News
Friday, July 16, 2010
Pakistan seeks world help on dislocated people
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the international community to make a “meaningful contribution” to facilitate the people dislocated from the country’s northwest following anti-militant operations there.
Ambassador Amjad Hussain Sial, the deputy permanent representative
to the UN, said Wednesday that these people were willing to move back to their homes.
Speaking in a debate on humanitarian affairs in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Sial appreciated the United Nations and the international community for their assistance in helping more than 2.5 million people displaced from Swat and surrounding areas as well as from South Waziristan.
The ambassador effectively spoke about the constant problems Pakistan was suffering from, including humanitarian emergencies and natural disasters. This was causing loss of life and infrastructure, he said.
Sial highlighted that Pakistan was hosting 2.5 million Afghan refugees. This, he said, was in turn straining the country’s economic infrastructure and the decline of the international material assistance hardly improved the situation. Ambassador Sial acknowledges that they are no easy solutions. However, this should not prove a deterrent, emphasised Sial.
The report did not shed any light on the accountability of the United Nations humanitarian work.
According to Sial, solutions included hiring local personnel to save funds and abandoning the “one-size-fit-all” attitude of the UN. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk