PESHAWAR, Oct 22: The People’s Party Parliamentarians on Saturday rebutted the government’s claim of running relief and rescue operations in remote villages of Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan districts, where, it said, the entire infrastructure, houses, government buildings and water schemes had been destroyed and the affected people were desperately seeking help.

Provincial PPP chief Rahimdad Khan said at a news conference at the press club that workers of political, social and religious organizations were engaged in the relief and rescue efforts in the affected areas.

He said the PPP had dispatched hundreds of its workers under the banner of People’s Foundation to help the government in relief efforts.

He said the government had failed to streamline the scattered efforts of volunteer groups. He said the government’s efforts were not visible in many affected parts of Hazara region.

He said all the provincial chapters of the PPP had dispatched truckloads of relief goods to Mansehra, Battagram and Kohistan where local wings of the party distributed them among the affected people.

He said PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim and General Secretary Raja Pervez Ashraf had visited Mansehra, Ghari Habibullah and Balakot with provincial office-bears of the party and distributed relief goods among the needy people living in the open.

He said the PPP had advised its workers to celebrate Eid simply and support the needy financially.

He said unnecessary visits by VIPs to the affected areas caused a law and order situation and hampered relief work. He said the NWFP chief minister had been receiving VIPs in Mansehra and Battagram and he had no time for relief activities.

He said army officials alien to local geography could not run the relief operation effectively.

He said German, Chinese, Japanese and French rescue teams had arrived soon after the earthquake to save the people buried under the debris of buildings but the government and its agencies had been seen nowhere in the disaster zone till that time.

He said the PPP had set up a base camp in Balakot to supply cooked meal to people trapped in five remote villages. He said the party had adopted the villages for relief and rehabilitation and former MNA Sardar Ali Khan was supervising food supply at the camp. He said more than 100 party workers had been engaged with the Edhi Foundation in relief efforts in the area for 10 days.