> I attended an Emergency meeting of OIC Humanitarian partners on the Pakistan floods disaster co-chaired by OIC Secretary General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The meeting gathered together at short notice several Muslim NGOs (Islamic Relief, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, British Red Cross) and officials from both arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Libya and western countries such as the UK, US, Germany and others.
Even if the pledges were small to begin with, by the end of the day, the sum reached just under a total of 1 billion USD, 700 million of those being given by the Islamic Development Bank, 100 million by the King of Saudi Arabia and the rest from other organisations, charities and officials.
The floods are Pakistan's worst-ever natural disaster in terms of the amount of damage and the number of people affected, as more than six million people have been made to flee their homes, around a million of them in the recent days as the water flows southwards. The existent infrastructure has been destroyed and agriculture has suffered a setback of at least 5 years, according to experts.
Even 1 billion USD is not up to the challenge of standing in the way of the aftermath of such disaster. Muslims observe Ramadan, which is the month of giving. Yet, the funds pledged have not risen to the great needs of the beneficiaries.
The time has come to offer help and stand united, by doing our humanitarian duty to others in need. Give generously this Ramadan and the people of Pakistan will be able to rebuild their livelihoods.
No comments:
Post a Comment