with the Anglican Bishop of Islamabad, who showed me through the main cathedral and explained the security measures they have had to employ in recent years following attacks in various churches across the country.  Not an easy place for minority faith groups, but interestingly the church is flourishing.   

Pakistan truck art

Faisal Mosque, Islamabad