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Pakistan does not need ‘uncharitable charity’

* Washington Post editorial says aid pledged to Pakistan should be immediate

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Earthquake aid pledged to Pakistan should be immediate and not phased or long-term, as the need to deal with the devastating consequence of the October 8 tragedy is now and not tomorrow, is the message of an editorial published by the Washington Post on Thursday.

Decrying the practice of “tied aid”, the newspaper pointed out that a Bush plan to ‘untie’ part of US food aid is being held up in Congress. “The latest example of uncharitable charity comes from the Kashmir earthquake. Some 80,000 people have died as a result of the quake, nearly all of them in Pakistan, but relief workers say that the death toll is sure to rise further unless help arrives immediately. About three million people are homeless, many of them in inaccessible mountain villages, and the punishing Himalayan winter arrives soon. People need shelter and food to survive the freezing temperatures, but bad weather is already hampering helicopter relief missions, and once the winter sets in, further relief may become impossible. Medical help is even more urgent. At least 75,000 people were severely injured by the quake, and many are suffering infections for lack of timely medical care. Limbs that could have been saved must now be amputated,” said the strongly worded editorial.

Against this background, the newspaper pointed out, the UN convened a conference of donors in Geneva on Wednesday. Rich countries stepped forward with pledges of $580 million. But less than $16 million of that was for immediate relief, leaving the UN with just a fifth of what it says it needs over the next few weeks. “A new $251 million pledge from the Islamic Development Bank is supposed to be spent on long-term reconstruction, and the same is true of an earlier pledge for $333 million from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. The European Commission has promised $96 million for reconstruction, but just over $2 million for immediate use. In a rare instance of understatement from a relief official, Jan Egeland of the UN commented: ‘It is, in my view, not right to sit with reconstruction money for one year from now if we’re not sure whether those people will be alive one year from now.’”The Post said the earthquake was a natural tragedy, but the “post-dated cheques” from donors are a man-made one. What’s needed now, it emphasised, is “cash that can be spent immediately”, along with more helicopters. British relief agency Oxfam, the comment added, has also called for tents to be released from military stockpiles, because suitable ones can’t be procured on the world market fast enough. It also suggested that the Pakistani government could help by “setting aside historical suspicion and accepting India’s offer of helicopters, rather than objecting to the fact that Indian helicopters come with Indian crews”. The editorial stressed that the outside world, and particularly the US and its allies, have an interest in doing their part. “Kashmir is home to Islamic terrorists whose war against the Indian government does not preclude attacks on Western targets. If the West stands by while thousands die from infections and hypothermia, it will fuel the anger from which the terrorists gain,” the newspaper warned.

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