Islamabad, August 12: The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on Wednesday have urged the Pakistan government to reject Western aid for flood victims, saying it would only be siphoned off by corrupt officials. The call came as the US on Tuesday stepped up aid for victims of the floods that have killed more than 1,600 people, forced 2 million from their homes and disrupted the lives of close to 14 million people in the country.
“We urge the government not to take Western aid,” Pakistan Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq said over the telephone from an undisclosed location. “The government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the centre are desperate to get it, not for the people affected but to make their bank accounts bigger,” he said, referring to the northwestern province hardest hit by the floods.
According to reports, Tariq also promised to “provide $20 million for victims if the Pakistan government does not take international aid”, and said that people should be warned that “infidels” wanted to enslave Pakistan by providing aid.
The UN appealed on Wednesday for $459 million in emergency aid after floods devastated large areas of the country. The appeal was launched by UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and will cover a 90-day period of immediate relief.
According to UN figures, more than 14 million people have been affected by the floods, more than 1,200 have died and nearly 300,000 homes have been destroyed.
The UN humanitarian division OCHA said key needs that the UN and private aid agencies had to address included food, clean drinking water, emergency health services, tents and shelter kits, cooking sets and mosquito nets.
A conglomerate of madrasas on Wednesday asked religious seminaries to generously help flood-affected people as any delay in providing aid could lead to humanitarian crisis. The appeal was made on behalf of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris Al Arabia Pakistan by Mufti Kifayatullah, a member of the legislature in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
“The people trust ulema and nazims… with regard to the distribution of donations. They should come forward in this hour of need and do their share,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari defended his decision to travel abroad last week, saying the trip had helped focus international attention on the plight of victims.
“Some have criticised my decision, saying it represented aloofness, but I felt that I had to choose substance over symbolism,” he said in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.
He said he had used his trip to France and Britain to mobilise foreign assistance, money and food for the flood victims. Britain had pledged $24 million in aid, following his meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, Zardari said. He had also been in touch with the US government, which had promised $35 million in relief funds.
–Agencies–