Let development supercede politics: Moazam Malik

Britain's leading aid agency urges Pakistan to put political issues aside and work towards development.

ISLAMABAD: As almost all provinces, except Sindh, move towards the recovery phase, Britain’s leading aid agency has urged Pakistan to put its political issues aside and work towards development.

“At a time when Pakistan is facing so many simultaneous challenges such as conflicts, political issues, public finances, and inflation in the backdrop of the floods, the country needs to put its politics aside,” the head of Department for International Development (DFID) Western Asia, Moazam Malik, told The Express Tribune.

“The federal and provincial governments along with the international community need to come together and work for development as a team,” he said, adding that the disaster would be the largest challenge that the country has encountered.

With 20 million people affected by the catastrophic floods, a lot of people are going back to their homes. The aid agency has prioritised the development sectors which focus on livelihoods, jobs, agriculture and education.

“Children need to get back into school. Temporary schools are not a long-term solution,” said Malik. The risk of epidemics is really high and the situation is really unstable in Sindh as 40 per cent of the children have been affected and the water has remained standing for a few more weeks.

Malik says that, “Pakistan is wasting its potential, today millions of children are out of school; our top priority is to involve the government, NGOs, and private sector to this as it needs the most attention. Through these programmes, not only will the children be getting an education but a major chunk of those who dropped out of school will get vocational trainings where we can then produce skilled technicians and agriculture workers.

“Temporary spaces will be made for children so that they can play and study to deal with the trauma, but we also need to think about facilitating the men as them losing their fields is no less traumatising,” said Malik.

The secretary of state for development, Andrew Mitchell, in June after his visit to Pakistan had said that Pakistan would be the UK’s largest development programme and very soon there would be talks held in this regard.

The DFID will continue to provide assistance and the recovery phase will continue for a year. “When we think about recovery we must not lose sight of the emergency,” said Malik. Provision of clean water and public health still remain areas of concern for the development sector.

The UK government has committed £134 million for the relief and recovery effort. However, a further £70 million for further emergency relief and recovery was announced at the UN on the September 19 by Mitchell.

This £60 million will help people get back to work, it will get thousands of children back to school, provide seeds, tools, and livestock. The remaining £10 million pounds will provide further lifesaving aid in the south of Pakistan. Allocations will be announced over the coming weeks.

However, as the government of Pakistan moves towards the recovery and reconstruction phase, the international community is eager to see the damage needs assessment (DNA). “We do not know how big the number is going to be, but it would be beyond any single body’s capacity. The government needs to find newer ways to generate income,” Malik pointed out.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2010.