ALTAF DEMANDS IMMEDIATE ENQUIRY INTO FREQUENT TREMORS; CONSIDERS THESE AS MORE THAN MERE EARTHQUAKE

LONDON--- The Founder and leader of Muttehada Quami Movement Altaf Hussain has appealed to the government in Pakistan and of the outside world to pay immediate attention and act without losing time into a strange phenomenon of after shocks and continuing tremors 150 million Pakistanis have been experiencing from Karachi to remotest points in Northern areas for the last two months.

The world community, its leaders, scientists, geologists and those dealing with such emergencies as had traumatised the Pakistani nation on Oct 8has to shed complacency. These tremors are a mystery, occurring with frightening frequency. Over 896 such tremors of 5 or 5.1 on Richter scale have already been recorded. Experts dealing with earthquakes or natural calamities have a bounden duty to probe in to a matter of such grim importance.

In a statement, Mr Hussain recalled that the Oct 8 catastrophe was not only unprecedented in Pakistan’s history but was horrifying in size and intensity. Losses in life and property have cast a massive pall of gloom for the nation. It has shaken the entire world. It was a calamity bigger than Tsunami, a fact brought to the fore by the United Nations team which visited Pakistan and released its report from Geneva. The United Nations representative assessing the damage in the ravaged areas of NWFP, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Northern areas, tried to awaken the conscience of the world, but yet less than 100 million US dollars have reached Islamabad so far out of a total pledge of over 680 million US dollars.

While I appeal to the world community and its leaders to speed up its aid with men and material for the wounded or rendered orphans and disabled, and for those hoping for shelter, warm clothing, quilts, blankets, medicines, doctors anaesthesists etc, I would also want the government in Pakistan and abroad to pay immediate attention to repeated after shocks from extreme points in Northern Pakistan to Karachi, and take prompt action to ward off the danger of fresh tragedies. A huge number of humanity has less than two weeks of hope for survival. The urgency of action in the matter is highlighted by the fact that those in position to bring relief and succour to suffering mankind have to operate within this two-week window.

If United States could learn from the death and destruction caused by Katrina in Louisiana and other areas, and succeeded in avoiding or minimising losses from subsequent hurricanes, floods etc, America on its own or in cooperation with other scientifically advanced countries of the world must attend to the strange phenomenon we, the 150 million people in Pakistan are expecting to be confronted with.

These unfortunate souls are waiting for the aid to arrive under the open sky and if they perish for want of help in time, the responsibility of such a massive tragedy will never be pardoned by history.

I personally see much more into these tremors than mere earthquake after shocks. They need to be thoroughly investigated so that humanity from  Karachi to farthest point in Pakistan, which is living in constant fear of peril to their lives and property, could be saved from another disaster. The Pakistan government and the world has to act quickly and act it must in time. I have also called for raising the levies around the coastal belt of Karachi and elsewhere a height of up[to atleast 10 feet to prevent a Tsunami-like recurrence in the port city or anywhere in Pakistan.