Rabbani demands world write off Pakistan’s debt after devastating floods

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani demanded the world to write off Pakistan’s all debts, adding that as the country has recently faced devastated flood due to the climate change and carbon emission that happened due to the industrialisation in the developed countries.

“It is not sufficient for Pakistan to merely demand deferment of debt of $10 billion for a few years by the Paris Club Creditors as it will mean only a saving of approximately $1 billion under the head of loan repayments,” Raza Rabbani said, while demanding to write off all the debts as the country has experienced devastating flood due to the climate changes.

He said the cost of rehabilitation and rebuilding of the infrastructure was huge, therefore, Pakistan should demand its creditors to write off all the debts as the devastating flood was the consequence of the industrial pollution of the developed countries.

Former chairman Senate referred the situation report of the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance on Sunday, which stated that in eight districts of Sindh, two in Balochistan and one in Punjab, the floodwater was continuously increasing and resulting in waterborne diseases, unhygienic condition and rising malnutrition in those areas. He said winter has been approaching fast and would adversely affect the internally displaced people (IDPs), needing immediate rehabilitation.

Rabbani said standing crop was destroyed and livestock were killed during the floods and it also adversely affected the economic conditions of the country, while it would also affect the agricultural output in the coming months. He said approximately a total of 13,074 kilometers of roads, 392 bridges were damaged across the country and there was a total breakdown of the communication network in many parts of Balachistan and Sindh.