KARACHI, Oct 18: The Secretary General of the Jamaat-i-Islami on Tuesday alleged that the government and Army had completely failed in providing relief and aid to people of quake-hit areas of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir.

Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday, he called on the government to convene a joint session of Parliament to discuss the post-earthquake situation and form a joint committee to monitor the spending of foreign and local aid.

Mr Hassan said that aid should be collected in the Prime Minister’s relief fund while a committee comprising elected representatives should be set up to supervise relief activities.

He said the situation was aggravating in the quake-hit areas especially in Kashmir where people were dying for want of medicines, tents and blankets, adding that the weather too was getting cold with each passing day.

According to him, over 50,000 people were still missing in the quake-hit areas, and these were the people believed to be buried under the rubble.

“If we count these missing people as dead, the total death toll will jump to over a hundred thousand,” he said.

The JI leader said the US should provide Pakistan with at least 200 helicopters and the required number of tents and heavy machinery in this hour of the need otherwise the government should reject its aid.

As far as the issue of acceptance of aid from Israel was concerned, he said, Pakistan should not accept any such aid as it would be refused by the people of the quake-hit areas.

He informed that over 7,500 JI workers were carrying out relief activities in the AJK and the NWFP, while the JI and Al-Khidmat had so far dispatched over 500 truckloads of relief goods to the quake-hit areas.

“The JI is dispatching 10 truckloads of relief goods on a daily basis from Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and other cities to quake-hit areas,” he added.

He deplored that owing to the army’s and government agencies’ inefficiency, the people of quake-hit areas were voicing protest against the army, adding that thousands of people had died during the last 10 days due to unavailability of food, shelter and medical treatment.

Mr Hassan also appealed to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to takeover the relief activities and utilize the aid received locally and internationally, as a majority of people had now no faith in the army on using funds.—PPI