ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has expressed satisfaction over the pace of foreign and domestic humanitarian assistance pouring in for earthquake victims and pledged its judicious utilization.
Downplaying opposition’s fears about deployment of Nato troops to the quake-hit areas, he said: “Only engineers and doctors have come to join the rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction operations which are being carried out already by teams of doctors and relief workers from various parts of the world.”
Speaking to reporters following ‘informal’ talks with Alliance for Restoration of Democracy chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, he said Pakistan had so far received pledges of up to Rs5.2 billion from domestic and $1.7 billion from external donors.
He observed that the international donors’ conference being held in Islamabad next month would be significant in achieving the targeted assistance.
The prime minister said that his meetings with opposition leaders were part of a continuous process of the government-opposition contact which had nothing to do with the proposed All-Party Conference.
When his attention was invited to the opposition’s terms for attending the APC, he said: “We are discussing all aspects of the matter.”
Mr Aziz put the earthquake death toll at 57,007 and the number of the injured at 78,881.
He rejected reports of ‘poor’ response by over 60 participating countries in the Geneva conference, saying “the fact is that the world response to the earthquake has been very positive and prompt”.
He expressed the hope that more foreign aid would be coming through private fund-raisers like Saudi Arabia and United States where a number of private firms were busy collecting funds. He said while Turkey had taken lead in providing maximum amount of relief, including one million blankets and rescue apparatus, other countries had also showed gesture of great generosity.
