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| November 19, 2005 | Saturday | Shawwal 16, 1426 |
Donors pledge 5.8 billion dollars for Pakistan quake relief ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (AFP) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said an international donors' conference Saturday had pledged more than 5.8 billion dollars for quake assistance, more than the country said it needed. "Total accumulative pledges we have received are 5.827 billion dollars," Aziz told a media briefing after the one-day conference wrapped up. Of this 3.9 billion dollars was in soft loans and the remaining 1.9 billion dollars was in grants, he said. "I am fully hopeful this figure will further increase," he said. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank pledged one billion dollars each, mostly in the form of loans. The Islamic Development Bank said it would increase its assistance from more than 250 million dollars to more than 501 million dollars. The single biggest donor country was Saudi Arabia, which pledged a total of 573 million dollars including soft loans, Aziz said. The United States pledged 510 million dollars, including 156 million dollars already given. Among other top contributing countries were Britain, the European Union nations, Japan, Kuwait, Iran and Turkey, the prime minister said. (First Posted @16:48 PST Updated @ 20:40 PST)
Kashmir resolution could be India's quake 'donation': Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (AFP) President Pervez Musharraf urged India Saturday to work with Pakistan to resolve their dispute over quake-hit Kashmir, saying it could be New Delhi's "donation" to the earthquake relief effort. "Let us together solve the Kashmir dispute once for all," Musharraf said in an address to the conference, which included a ministerial-level delegation from India. "Let this be the Indian donation to Kashmir," he said to applause from about 300 delegates. Musharraf said the earthquake had provided a rare "fleeting opportunity" to heal the relationship between the two South Asian nations. "If leaders fail to grasp fleeting opportunities, they fail their nations and they fail their people…Let good and success and let happiness emerge from the ruins of this catastrophe, especially for devastated people of Kashmir," he said. The Indian representative at the conference, State Minister for External Affairs E. Ahmed, reiterated India's commitment to confidence-building measures between the neighbours. "The spontaneous outpouring of support and goodwill for the victims of the earthquake gives us the strength and motivation to work (towards) confidence-building measures between our two countries," Ahmed told the meeting. "On Kashmir our position is well known ... (to live) in an atmosphere free of terrorism and violence," he said. (First Posted@11:35 PST Updated @ 17:22 PST)
Kashmiris cross over to Azad Kashmir TITHWAL, Nov 19 (AFP) India and Pakistan opened the Line of Control(LoC) in earthquake-hit Kashmir Saturday to allow people to cross on foot for the first time in nearly six decades and search for relatives. Grandmother Begun Jan became the first of the 24 people to cross from Occupied Kashmir to Azad Kashmir. Cheers rang out as the 80-year-old gingerly crossed a rickety footbridge over a river. The group of two dozen Kashmiris from Indian Held Kashmir made the historic crossing from Tithwal, 180 kilometres northwest of Srinagar. Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said "24 people, including seven women, have crossed over from the Indian-occupied Kashmir". They were due to be airlifted on Sunday to Muzaffarabad, he added. "No one has crossed over to the other side from this side since 1947. Everyone is happy as every family has relatives on the other side," Tanveer Hussain, whose parents crossed the bridge Saturday in hopes of a reunion with relatives, said. Sultan said clearance was still awaited from the Indian side for the 123 people from Azad Kashmir to cross the LoC into Occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 19:51 PST)
Musharraf urges all to help rebuild lives of quake child victims ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (APP): Stressing that child victims of October 8 earthquake would require sustained support for recovery, President Pervez Musharraf has urged all segments to come forward with all possible help to alleviate their pain and effect their rehabilitation. "I appeal to the civil society, NGOs, philanthropists in Pakistan and the international community to come forward and provide all possible help to the children affected by the earthquake for alleviating their pain and for their full rehabilitation," he said in a message on Universal Children's Day Saturday. "In the wake of the earthquake, which struck Pakistan last month, the government is focusing on providing relief and support to the child victims, particularly those belonging to North West Frontier Province and Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a separate message on Universal Children's Day. (Posted @ 20:07 PST)
President praises UN, international community for providing aid and assistance ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf has commended the role of international community, particularly UN, United States and Saudi Arabia for providing aid and assistance for earth quake affectees. Musharraf hosted a luncheon for the participants of the donors' conference at Awan-e-Sadar Islamabad Saturday and said, "I would be remiss if I did not single out some countries who have been particularly generous. And in this, I would like to pin point two countries who have exceeded 500 million dollars: United States of America and Saudi Arabia. We are extremely grateful to these countries for contributing so much to us." He added that "I would also highlight some other countries who have given more than 100 million dollars that is European Union, United Kingdom, Kuwait, UAE and Germany. And finally I would like to express also our deep appreciation to the international financial institutions, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank." (Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Pakistan president calls on people to dig deep for quake victims ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (AFP) - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf called on his countrymen Saturday to dig deep into their pockets to help rebuild the country's stricken north following last month's devastating earthquake. Addressing the international donors conference he said long-term reconstruction and rehabilitation would depend in part on Pakistanis' generosity and appealed to" all Pakistanis in Pakistan and expatriates to donate, to sponsor generously." The appeal came as he outlined a sponsorship and donation scheme to raise badly needed cash to rebuild schools and hospitals and to create jobs that were destroyed in the October 8 quake, which killed 74,000 people, left double that number injured and made 3.5 million homeless. Musharraf said wealthy individuals could have public buildings and even towns and cities named after them if they donated enough. "I don't see why the affluent cities cannot adopt a (sub-district) -- I call on other cities of the world to adopt a district or sub-district," he said. Musharraf also outlined a 20 billion rupee (339 million US dollar) package of grants that would be given to the 400,000 households affected by the quake. Included in the package will be 200,000 rupees for each home lost and 100,000 rupees for those who lost breadwinners in the tragedy. Every household will receive 25,000 rupees. Musharraf said the grants would help "monetise" quake-stricken parts of Azad Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. "I think we will generate business activity, economic activity and reconstruction because of this monetisation," he said. (Posted @ 13:27 PST)
UN chief leaves Pakistan after addressing quake aid meet ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan left quake-hit Pakistan Saturday after urging an international donors' conference to give generously towards efforts to cope with last month's "unprecedented disaster". Annan arrived in Pakistan on Thursday and on Friday toured an area near the epicentre of the October 8 earthquake in northern Pakistan with President Pervez Musharraf. He told about 300 delegates at Saturday's conference the quake was an "unprecedented disaster, it requires us to mount an unprecedented response." (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
Pakistan, U.N. beg donors for more quake aid ISLAMABAD, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations joined devastated Pakistan on Saturday in pleading with donors to give more money to help survivors of last month's huge earthquake. "The pitiless Himalayan winter is almost upon us and growing more and more severe every week, " U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Annan told delegates from about 50 donor countries gathered in response to the appeal for around $5.2 billion in recovery aid and longer-term reconstruction help. "They say a full generation has been lost," President Pervez Musharraf told the delegates, referring to how the quake destroyed schools and entombed whole classrooms of children. The Asian Development Bank was first to announce its response to the appeals for more money with a pledge to provide $1 billion in financial aid, mostly in soft loans. "The scale of the catastrophe is stunning," bank president Haruhiko Kuroda told the one-day Islamabad conference, which began with a harrowing video of quake casualties and survivors. "The images of ordinary citizens pulling friends and neighbours from the rubble will remain indelibly etched in our minds."(Posted @ 11:00 PST)
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