Was there any recuperative holiday abroad for Zubana (15) suffering severe burns after her home was destroyed during military operations on Mir Ali?

Not all trauma survivors are treated equally

Survivors of great trauma whether from nature or man-made, accidental or deliberate acts of violence often experience a response directly correlated to level of media exposure. For example the Tehreek – e- Taliban (TTP) attack on Peshawar Army School (PAS) which left over 140 dead was very high profile in the news and generated thousands of stories around the world, appearing as “major news” headlines, given extended air-time and generating lengthy debates. The incident also occurred in an urban area so was easily accessible to journalists who were given swift access to the school building to record the aftermath. As DAWN media reports, “the carnage horrified the world and left many survivors badly traumatised”. This generated a massive wave of public sympathy as millions learned of the plight of these schoolchildren and their families.

Now DAWN media is reporting that “10 students and two teachers who escaped the bloodshed have been sent on a 10-day trip to help them recover”. More are to follow to visit other countries. Such initiatives can be very therapeutic as was seen when the children of Belarus, survivors of Chernobyl nuclear disaster visited the UK to stay with families on “recuperative holidays” in an unpolluted and peaceful environment. See following statement from a website dedicated to helping victims,

“holidays abroad are vital for their children, particularly in their teens, when many fall ill for a second or third time, and the death rate is very high.

The project also includes groups of very young children who come for a holiday with their mothers.

Other children may come from some of the most contaminated parts of the country. There are still many children living in tiny rural villages, sometimes just a few miles from the Chernobyl plant. These children may not be ill yet, but their future is bleak if they continue to live in such a radioactive environment.”

http://www.chernobyl-children.org.uk/what-we-do/recuperative-holidays

The problem lies not in such projects themselves which are greatly beneficial and welcomed by many… but in the selective nature of who is chosen to participate. For example there are many youth that originate from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA) that we barely hear about due to restrictions on reporting. These youngsters have been highly traumatised just like the youth of Peshawar. They have been subjected to US drone strikes, seen family members incinerated, blown apart, suffered under aerial bombardment and shelling due to fighting between army and insurgents and displaced from their homes losing everything.

Let us not forget 15 year old Zubana who was described by her mother as looking like a piece of “burned coal” when she was rescued from the rubble of their home in Khaisoor Zar, south of Mir Ali town following an army assault. The New York Times (assisted by stringers, local journalists taking risks to reach her) reported that Zubana “moaned from pain” as she spoke. She said,

“I was preparing lunch for my husband when there was an explosion, and the room went on fire,” said Zubana, who has just one name. “I don’t know what happened after that. My mother says our house was destroyed. I wish I had died.”

What schemes outside the country are available for these youngsters who suffer both physical injuries and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to recuperate and temporarily escape the distress of lives greatly disturbed as a result of the long and ongoing War on Terror?

The only trips abroad I have seen were one or two nominated children such as Nabila and Zubair and their father Rafiq ur Rehman, (helped by their lawyers and activists abroad) who went to the US not as a holiday but to face their tormentors at Congress and give evidence on alleged human rights abuses in the form of drone strikes. The children suffered serious injuries and lost their grandmother Momina Bibi during the drone attack. They are the exceptions whose cases we know about…. but are they remembered? As British Pakistani human rights activist stated,

“the grand-daughter of Momina Bibi still awaits justice and peace. She probably relives that horrific day in her life every time a drone is piloted over her village or country. She must live in constant fear knowing that she could be next, that she could be another statistic, a name only remembered by looking at her tombstone and forgotten by the world.”

Adnan Rasheed talks on forgotten victims and double standards

Adnan Rasheed responding to accusations in a recently released Defence.pk video (image Umar media) 

One of those highlighting the double standards regarding victims of trauma is Senior Taliban Commander (TTP) Adnan Rasheed who is according to most media “dead”. Rasheed (a former Pakistan Air Force junior technician) was on death row implicated in a 2003 assassination attempt on General Pervez Musharraf until freed from Bannu prison in a jailbreak by Taliban militants in 2012. Although a member of TTP he has not been named in First Incident Reports (FIRs) as implicated in the Peshawar school attack. He has now surfaced again, this time interviewed on the 26th January 2015 in the second of two recently released videos. During the 31 minute video from Umar Media (TTP) he discusses the hypocrisy of Pakistan’s military towards some civilians and in creating and responding to victims of trauma. The issue crops up when Rasheed replies to the following question from the interviewer, “why is it so that the army is continuously spreading lies against you and TTP?”

This is his response,

“This is just like when a “lota” (which has 2 holes) is criticized by “Kooza” (which has multiple holes) that the former has two holes in it. Army before criticizing and spreading lies forgets about its own atrocities.

Have they forgotten the Kharotabad, Quetta incident when their Colonel Killed the foreigner pregnant woman despite her repeated attempts to convey to them that she is Muslim. Have they forgotten the Bajaur Madrassah bombing where small children were killed. They aged from 8 to 13. They were teenagers and were non-adults as per their own law.

Have they forgotten about the Swat killings, on which the military also started an inquiry which is still going on with no results made public, where it is clearly evident in a video that Army personnel are killing young boys. One captain comes and asks the boys to recite kalimah and then orders to shoot them by using G 3 rifles. It is clearly evident that this act was committed by Pakistani soldiers.

They have forgotten Lal Masjid massacre, then the bombings in Tirah and other tribal belt valleys. And these drones, all the intelligence is provided by the Pakistani army. We have captured their agents with SIMs that help the drones. Almost 350 children have been killed in bombings by drones, so are not they responsible for all this?

Last year on the night of 19 and 20th January a jet bombed our home but Alhamdulillah I remained well except for my wife who sustained some injuries from falling bricks. We were living in a compound in which a Mahsud ansar family was residing in the adjoining structure. The first bombs fell on their place and the inhabitants were martyred. Then we pulled out their bodies from the rubble and found that those killed included a 4 year girl named Mariam, she used to play with my daughter in our home. And there was her mother Ayesha aged 24 and then there was their grandmother which was our grandmother too, she used to come to our house and we would help her a lot, she also got martyred. Then there was a boy who was a teenager as per their international law, his age was 17, he also got martyred. Then there was a little boy named Shahzeb and his sister who got injured. One lost a leg and the other one the chest bones.

The media propagated that the army has killed Adnan Rasheed along with his wife and daughter. No one raised any hue and cry that why has the family of Adnan Rasheed been targeted. All these political analysts remained silent on this issue. Which shariah did they follow by killing all the aforementioned children and women including the old woman. The young children who have become crippled for the rest of their lives, who is responsible for that? Which shariah allows this? No one asked this. No one cares for these people.”

Second class citizens become radicalized youth

Many children have lost family, homes and now their education (image from FB page, Help the IDPs of FATA)

We also hear from DAWN that “parents of children killed in the (Peshawar) attack would be sent on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia — home to some of Islam’s most holy sites — in the coming days.”

I wonder how the thousands of adult and child Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from FATA would feel on hearing this, struggling in camps having lost family members, homes and lifestock and expected to sacrifice everything for the good of the country. They are emotionally blackmailed under the flag of “nationalism” yet treated as second class citizens. Not only do these people now have to struggle for the bare essentials in life to maintain a basic existence but the government completely failed to protect many from US drone strikes in their home area and bombing from their own armed forced.

Such hypocrisy regarding how survivors of trauma are treated only serves to highlight the gross double standards that build resentment and are likely to contribute to creating the next generation of radicalized youth. Educational facilities for IDPs are limited, many children can no longer go to school. Uzair M Younas raises concerns on radicalization in Foreign Policy (Jan 16th 2015) stating,

“since Pakistan has failed to effectively manage the relief and rehabilitation of affected populations, extremist outfits have started providing relief work to the IDPs. Over time, this trend will allow radical outfits to recruit IDPs; further complicating and elongating a conflict that has raged for over a decade. Viewed with suspicion and fear by people in urban parts of the country, there is a deep sense of marginalization among IDPs. If left unchecked, this emotion could quickly turn into anger and have serious repercussions for the country.”

It is no wonder that IDP camps full of disillusioned youngsters with nothing left to lose and little to look forward to are seen are lucrative recruiting grounds for insurgents, (this was seen in Gaza also). The jihadists provide brotherhood, a perception of caring, structure and a chance to hit back at those who appear not to care and are seen to have destroyed their lives… like it or not the truth must be faced, that is often the stark reality!

Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights/WOT and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad. She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.