Calamities inflicted Rs1.5t losses in five years: Dar

Says barely 5% was chipped in by international donors.

ISLAMABAD: In the past five years natural disasters have caused Pakistan losses worth $14.2 billion (approximately Rs1.5 trillion), barely five per cent of which was covered by international donors.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday told the Senate in writing that the global community had contributed $697.2 million (approximately Rs73.52 billion) to assist Pakistan’s disaster relief efforts in the last five years. “The rest of the gap was bridged with domestic resources and borrowing money.”



The response was prompted by the need to dispel the perception that Pakistan receives substantial financial aid from international donors every time it is hit by a natural calamity. The highest losses from floods – Rs855 billion – were recorded in 2010-11.

On the subject of the Pakistan Steel Mills, Dar confirmed that the process of its privatisation was being undertaken by the government. Moreover, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Rs27 billion was earmarked in Public Sector Development Programme 2014-15 to meet the additional requirement of ongoing and new projects.

Independent Palestine

During a discussion on Palestine, Senator Muhammad Usman Khan Kakar suggested that Pakistan push Palestine’s independence to the top of its foreign policy rather than “exploiting the Palestinians’ plight for political gains like other Muslim countries”.



Addressing the upper house of parliament on a point of order, he urged the government to make the Palestine issue a vital part of its foreign policy and do its utmost to highlight the miseries of the Palestinians at all international forums.

Earlier, Kakar also raised concerns about illegal appointments in Ogra and complained that candidates from his province Balochistan were deliberately overlooked.

In response, Petroleum & Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said he would look into the allegations and inform the house about it.



Meanwhile, senators from both sides of the aisle condemned journalist Saleem Bokhari for his ‘indecent’ remarks about the parliamentarians in his October 27 television show. They demanded an apology from him and urged the relevant authorities to take action against him.

In response, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani said: “Parliament being the custodian of the rights of the people and other institutions such as the media would expect that the media themselves check that such incidents are not repeated and individuals guilty of using indecent language about parliament do not find place for their comments on TV channels and in newspaper columns.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2015.