Press statement: Govt, donors slammed, for neglecting flood-affected people

WPP says natural drainage systems undermined.


News Desk September 29, 2012



The Workers’ Party Pakistan (WPP) criticised the government and international donors for neglecting millions of people affected by the late monsoon floods even though the scale of devastation in the affected areas is similar to that of 2010.


In a press statement on, the WPP said in comparison to the minimal coverage of the floods and suffering of the affected people, non-issues are made into frontline news which indicates the callous attitude of those in power.

WPP president Abid Hasan Minto and information secretary Aasim Sajjad said there was no serious analysis of structural causes of the flooding and everything was attributed to nature.

The WPP leaders said the natural drainage systems of Pakistan’s major rivers have been neglected which is why monsoon rains result in the submersion of entire villages and towns.

The WPP leaders pointed out that interventions by the government and institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have undermined natural drainage systems and caused social and environmental degradation due to costly design flaws.

For example, the WB-funded Taunsa Barrage Emergency Rehabilitaiton and Modernisation Project caused massive flooding of Muzzaffargarh district two summers ago but now a similar project has been undertaken at Jinnah Barrage which will also fail spectacularly in monsoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2012.

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