Civil society wants ban on international NGOs lifted for flood relief work

Suggesting that the government temporarily freeze payments of all foreign loans and immediately lift ban on international NGOs, civil society leaders on Friday demanded urgent import of edible items from all sources, including India, to avert famine approaching fast after unprecedented monsoon rains and floods in the country.

Civil society activists and trade union leaders made these demands at a press conference on Friday conducted by Zehra Khan of the Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to discuss the post-rain situation in the country, especially Sindh.

Those attended the press conference included Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation, Zulfikar Ali Junior, grandson of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, legal expert Rashid A Razvi, Nasir Mansoor of the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Karamat Ali of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, economist Dr Kaiser Bengali, Khizr Qazi of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Dr Mirza Ali Azhar of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), and others.

Zulfikar Junior thanked the Edhi Foundation for its relief work in the flooded areas. He said he fully supported the Edhi Foundation just like his father Mir Murtaza Bhutto did as it was the most active emergency relief organisation in Pakistan. He appealed to all the stakeholders to take steps on a war footing basis to save the flood-hit people.

Faisal said that despite all efforts of relief organisations, hardly 10 per cent of the affected people had so far been approached, and the remaining ninety per cent flood-hit people were awaiting someone to reach out to them. He said the present figures of the losses of life and property were just the tip of the iceberg as the actual losses were very high.

He said the entire Pakistan had been hardly hit by the rains and floods but the public response was not as warm as it was seen in the previous flood and earthquake. “We appeal to all international organisations to respond positively and urgently to help Pakistan; otherwise, a new episode of international migration from Pakistan may begin like Syria.”

The Edhi Foundation head said that as per initial estimates, up to 50 million people had been affected. He added that the situation was much better in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa compared to Sindh, southern Punjab and Balochistan.

He recalled that during previous flood and earthquake, international NGOs had played a huge role in assisting people. He demanded lifting ban on all international NGOs at least temporarily for one year.

He also called for withdrawing the Charites Act so that local NGOs could play their due role. Import of edible items from India should start as imports from India would be cheaper due to low transportation costs, he said.

The PMA representative appealed to the pharma companies to donate basic medicines. He added that some unscrupulous elements were exploiting the situation and the government should stop them and allow only the genuine NGOs to collect donations.

Khizr said that as per early figures, women and children were major victims of diseases in the flooded areas. He also condemned the incidents of sexual harassment of the flood affected women in the name of relief.

He asked the government to reduce fifty per cent of the non-development expenses and spend these funds for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit people. He asked the government to put a moratorium on repayment of loan instalments.

Razvi said the Charities Act should be repealed to allow the local NGOs to work freely for the rescue and relief of the flood-hit population. He lamented that the political parties had volunteers to arrange rallies but they did not have volunteers for rescue and relief work.

Dr Bengali said that they had given proper engineering plans to the government about how to cope with the natural calamities but these plans were not fully implemented. He added that pressure should be mounted on the government to implement these plans.