FM thanks India for $5m donation

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made an impassioned appeal to the international community on Wednesday to help Pakistan overcome the massive flood disaster. Over six million needed immediate help, he said.

At a press conference, he acknowledged that the US was the first in contributing money and equipment to help the Pakistanis impacted by the devastating flood. “Other countries, including China and Saudi Arabia, have also come forward to help,” he added.

Mr Qureshi announced that India had offered a $5 million donation for the relief of flood victims and profusely thanked India’s top diplomat here for the offer.

He told reporters that he had received a telephone call in New York from Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna.—Correspondent

Pakistan’s sacrifices should be recognised: Miliband

LONDON: Former British Foreign Secretary and contender for the Labour Party leadership David Miliband has said that his party is a true friend of Pakistan and stands shoulder to shoulder in its hour of distress.

Miliband was speaking at Ramazan iftaari and Pakistani Independence Day dinner held at Waltham Forest Council Assembly Hall, north east London, on Tuesday evening.

Referring to the devastating floods that have ravaged Pakistan, Miliband said the country has been widely affected by this natural calamity.

“Our thoughts go out to the affected people...we are Pakistan's friends today...friends of the Pakistani people and we pledge that we will remain friends in future as well,” he said.

He said the people of Pakistan have also suffered from the terrorism and thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of this conflict.

“We do not look both ways to Pakistan, we look one way and we say to Pakistan that we are your friends and stand with you. We want to make sure that Pakistan is part of a stable South Asia. We know that there is no stability in Pakistan when there is instability in Afghanistan. We call on all countries of South Asia to be a part of our efforts to establish peace and stability in that region.”

Miliband, who is favourite to be crowned new Labour leader at the next month's annual party conference, said Pakistan needs friends for its economy, security, trade and its democracy.

He pointed out that Pakistan has been ruled for 31 years out of 63 years of independence by the military and the UK believes that the future of Pakistan lies with the people, for the people and by the people.

“One of my proudest moment as the Foreign Secretary was when I went to Islamabad after February 2008 parliamentary elections and I sat with the representatives of all the political parties.”

He said the struggle of the people of Pakistan for democracy is a struggle for the Great Britain, too, and they will continue to support democracy in that country.

Others who spoke on the occasion included MPs Anas Sarwar, Stella Cracey, Lord Nazir Ahmed, Waltham Forest Mayor Councillor Masood Ahmed, Councillor Akram Afzal and Chris Robins, leader of the council.

They supported the candidacy of David Miliband for the Labour Party leadership and expressed hope that under him the party would rebound and win the next elections due in 2015. They said David was the right man to lead the party.

Lord Ahmed said contrary to the remarks of Prime Minister David Cameron about Pakistan in India, Miliband talked about the issue of Kashmir when in India. He said the remarks of Cameron offended not only Pakistan but the British Pakistani Diaspora as well. He said Pakistan has been fighting the war on terror on behalf of USA, UK and Europe and its sacrifices need to be acknowledged.

Barrister Abid Hussain conducted the proceeding and said the funds raised from the event would go to Pakistan’s flood appeal.

Nearly half of flood funds secured, says UN

ISLAMABAD: Nearly half the $459 million needed for initial relief in Pakistan's worst ever floods has been secured after days of lobbying donors and warnings that the country faces a spiralling humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

But despite the fresh funds, only a fraction of the six million Pakistanis desperate for food and clean water have received help after the worst floods in decades killed up to 1,600 people and left two million homeless.

“There has been an improvement in funding. Donors are realising the scale of the disaster,” UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told Reuters. “But the challenges are absolutely massive and the floods are not over.”

“The size of (the area affected by) this disaster is equivalent to Austria, Switzerland and Belgium combined. That's pretty scary.”

A few days ago, only a quarter of aid pledged had been received, prompting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on a visit to Pakistan to urge foreign donors to speed up funding and avert more deaths.

So far, food rations and access to clean water have only been provided to around 700,000 flood survivors, the UN said.

Children most vulnerable

The damage and cost of recovery could shave more than one percentage point off economic growth, analysts say. Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, said the cost of rebuilding could reach up to $15 billion.

Hundreds of villages are isolated, highways and bridges have been cut in half by floods and hundreds of thousands of cattle — the livelihoods of many villagers — have drowned.

The United Nations has warned that up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated water and insects in a crisis that has disrupted the lives of at least a tenth of Pakistan's 170 million people.

“Who will treat her? The doctors said she has a hole in the wall of her heart,” said Bakhmina Said, whose one-year-old Naeema slept on a mat in sweltering heat at a fly-infested camp in northwestern Pakistan.

She had no fan, no chance of seeing a cardiologist anytime soon and at risk of catching other potentially fatal diseases in cramped, un-hygienic conditions.

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation says Pakistan could face food shortages if its farmers miss the sowing season which is due to start next month.

Some flood victims blocked highways to demand government help and villagers clashed with baton-wielding police on Tuesday after opposition leader Nawaz Sharif tried to distribute relief in Sindh.

Anti-US protest blocks highway in east Afghanistan

KABUL: Hundreds of demonstrators blocked a main highway between Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday to protest two deaths in a night raid. The protesters said the two men killed were innocent civilians, while Nato said its forces killed two insurgents.

Ghafoor Khan, chief of the district of Surkh Rod, said a father and his son were killed and three others were wounded in the Tuesday night operation in his district. He said police were trying to control the crowd to keep the demonstration peaceful.

Nato said Afghan and coalition troops killed two insurgents and detained several others while pursuing a bomb-making expert who was making sophisticated explosives for the Taliban. The coalition said the joint force took enemy fire before fatally shooting two men.

In a separate incident, Nato said a civilian irrigating a field in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province was killed Tuesday during a fire fight.

The coalition said the civilian was shot and killed when a joint force being attacked by insurgents returned fire. Coalition forces plan to meet with local elders about the incident, which remains under investigation.

Also in Kandahar, Nato said a joint force killed 10 insurgents Tuesday while pursuing a Taliban commander responsible for arranging weapons deliveries. Six insurgents who ran from a compound in Panjwai district were killed in an air strike and four others were killed by ground forces.

The joint force found and destroyed a weapons cache inside the compound, including bomb-making equipment, grenades and mortar, artillery and anti-aircraft machine gun rounds.

Militants, police clash in Peshawar, Khyber

PESHAWAR: Militants attacked police posts in Pakistan's northwest and killed two civilians active in an anti-Taliban militia, police said Wednesday.

A group of militants first killed two members of a militia in the Adezai area of Peshawar as they headed to pray at a mosque late Tuesday, said Liaqat Ali Khan, Peshawar police chief.

In the hours after, dozens of militants from the Khyber tribal region attacked police posts in the Sarband area of Peshawar. The two sides exchanged fire for about an hour before the militants retreated to Khyber, Khan said.

He said several militants were killed, but there were no police casualties.

The clashes suggest insurgents are not abandoning their campaign against the state despite the flooding that has affected some 20 million people — or one in nine Pakistanis.

''As the police force is busy in rescue and relief work for flood affectees, militants tried to take advantage of the situation to attack Peshawar, but the police force was fully alert and vigilant,'' Khan said.

Pakistan make four changes for ‘must-win’ Test

LONDON: Yasir Hameed is set to win his first Test cap in three years in one of four changes to the side as Pakistan look to bounce back in their series against England here at The Oval.

The tourists are 2-0 down in a four-Test campaign heading into the third match – a “must-win” encounter according to Pakistan captain Salman Butt – starting at The Oval here on Wednesday.

Hameed, a 32-year-old top-order batsman, played the last of his 23 Tests against India in Bangalore in 2007.

But with Pakistan struggling for runs – they have been dismissed for record low scores against England of 80 and 72 in crushing defeats at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston respectively – he has been recalled.

Also set for a return to Test action is senior batsman and former captain Mohammad Yousuf, who averages 70 against England.

Third in Pakistan’s all-time list of Test run-scorers, Yousuf was initially omitted from the squad having been handed an indefinite ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board after captaining the side on their winless tour of Australia concluded earlier this year.

He was recalled ahead of the Edgbaston Test but was not selected after only arriving in England the day before the match.

Struggling batsmen Umar Amin and Shoaib Malik are set to make way for Hameed and Yousuf.

Pakistan’s other two changes are injury-enforced with Kamran Akmal back in the side after Zulqarnain Haider, who made a gutsy 80 on debut at Edgbaston, was ruled out with a fractured finger suffered in the second Test.

That match also saw seamer Umar Gul sustain a series-ending hamstring injury and his place is now set to be taken by the uncapped Wahab Riaz.

“It’s a must-win situation for us,” Butt told AFP on Tuesday. “We have made four changes in an attempt to win this Test and give ourselves a chance to square the series.”

Hameed’s inclusion will mean the XI at The Oval is not entirely made up of players from one province, Punjab, which would have been a first in Pakistan’s Test history as he hails from Khyber-Pakhtunkwa.

Pakistan have not played a home match since an armed attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in March last year effectively made the country a no-go area for international cricket.

And opening batsman Butt said this has to be remembered when trying to assess the state of a largely novice side who were thrashed by 354 runs in the first Test and lost the second by nine wickets after coming into the England series on the back of a win over Australia in Leeds.

“Anyone who has played international cricket will know that most sides gather most of their averages and best performances playing at home in their own conditions,” Butt said.

“It is an advantage Pakistan has not got any longer and everyone should have this in their mind when they talk about a Pakistan team not performing.

“This is the only team in the world who are always playing away from home in foreign conditions.”

England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke, who also chairs the ICC’s Pakistan Task Team, has said there are plans to send a World XI to play Pakistan “in due course”.

“It would be wonderful to have any kind of international cricket take place in Pakistan,” Butt said in response to Clarke’s proposal.

“People in Pakistan are cricket lovers and they have their heroes not only from Pakistan but from around the world. They love watching them so if that could happen it would be great for Pakistan cricket.” —AFP

Russia hosts Karzai, Zardari for Afghan summit

SOCHI, Russia: Russia on Wednesday hosts Pakistan's embattled President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai for a regional summit expected to focus on security in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan leader is expected to fly in to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for only a few hours after he was heavily criticised at home for his handling of the devastating floods that have caused a massive humanitarian crisis.

A key aspect of the meeting will be a rare bilateral encounter between Zardari and Karzai, whose country has consistently accused Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency of supporting Taliban insurgents.

Pakistan has reacted furiously to the allegations, particularly after Karzai declared in July that “this war is in the sanctuaries, funding centres and training places of terrorism which are outside Afghanistan.”

Russia, still haunted by the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan which cost over 13,000 Soviet lives, has kept a wary distance from the troubles of NATO forces in the country.

Moscow had made clear it has no plans to send troops to Afghanistan but like several other ex-Soviet states has allowed NATO states to use its airspace for the transit of equipment.

But the summit also allows Russian President Dmitry Medvedev the chance to show his country is engaging in a major international issue at a time when it is seeking to improve its profile on the world stage.

Also taking part will be Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon, whose country borders Afghanistan.

“It is planned that special attention is given to the issue of regulating the situation in Afghanistan, the fight against terrorist and narcotic threats, economic reconstruction and the development of Afghanistan and the region,” the Kremlin said in a statement ahead of the meeting.

The meeting is the second such four-way meeting of the heads of state, the first taking place in the Tajik capital Dushanbe in July 2009.

Medvedev's foreign policy advisor Sergei Prikhodko said ahead of the meeting that Russia would be interested in delivering helicopters to Afghanistan.

“The question of the delivery of Russian helicopters will be discussed, if it is raised by the Afghan side,” he added, the Interfax news agency said, adding that Afghanistan required 100 additional choppers.

Kremlin sources told the agency that such a move could put Russia in direct competition with NATO states also interested in the contract but the whole issue of financing also had to be addressed.

Zardari had originally been planning a two-day visit to Russia but the situation with the floods means his visit has been cut to a few hours and he will not even attend lunch, officials in Islamabad have said.

Moscow is not usually seen as a close ally of Islamabad, not least because of its historically close relationship to Pakistan's traditional foe India. – AFP