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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Flooding in Pakistan

Pakistan is in the midst of a catastrophic natural disaster that has precipitated a humanitarian crisis of major proportions,” a new report from the Congressional Research Service observes.  The widespread flooding that has displaced millions of Pakistanis also represents a political crisis that “may undermine the already waning legitimacy of the civilian government” and a security crisis that has “already diverted Pakistani resources and focus away from its struggle with Islamic militants.” Yet “despite the unprecedented scale of the flood disaster in Pakistan and more than 20 million people affected, aid donations from around the world have been much slower to materialize than other natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti,” the CRS said. Possible reasons for the comparatively limited response include the gradual nature of the flooding, the paucity of press coverage, the limited death toll, Pakistan’s image problem among potential donors, the worldwide recession, and the fact that “the floods occurred in summer when many in western nations are on vacation.” Under the best of circumstances, however, “International assistance after a catastrophe rarely, if ever, meets the need,” the CRS said.  Meanwhile, the United States government already leads international efforts in emergency relief to Pakistan with total FY2010 aid estimated at nearly $350 million. The CRS report provides a detailed survey of what is known of the humanitarian, economic and political implications of the flood and the international response to date. “The long-term effects of the flooding are likely to present daunting challenges to the country. The long-term effects are likely to manifest themselves in two ways that have significance to the United States and Congress. One aspect is the humanitarian toll that is likely to emerge from displaced people, disease, food security, and an economic decline. Another aspect is the strategic concerns that could result from a weakened government, and a dissatisfied and disenfranchised population.”

400,000 kids, 20,000 mothers die each year in Pakistan


At least 400,000 children below five years of age and 20,000 mothers die annually in Pakistan due to malnutrition, socio-economic problems and lack of access to proper health care.  This was revealed by health secretary of Punjab state, Fawad Hassan Fawad, at a programme held to kick-start the mother and child health week which would be observed till Sep 28, Online news agency reported.  Millions of people have been affected by various diseases due to the recent floods in the country and the majority of them are children and mothers.  The mother and child week, held in collaboration with Unicef, would try to provide better health facilities to around six lakh children and three lakh mothers in flood hit areas, he said, adding that they would be provided with special food packets for overcoming their nutritional deficiencies. 

Obama, Ahmadinejad trade barbs over 9/11

President Barack Obama and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traded heated remarks Friday on the emotional subject of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and hopes for a quick resumption of talks on Iran's suspect nuclear program appeared to fade. Obama accused Ahmadinejad of making "offensive" and "hateful" comments when he said most of the world thinks the United States was behind the attacks to benefit Israel. The Iranian president defended his remarks from a day earlier at the United Nations General Assembly and suggested that a fact-finding panel be created by the U.N. to look into who was behind them. "It was offensive," Obama said in an interview with the Persian service of the BBC that was to be broadcast to the Iranian people. "It was hateful." "And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of ground zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation, for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable," Obama said. Obama said Ahmadinejad's remarks will make the American people even more wary about dealing with his government. "For Ahmadinejad to come to somebody else's country and then to suggest somehow that the worst tragedy that's been experienced here, an attack that killed 3,000 people, was somehow the responsibility of the government of that country, is something that defies not just common sense but basic sense — basic senses of decency that aren't unique to any particular country — they're common to the entire world," he said.