NOWSHERA, Pakistan, Sept 7, (AFP): The world must help Pakistan rebuild homes and livelihoods destroyed by devastating floods to secure hearts and minds in the militant-hit nation, the UNDP’s regional head told AFP.
Global cash pledges have been slow in coming to bolster rescue and relief efforts ongoing in the flood-damaged nuclear nation, where more than 21 million people have been affected by a month of monsoon-triggered floods.
Helping Pakistanis rebuild homes and businesses, reduced to rubble by the unprecedented deluge, will be even more important to long-term regional and global stability, said UN Assistant Secretary General Ajay Chhibber.

“Now that the water has receded in large parts... what’s clear from these visits is that the early recovery needs to start now,” said Chhibber, the Asia-Pacific head of the UN Development Programme, during a visit Monday to the militant-hit northwest.
“If there’s greater unrest in Pakistan it will have much greater regional and global implications.
“This is a country that is a very large, very important country in the region, a very large, very important country in the globe, so that battle for the hearts and minds of people here is very important.”
As Chhibber toured part of Nowshera town flattened by surging waters last month, one villager, Amanat Khan, stood helplessly next to a pile of broken bricks and wood that was his home until the floods smashed it to pieces.
“We’re completely paralysed with shock,” said the 42-year-old father of four, who also lost his job in a medical store to the waters.

“I trust in God Almighty he will help me but right now I have no idea how to rebuild my life.”
In Nowshera half a million people have been affected and more than 40,000 homes suffered some damage, along with 151 schools and 22 health centres.
The town is in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where 19 people were killed Monday in the latest suicide bombing to hit the militant-riddled province.
After his visit Chhibber said: “You can see people milling around, they need things to do.”
Last week the UN said that despite an improvement in aid donations after a visit by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in mid-August, extra pledges had “almost stalled” since a week earlier.
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie Tuesday visited Pakistan’s northwest to draw the world’s attention towards the plight of 21 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods.
Jolie, the 34-year-old actress and roving envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, spent time talking to long-term Afghan refugees, Pakistani communities and aid workers in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunwa province. It was Jolie’s fourth visit to Pakistan since she became a UNHCR goodwill ambassador in 2001.

“From what I understand the situation is on a scale that we have not really seen the likes of. It’s on a huge scale,” Jolie told reporters at a camp for the displaced.
“It is extraordinarily complex situation, it’s not just the floods,” said Jolie, referring to the 1.7 million Afghan refugees already living in temporary camps in the northwest.
Wearing a red-lined black cloak that covered her head, Jolie said she was upset to see the people’s plight and called for donations through various channels, including the United Nation’s official appeal.
Last week, Jolie released a video message appealing for greater public support for Pakistan’s relief efforts, and she has herself donated $100,000 to the flood appeal.
The UNHCR is providing relief aid including shelter materials to those displaced by the disaster, which has killed 1,760 people by the official toll.