ISLAMABAD, Dec 6: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring transparency in distribution and utilization of funds pouring in for the rebuilding of quake-hit areas. Addressing the Humanitarian Forum, an umbrella organization of NGOs helping victims under the aegis of the UK-based Islamic Relief, the prime minister said that a committee of eminent persons had been set up and a parliamentary committee had been proposed to oversee the relief activities.

He said the government desired that quake victims returned to normal life as soon as possible and was intent on providing them with a helping atmosphere towards that end.

He said the government was trying to convince the opposition to join the parliamentary committee so as to make the process as transparent as possible.

Mr Aziz appreciated the role of NGOs in supplementing the government’s efforts in quake-hit areas and stressed the need for maximum coordination among all the stakeholders.

Humanitarian Forum comprises some 150 national and international NGOs and aims to enhance coordination and cooperation among them to make the relief work more tangible.

He said the government wanted to continue relief work on the one hand and start the rehabilitation and reconstruction work on the other. To achieve this objective, he added, the world donors had pledged $6.2 billion, about $4 billion as soft loan and $2.2 billion in grant which needed to be spent judiciously and in a transparent manner.

Mr Aziz said that greater part of the reconstruction work required NGOs’ involvement which could only be successful through extra caution and coordination between various departments and NGOs.

Thousands of volunteers, he pointed out, would soon be inducted into the humanitarian work in far-fetched areas.

He said that apart from physical injuries and disabilities the quake victims were also facing mental health problems and added that the government had set up counselling and psychiatric centres for their rehabilitation. Orphans, widows and people without relations were also focus of the government’s attention, he said.

He asked the NGOs to make arrangements for transparent use of funds by keeping their accounts open to the public as well as to the audit.

The prime minister also talked about misconceptions about Islam and said: “Islam is a religion of peace and interfaith tranquillity”. He asked the overseas Pakistanis to work hard to allay unfounded fears of the West about Islam.