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| Afghanistan-Pak-India | |
| Rights Group: Pakistan Storing Relief Aid | |
| 2005-10-23 | |
| A U.S.-based human rights group on Saturday accused Pakistani officials of storing tents and other relief supplies instead of immediately distributing them to earthquake survivors. The government denied the accusation. The charges came as the U.N. appealed for more aid two weeks after the Oct. 8 earthquake, warning of another wave of deaths if survivors do not get shelter and food before the Himalayan winter sets in. NATO has agreed to send up to 1,000 troops to Pakistan to boost relief efforts. "We urgently need tents, shelter and helicopters for inaccessible areas," said Jan van de Moortele, the UN's humanitarian aid coordinator for Pakistan. "Time is against us. We can buy everything with money, but not time." Relief operations have taken on increasing urgency as temperatures drop. In Kashmir, snow has already fallen in the high mountains, and in upland villages, temperatures are below freezing at night. Van de Moortele said at the current rate, some 200,000 tents will be in the country by winter — only enough to house about half the homeless families. New York-based Human Rights Watch accused civilian authorities, working under military supervision, of storing tents and other needed relief goods at a supply depot in Muzaffarabad, the city at the heart of the quake-shattered region in Pakistani Kashmir. Pakistani officials at the scene told the organization this was being done "so that they would be able to avoid problems when senior military and civilian officials demand supplies that otherwise would not be available," the group said in a statement. One official said he would be fired if he gave out tents, the group added. "Tents are the difference between life and death," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "It is essential for the public to know that aid is being handled in a non-arbitrary, nondiscriminatory manner." Pakistan's chief army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, called the accusation "a totally baseless and wrong report."
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Pakistan? Withholding aid? Terrible news. I'm stunned. WGAF |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-10-23 12:46 |
| #4 After the 1971 cyclone, the crew of a British warship watched helplessly as thousands waited for aid on a sandbank in East Pakistan. The Pak government took its cool time debating whether to accept the aid or sending its own troops. After two weeks the British came ashore, without permission, and delivered the aid, preventing mass death. No Pak military aid was ever sent. |
| Posted by: john 2005-10-23 11:02 |
| #3 Well, it actually makes sense, if you think about it from the officials' point of view. The big guys demand more aid, and the officials say, "sorry we don't have any, we sent it all out to needy people"...that sort of excuse isn't going to cut it. It's the system they have that causes these problems. |
| Posted by: gromky 2005-10-23 07:10 |
| #2 At the end of the day why give them anything and why bother checking? not like must of us give a fck how many die in paki land, as far as im concerned the more dead the better, if we had this mind set during ww2 we'd have been bombing the eneamy then rushing aid to em, its fckin madness. Millions potentially billions will be wasted on 'releif' ops like this over the coming decades, how long will it take us to realise its not big hard or clever to help what is essentially the eneamy. Pakis wanted no one on thier land before the quake, suddenly they want the world at thier feet delivering aid and helping them, WTF is wrong with us, i'm tempted to wrap a big dog turd up and send that to the pakis for its all they deserve, harsh but true! think you'd see paki aid packages in your country if you had a disaster, i know you wouldn't, instead you'd have cheering paks thanking allan for delivering that disaster upon us on your t.v set. |
| Posted by: Shep UK 2005-10-23 04:12 |
| #1 Land a task force in Muzaffarabad for a no-knock spot check. If the supplies are being diverted, notify Musharraf that summary executions are in order for all those participating in this scheme. If no action is taken, refuse to hand over so much as a single matchbook to the Pakistani distribution network. If true, this sort of preying upon the helpless represents a new low. I am essentially beyond any sense of sympathy for nearly all Islamic countries, no matter what catastrophe or disaster may strike them. These cultures have bred up some of the most disgusting political and religious infrastructures on earth. Whether they are dismantled by natural disaster or military force no longer matters to me. Whatever it is that incubates this sort of perfidy needs to be exterminated and I am beginning to care less and less about any collateral death or damage that takes place in the process. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-10-23 00:44 |