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| November 4, 2005 | Friday | Shawwal 1, 1426 |
Pakistan to postpone buying F-16s: Musharraf MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) Pakistan will postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States in order to provide more relief to victims of the Oct. 8 earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. "I am going to postpone that," Musharraf told reporters when asked about the purchase of the aircraft while visiting a quake-hit region of northern Pakistan. "We want to bring maximum relief and reconstruction effort," he said, while stressing that maintaining national security was also important. The United Sates said last year it was willing to sell Pakistan F-16 fighters. Pakistan has been expected to buy about 80 of the aircraft.(Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Quake aid suffers because West unhurt: Musharraf LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) Western countries were stingier with aid for this year's earthquake in Pakistan than last year's Asian tsunami because wealthy tourists weren't caught up in the disaster, President Pervez Musharraf said on Friday. Last year's tsunami killed more than 230,000 people. But Musharraf told Britain's BBC radio he believed this year's earthquake had caused greater damage. "The tsunami, I think if one compares it realistically, I would think the damage here is much more. The magnitude of the calamity here is much more," Musharraf said. International donors responded generously to the tsunami because "it affected people from many countries of the world, especially the West who were tourists in various areas." "Here, unfortunately, this is a remote area, poor people affected. I would appeal to the world to see reality- that it is these people who deserve aid much more." (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Govt racing against time to provide shelter before winter: PM BAGH (Azad Kashmir), Nov 4 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said the government was racing against time to provide some shelter for the quake-affected people, before the winters set in. "We are sending in more tents, providing Rs 25,000 for each damaged house initially and setting up tent villages, so that the homeless are protected from the severe winters," he told a gathering at a relief camp. (Posted @ 20:00 PST)
ICRC urges world to send accessories for establishing temporary shelter ISLAMABAD, Nov 4 (APP): International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Friday called upon the international community to send more nails, hammers, tarpaulins for establishing temporary shelters in the quake zone. "People are trying to take anything they can use for erecting shelters. Tents are of course very important but they need hammers, nails, tarpaulins for establishing temporary shelters," Jessica Barry Representative ICRC told BBC. The ICRC has set up medical facilities in the Neelum and Jhelum valleys. Helicopters were providing food, shelter items, etc to the quake survivors, she said.(Posted @ 15:16 PST)
Kashmiri leader calls for free movement of people across LoC URI, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 4 (AFP) Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, joined quake survivors Friday on the Indian side at a mass prayer to mark the Eid festival and called for the free movement of people across the Line of Control (LoC). He also urged the Indian government to permit foreign aid agencies into Kashmir to speed up relief operations. "People should be allowed to cross easily. There must be no police or intelligence checks as they already have a permanent resident certificate. Let there be free movement of people," Farooq told a gathering more than 3,000 worshipers at a military base before prayers began. "We have requested the Indian government to allow foreign aid agencies…the relief efforts of India are not enough in a disaster of such a huge scale. There are people out there without food and shelter," Farooq added.(Posted @ 14:12 PST)
India scales back Kashmir relief crossings SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, Nov 4 (AFP) A historic opening of the Line of Control (LoC) starting Monday has been scaled back from five to three crossing points, the Indian army said, despite fears for the survival of earthquake victims. "Only three relief points will be opened on November 7 along the Line of Control (LoC)," Indian army spokesman Vijay Batra said on Friday. Crossing points and relief camps will be opened indefinitely at locations identified by the army as Nauseri on the Pakistan side and Teetwal in Occupied Kashmir, Chakhti-Uri, and Rawalakot-Poonch. Batra said the Tattapani-Mendhar and Hajipeer-Uri points would be opened only if there was demand from both sides. He gave no reason for the decision not to open the two posts, but sources explained that both areas were highly mined. However, preparations for setting up aid camps at both the crossings were still going on. "We will be in a state of preparedness and if we are asked to open these two points, we can make them operational too in no time" he said.(Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Bleak Eid for Pakistani quake survivors MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Pakistani earthquake survivors had little to celebrate at the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, nearly four weeks after more than 73,000 people were killed in the country's worst disaster. Political leaders spent the Eid al-Fitr holiday with survivors in Pakistan's northern mountains where an Islamist leader said NATO relief troops were actually coming to look for al Qaeda militants, not to help. People in predominantly Muslim Pakistan mark the end of the fasting month by dressing up in new clothes and visiting family and friends but there was little festivity at a tent camp for homeless survivors in the ruined city of Muzaffarabad. "This Eid I have no clothes and no shoes but what matters most is, this Eid my father is dead," said 10-year-old Sana, camped out at a tent village on a sports ground near the devastated university in the capital of Azad Kashmir. "I've lost everything. I don't know how many days I will sit here because everything is gone," said Sana, who was living with her mother and grandfather. Azad Kashmir and adjoining North West Frontier Province bore the brunt of the 7.6 magnitude quake, which also seriously injured more than 69,000. It was the strongest to hit South Asia in 100 years and left more than three million people in need of emergency shelter with a bitter Himalayan winter approaching.(Posted @ 12:15 PST)
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