KUWAIT CITY, Sept 1: The donations for flood victims in Pakistan from the government and people in Kuwait have crossed over $ 25 million, Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in an interview to the Arab Times Wednesday.

The minister was on a one-day visit to Kuwait Tuesday to meet the country’s leadership and express his gratitude for their help and share his concerns with them about the flood situation in Pakistan.
The focus of his talks with HH the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, and HH the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al Sabah, was about the flood in Pakistan and the immediate, midterm and long-term strategies to tackle the situation.

He praised the kind gesture of the Amir of going on national television to appeal for help on behalf of Pakistan. “We also discussed about how Kuwait can help Pakistan in its flood relief operations. The Amir said that Pakistan’s grief is our grief.”

Qureshi noted that Kuwait has always been at the forefront to deliver aid to Pakistan at times of need, and recalled Kuwait Red Crescent Society’s active participation during the 2005 earthquake, the conflict in Swat valley and now the flood. “Kuwait was often the first country to move aid and supplies in favor of disaster victims in Pakistan.”

The foreign minister said that Pakistan has never witnessed anything like this flood since partition. “It is of an unprecedented scale, and has affected over 20 million people. One fifth of the country is submerged, and two million people have been rendered jobless. About 3.5 million children are exposed to water-borne diseases, and millions of hectares of cropland have been devastated.”
Qureshi said that the economy of Pakistan will now suffer a setback of close to 2 percent, from the earlier projected growth figures of 4.5 percent.

Prior to the interview during a free chat with community members at JW Marriot, Qureshi explained the gravity of the flood and attempted to clear some of the criticism that has been made against Pakistan in its handling of the emergency situation.

He said the flood was totally unexpected as it occurred in the midst of a dry spell, “when Punjab and Sindh were suffering from water shortage. It was not the time for rain in Afghanistan.
“In a span of six days, Pakistan took ten times its average annual rainfall, creating flash floods and literally washing out huge areas of land in a single spell.”

Reason
One reason he cited for the slow response of the international community to the floods was the nature of disaster. “When tsunamis or earthquakes occur, the impact is huge but immediate, and it’s easy for TV channels to give out exact figures of death toll and damages. However, a flood is different. It is ongoing and the damage keeps growing with time. As the UN General Secretary rightly pointed out that Pakistan is facing a tsunami in slow motion.”

The minister compared the flood with hurricane Katrina, and highlighting how a country like America, with all its sophisticated disaster management machinery, reeled under the hurricane. “The flood in Pakistan is several times more severe than that.”

About the allegations of corruption and the diffidence of countries to donate funds for fear of money getting siphoned off by extremist elements, Qureshi said there are many relief funds in Pakistan operating under a very transparent and reliable system. He entreated the people to donate to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

He also touched upon the history of terrorism and its evolution in Pakistan. Tarek-e-Taleban, an offshoot of Taleban in Pakistan, the minister said, is a scourge for the nation. “They don’t have humanity and don’t respect any rule of law.”

Qureshi, added, that Pakistan has been very effective in combating terrorism and keeping it under check by unrelentingly engaging terrorists on the frontlines.

To a question on why the Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, decided to go on a foreign tour when the flood was at its peak, Qureshi replied the president’s tour began before the flood occurred. The president made good use of his tour to engage the leadership in the countries he visited to make them aware of the gravity of the disaster and appealing for help.

 “As a result countries like Britain have provided important aid and have been very instrumental in erecting bridges and building other infrastructure to facilitate aid supply and relief operations.”