By Muhammad Akram
LAHORE: Except Kuwait, Turkey and the UAE, Pakistan has failed to receive any aid for its flood victims from any other Islamic country. The three countries have offered $5 million, $269,183 and $20,027 respectively, so far. While China with $1,479,290 and Sri Lanka with $26,667 are the only neighbouring countries that have come to the country’s aid.
According to statistics, the countries most hated by Pakistanis – as per various opinion polls – the US and UK are the two major contributors so far, while the list of remaining donors does not include any Islamic country, however, prominent donors include Germany, France, Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden and Australia. According to the information available, the total amount pledged to Pakistan so far is $84,294,357, much lower than what the UN has sought in its various appeals to the international community.
The UN has launched an appeal for more than $450 million to help those affected. At least 1,600 people have died and many more are missing. This has happened at a time when Pakistan has issued new flood warnings that could last into the weekend as government and relief agencies scramble to confront the toll from a growing into a humanitarian disaster. The UN says, “Floods have decimated Pakistan: the number of people suffering could exceed 13 million – more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.”
The people of Pakistan, particularly flood victims, want to know what has happened to the rulers and people of Iran and Saudi Arabia, which have not expressed any intent, let alone offering anything in aid to their Pakistani brothers and sisters. The aid to Pakistan would not be for its rulers, if there existed any misgivings, but for the people who have yet to find means to survive, as a new flood of an almost equal intensity is about to hit various districts of Sindh and Punjab this weekend.
As far as neighbours such as India and Afghanistan are concerned, Pakistan can least expect from both, since none of the two had offered anything so far. As for India, which offered $500 million in aid during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, the offer was refused by Pakistani authorities in the first place and whatever was allowed in was let to rot at security checkposts on the border.
Pakistan has always looked to Saudi Arabia whenever it faced a difficulty. According to diplomatic sources, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are not enjoying the best of ties since the PPP government assumed power, replacing the quasi-military government of Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, with whom the Saudi rulers had the best of relations like they had with every military ruler in Pakistan. The FO had always played down the souring ties with Saudi Arabia, said a source in the office.
However, international relations experts say a lukewarm response from Saudi Arabia and Iran is difficult to understand, as it is not the government but the people of Pakistan who are suffering and awaiting aid from both the countries.
It is important to mention here the appeal made by Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Mufti Munibur Rehman on the eve of the Ramazan moon-sighting, to the Pakistanis intending to perform Haj and Umra this year to cancel their plans and spend the money for the flood-hit people instead. Taking a hint from the appeal, the government would be justified in banning Haj by Pakistanis this year as done by Tunisia last year due to fears of swine flu.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\13\story_13-8-2010_pg7_24
More than 300 million British pounds of aid for victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake has been diverted by President Asif Ali Zardari’s [ Images ] government, raising fears that this will deter donors coming to the aid of flood devastated people in the country., a report stated.
“As the money was not forthcoming, schools, hospitals, buses and roads planned to come up with money given by foreign governments and international aid groups remain unbuilt almost five years after the earthquake which killed 80,000 and left four million people homeless,” The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday quoting senior Pakistani officials.
The damning report comes as Pakistani leadership is clamouring for millions of dollars in international aid to cope with the country’s worst ever calamity in which 20 million people are affected by floods.
The paper said international donors gave 3.5 billion pounds to rebuild vast swaths of Pakistan occupied Kashmir [ Images ] and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces after the earthquake destroyed the region’s infrastructure.
However, senior Pakistani officials said more than 300 million pounds given in aid has yet to be handed over to the country’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority.
Telegraph cited a senior ERRA official as saying that they were told in March 2009 that 90 million pounds was being diverted from their budget to other government projects.
“When we have the money we will pay you,” officials told ERRA directors. In June again their budget was cut from 43 billion rupees to just 10 billion.
The diversion of money has come in for strong condemnation by the Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif [ Images ], who said, “There’s reluctance, even people in this country even people in this country are not giving generously into this flood fund because they’re not too sure the money will be spent honestly.”
The paper said it had surveyed Balakot town, one of the worst affected in 2005 earthquake where 25,000 people died and the people were told that their township would be rebuilt.
“But despite promises that the new town would be completed by last month, not a single road has been completed nor building construction began on the site of new Balakot,” The Telegraph said.