Floods sweep onwards across Pakistan
Flood survivors loaded down with possessions fled for their lives in Pakistan today while the government came under renewed criticism for its response to the growing catastrophe.
Flood warnings were issued for Punjab province in Pakistan’s east and Sindh province in the south, where rivers were rising to dangerous levels.
More than 1,500 people have been killed by the floods in Pakistan over the last week and affected three million others affected.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who was already widely unpopular, is on a five-day European tour after rejecting calls to stay home and direct the flood response.
After causing huge destruction in the north-west, the centre of the fight against al Qaida and the Taliban, floods have moved down the country and drowned villages and some towns in Punjab, the richest and most populous province. The army used boats and helicopters to move stranded villagers to higher ground.
Much of the flooding is from the River Indus, which originates in the Himalayas and travels through the country.
They are the worst to hit Pakistan’s north-west since 1929, and Sindh is expecting the floods to be the worst there in 34 years.
Some of those fleeing carried kitchen utensils and pots and pans. Others held children in their arms.
Maj. Gen. Nadir Zeb, the region’s army commander, said many had ignored flood warnings and only realised the danger of the situation when water entered their cities, towns and villages.
“They risked their lives, but we are reaching them,” he said.
In the north-west rescue workers have struggled to deliver aid because of washed-out bridges and roads. Several countries, including the United States, have stepped in to help. But many flood victims have complained that aid is not reaching them fast enough or at all, expressing anger that could grow as floods spread to new areas.
Mr Zardari – ever fearful of militant threats – rarely makes public appearances even when he is in Pakistan. A few months ago, he agreed to constitutional reforms that transferred many of his presidential powers to the prime minister, leaving him more of a figurehead.
However victims and rival politicians have attacked him for his trip overseas.
“In the face of such calamity, the people need to feel that their leaders are standing by them,” said an editorial in the News, a newspaper that makes no secret of its dislike of the president.
Zardari aide Farahnaz Ispahani said the president was thinking of Pakistan’s long-term future in tackling the diplomatic front.
“The government must continue its business so that the nation moves forward,” Ispahani said. “This may not play to the galleries, but everything cannot come to a standstill when there is a disaster, especially in a parliamentary democracy with a prime minister and Cabinet in place.”
