Drishtikone
I had heard at the BBC news also that British and Americans were working along with the Jehadis. This has been a major concern of most of my friends in giving any donations for Pakistan Earthquake. The way the charity work goes on there.. it will eventually 70-90% in the pockets of the Islamic Jehadis!
Five billion dollars. That is the amount of global aid Pakistan government aims to mobilise from the rest of the world after the earthquake toll touched 73,000. Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri, who called Natwar Singh this evening to convey his condolences over the loss of life and property after Saturday’s Delhi blasts, also requested an Indian presence at the next donors’ conference in Pakistan.
Interestingly this fund-raising activity comes when US relief helicopter came under rocket fire in Chakothi area in PoK on Tuesday. Pakistan said it was blasting dynamite on the roads, but the US army said it was a grenade fired from a rocket.
After receiving aid pledges for $570 million at the UN-sponsored donors’ conference in Geneva, and a further pledge of $350 million from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Pakistan wants to increase the amount by organising a second donors’ conference in Islamabad on November 19. India has already pledged $25 million besides sending huge amounts in relief materials to the earthquake-hit areas. India has said it will consider the offer though all indications are that India will attend.
As Pakistan’s earthquake relief takes on an Islamist hue, the skepticism is growing in India about the end-users of relief funds in Pakistan. After Saturday’s blasts in Delhi and Wednesday’s car bombing in Srinagar, both the handiwork of terrorist groups, there will be reluctance for India to address humanitarian issues in Pakistan with a fear that this could turn against India only.
According to reports, British and American relief teams are working alongside otherwise banned organisations like the Al Rasheed Trust and Jamaat-ud-Dawa.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In