KARACHI: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the Sindh government has done a commendable job by discharging the stagnant water speedily, adding that by end of November, “we will be ready to cultivate the Rabi crop and Inshallah will help the small growers to reclaim their lands and make them fit for cultivation”.
The foreign minister said that in Pakistan, 33 million people – one in seven people - have been affected by unprecedented rains/floods, and the cumulative losses and damages have been estimated at $30 billion.
“We are estimating the losses but the actual survey will take place when the inundated areas are cleared,” he said while addressing a press conference at CM House on Thursday.
The PPP chairman was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Sindh PPP President Senator Nisar Khuhro, Minister Information Sharjeel Memon, Minister Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro, Saeed Ghani, Murtaza Wahab, Advisor to CM Rasool Bux Chandio and others.
Bilawal said that a great portion of the country was facing inundation as floods were still in progress because the water was coming down from Balochistan. He added that 50 percent of the total inundation had been cleared, but various towns and settlements in Sindh, Balochistan, Southern Punjab, and KPK were still under water. “Out KN Shah, Kotdiji, and various other towns and cities looking like the sea.
He said that it was not a riverine flood, but it was the result of a heavy downpour that displaced a population of 33 million people – equivalent to the population of the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. “Now, the stagnant water has started breaking out water-borne diseases, breeding mosquitoes and causing malaria, dengue, and such other issues,” he said and added the floods have damaged 10 percent of our health facilities infrastructure; therefore, the required services have also been affected but even then 3.8 million people have been provided medical treatment through special medical camps.
The foreign minister said that one-third of the country had been inundated but some politicians instead of coming over to help the affected people were playing politics, demanding elections, and trying to subvert the government’s efforts to rescue and rehabilitate the affected population.
Bilawal said that it was not only a massive displacement of the people but their standing crops over millions of acres have been washed away, therefore the country was facing multiples losses such as economic loss, loss of lives, and the cattle, therefore we have to take concrete measures to ensure food security.
He agreed to a question that the government has not reached to each and every affected person. “The catastrophe is so huge that if an affected person has been provided with a tent, but he has not been given mosquito net, if a person has been given ration he has not been given water and if he has got water his cattle cannot be given fodder,” he said and added still we were trying to provide relief goods to each and every flood-victim.
The foreign minister thanked Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif who has owned each and every person affected by floods. “He owns the entire Pakistan and feels the pain of each, and every person hit by the flood,” he said and added the prime minister visited all the flooded areas, met with the people, and supported them.
Bilawal said that the international community was ready to help but deplored that some politicians were hatching conspiracies and giving irresponsible statements to affect the international support reaching the affected people in Pakistan. “But, this will not affect because we have reconstructed and restored the cordial relationship with all the countries which were vitiated by the PTI Chairman during his tenure as prime minister.,” he said.
He said that he was not thinking about who will vote for us or not, but we have to help everyone to rehabilitate him,“ he said and vowed to help every flood victim in the country.
“We will not give up but keep supporting people and iNshallah will pass through this time of the test. We are assessing the damage.”
The foreign minister thanked UN Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres for his visit to the flooded areas of Pakistan to witness the magnitude of the catastrophe. “He visited the flooded areas, met with the people living in the camps, visited health facilities, and went to visit Mohenjo Daro, the World Heritage Site, that also been damaged by heavy downpours,” Mr. Bhutto Zardari said and added that Mr. Guterres admitted that he has never seen such a huge catastrophe in his life.
The foreign minister also thanked US President, Mr. Biden, for his support for the affected people.
The foreign minister appreciated the provincial government for convincing the World Bank to come over and help reconstruct the collapsed houses at a cost of Rs110 billion.
“The provincial government has taken the lead in reaching the donor agency and convincing them for the solid support,” he added.
He said that the issue of climate change needed to be addressed on an international level. “Our contribution of carbon emission is hardly 0.8 percent, but we faced the catastrophe squarely.
