Media Watch: Hardliners' charities, Indian aid and relief for survivors

Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.

Hardliners and flood relief

Many private organisations are taking part in the relief effort, and religious groups are just one component of it. To suggest that the hardliners’ efforts will result in a recruiting bonanza for the militant groups is far-fetched. While the religious groups’ relief work might earn them better PR and even give them the edge in the battle for hearts and minds, there is little evidence that it will swell their ranks with fresh jihadi recruits or give them greater political mileage. If anything, this is yet another reminder that the state needs to improve its response when dealing with disasters in particular and looking after the people’s welfare in general. Also, the concept of charity is a major motivational factor with all religious organisations, not just Islamic ones. So the hardliners’ response to the floods is more likely to be guided by a sense of religious obligation than an opportunity to win more recruits. (dawn.com)

Banks asked to provide relief to borrowers

The State Bank of Pakistan, estimating Rs 48 billion non-performing loans (NPLs) in the flood hit areas, has asked banks to provide relief to their existing borrowers of affected areas and make provision for fresh financing for the revival of economic activities. (brecorder.com)

Relief camp supplied water with tadpoles

The anguish of the flood victims at the Maymarabad camp reached a new height on Friday, when they observed the drinking water being supplied to them through tankers contained tadpoles. According to the sources, the internally displaced persons (IDPs) found that there were amphibians in the water that a tanker had supplied at the camp. (dailytimes.com.pk)

What have we become?

The Government of Pakistan has truly shown its subservience to the United States on whose orders it chose to accept the puny amount of $5m Indian aid for the flood relief. This money has the blood of Kashmiris on it and one wonders how our Kashmiri brethren must be feeling as they face the bullets of Indian forces every day and see us taking Indian “aid”. Some would say that we also took Indian assistance in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake but that was different in that the Indian aid was in kind and basically the two sides of Kashmir were opened up on humanitarian grounds. Shireen M Mazari (nation.com.pk)

Pakistan to clamp down on charities linked to militants

Islamist charities, some with alleged links to terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, have moved swiftly to fill a void left by a government overwhelmed by a disaster that has left eight million people in desperate need of help. Rob Crilly (telegraph.co.uk)