ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: British High Commissioner in Pakistan Hilary Synnott called on the Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday and said “humanitarian coalition” is needed to deal with the crisis in the region of Afghanistan, following the events of September 11.

“The British government is looking, with international partners, at ways of ensuring food supplies to reach those inside Afghanistan before winter, as well as refugees in neighbouring countries, including Pakistan”, he said in a statement issued here on Wednesday by the British High Commission.

“The British prime minister,” he said, “had spoken to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Ruud Lubbers the head of the UN High Commission for Refugees. It had been agreed that they would all work to put a concerted aid programme to cope with the short, medium and long-term implications of the crisis.”

“The British government was conscious of the strain put on Pakistan in having to care for two million Afghans who had sought safety within Pakistan’s border”.

The British government, he pointed out, had already announced a pound sterling 25 million increase in aid to help Afghanistan’s neighbours to deal with the expected increase in refugees, and Britain was encouraging others to do the same. Of this aid, some pound sterling 15 million had already been distributed to UN agencies and the red cross.