There is no credibility deficit: Gilani

Prime Minister Gilani said the response from the international community to the disaster was satisfactory.

GILGIT: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dispelled the impression on Monday that the government was facing a “credibility deficit”, adding that the response from the international community to the disaster was satisfactory.

“There is no such issue. Our credibility is good and we have received a good response from the international community so far,” Gilani informed reporters at the Gilgit airport on Monday, minutes before his departure to Islamabad.

He was accompanied by the Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Chairman Baitul Maal Zamrud Khan and Law Minister Babar Awan.

Prime Minister earlier visited and met people in Gaise, a village where flashfloods had killed 50 people. The PM offered condolences to them before announcing a relief package for the area. He said that essential food items worth Rs50 million have already been distributed amongst the flood survivors in the region and more will follow.

When asked if his government will construct an alternative road to link Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) because a blockage in the Karakoram Highway (KKH) would lead to starvation in the area, the prime minister said: “We will see how we can expedite work on the Basbusar-Kaghan road to make it an alternative road for G-B.”

Landslides triggered by torrential rains had blocked the KKH on July 26, cutting off G-B with other parts that created a food crisis in the region.

“Now we have asked Baitul Mal to provide the rest,” he said, adding that aid via airplanes was also being brought.

The prime minister said that the magnitude of the disaster had sensitised the world beyond their expectations.

About 370 villages and 947 roads have been affected in G-B. The floods have inflicted losses worth Rs10 billion to this region. The Karakoram Highway (KKH), Gilgit-Baltistan’s road link to the rest of Pakistan, was restored on Thursday as a passenger bus took off from Gilgit to Rawalpindi.

According to the PDMA, 183 died in G-B due to a chain of disasters following the floods. The average rainfall recorded in the region this summer was between 100 and 150 millimetres, a 100 per cent increase from previous monsoons.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2010.