By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – As a father, a husband and a son, Ijaz Gilani anxiously watched reports of Saturday’s Pakistan earthquake over the Internet and on Maine television. He was relieved to learn that his wife, a doctor in Islamabad, his children and his mother were all safe.

As a professor of social sciences and head of the opinion and marketing research firm Gallup Pakistan, he’s watching what happens next – how Pakistanis react to the tragedy and how the rest of the world responds.

“This is an area, particularly, that does not need such a heavy disaster,” Gilani said.

Gilani, professor and dean of faculty at International Islamic University in Islamabad, is in Lewiston for the next six weeks, a Fulbright visiting specialist at Bates College through the Direct Access to the Muslim World program.

He’ll be leading discussions, sitting in seminars and presenting lectures about Muslim values, international opinion and democracy during his stay in Maine.

He is also scheduled to present a talk at noon Oct. 20 at the Lepage Conference Center in St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, part of the Great Falls Forum.

Gilani and his family live in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city. Saturday’s quake was centered about 70 miles north of there. In all, 20,000 are presumed dead in the quake and aftershocks, mostly in the surrounding villages and rural areas of Pakistan and nearby Kashmir.

Gilani said he spoke with his family Sunday. His wife was spending most of her time in the hospital emergency room tending the wounded. His children are all grown and reportedly safe.

“Two of my sons are in school, living in a five-story building, so that was of great concern,” he said. His mother, housebound and mostly immobile, is now in a wheelchair, ready to be moved if necessary.

“There have been so many aftershocks, that has been the bigger concern,” he said. “They do not know if they should be staying in the buildings or getting out.”

Quakes and floods

The earthquake made him think of a 1935 earthquake in southern Pakistan and an eastern Pakistan flood about 35 years ago.

The 1935 tremor was the last big quake in the region, he said. His father, a builder from the northern region, moved his family south as part of the rebuilding effort. Gilani was born in that area during the rebuilding.

He sees a less personal comparison with the 1970 flood.

“The president at that time did not go personally to look over the damaged area, and it became a big symbol for the resentments of the time,” he said. “I’ve seen similar comments made about the Katrina issue. The country had suffered a great deal at that point, and this was the last straw.”

Pakistanis also took last December’s tsunami personally. Although they were not affected, the country was galvanized.

“It felt as if it had happened next door,” he said. Television stations ran support campaigns for weeks afterward.

“They raised a significant amount of money, by Pakistan’s standards,” he said.

Now the country is watching that support come across its borders. The United States has already pledged $50 million in aid. Arab countries around the globe have pledged their support, as has traditional rival India.

“Obviously, a natural disaster such as this, one must face up to it locally,” he said. “But it provides an opportunity for the human family to see things we have in common. It’s like when there is a death in the family, it is shared by the entire community. Everyone participates in the sorrow.”

He’s still cautious. Tragedies and disasters can change the direction of history.

“There can be lasting political repercussions,” he said. “They can reopen wounds of the past, so the government institutions need to be especially watchful in their response.”

He hopes for broader perspective.

“It is a natural disaster, and none are to blame,” he said. “At the end of the day, you have to look at it and say It’s Allah’s will.'”

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