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Muslims donate nearly $1 billion to
Pakistan
Monday,
30 Aug, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Muslim
countries, organizations and individuals have
pledged nearly $1 billion in cash and relief
supplies to help Pakistan respond to the worst
floods in the nation's history, the head of a
group of Islamic states said Sunday.
The
announcement came as floodwaters inundated a
large town in Pakistan and authorities struggled
to build new levees with clay and stone to
prevent one of the area's biggest cities from
suffering the same fate.
Foreign countries have
pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help
Pakistan cope with the floods, which first hit
the country about a month ago after extremely
heavy monsoon rains. But some officials had
criticized the Muslim world for not contributing
enough.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,
head of the 57-member Organization of The
Islamic Conference, likely sought to counter
that criticism by announcing that Muslims have
pledged nearly $1 billion. The pledges came from
Muslim states, NGOs, OIC institutions and
telethons held in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait,
the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, he said.
''They have shown that they are one of the
largest contributors of assistance both in kind
and cash,'' said Ihsanoglu of the various
donors. He spoke during a joint press conference
with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi in Islamabad.
Ihsanoglu
did not provide a breakdown of the pledges or
say how much of the money would flow through the
Pakistani government versus independent
organizations.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
criticized donations made to foreign NGOs rather
than the Pakistani government Sunday, saying
much of the money would be wasted ''Eighty per
cent of the aid will not come to you directly,''
said Gilani, referring to Pakistani citizens.
''It will
come through their NGOs, and they will eat half
of it,'' he said during a press conference in
his hometown of Multan.
The United
Nations, the Pakistani army and a host of local
and international relief groups have rushed aid
workers, medicine, food and water to the
affected regions, but are unable to reach many
of the 8 million people who are in need of
emergency assistance.
The US
said Saturday it would deploy an additional 18
helicopters to help with the relief effort. The
US military is already operating 15 helicopters
and three C-130 aircraft in the country, the US
Embassy said in a statement. -AP
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