PAKISTAN: WEST HAS FAILED US
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/tm...name_page.html
(Gold9472: My heart goes out to everyone affected in that region. I can't imagine what they're going through. However, in regards to the President's comments, that's what happens when you make a deal with the devil.)
11/5/2005
PAKISTAN's President Pervez Musharraf accused the west of double standards over aid to earthquake victims yesterday.
He said western countries were meaner with aid than in last year's Asian tsunami - because wealthy tourists weren't among the victims this time.
His blunt comments came as he toured some of the worst-hit flattened villages in Kashmir which was devastated by the October8 quake.
He also said hewas postponing an order for 25 F-16 fighter planes from the US at a cost of £13million each to concentrate on giving emergency aid.
Musharraf said the west simply had not given enough cash.
The quake - the worst in south Asia for 100 years - left more than 70,000 dead and three million homeless with as many as 800,000 still sleeping rough as winter sets in.
Musharraf said: "Compared with the tsunami, I would think the damage here is much more. The magnitude of the calamity here is much more."
He said international donors responded generously to the tsunami in which 230,000 people died, because "it affected people from many countries of the world, especially the west who were tourists in various areas."
"Here, unfortunately, this is a remote area, poor people affected. I would appeal to the world to see reality - that it is these people who deserve aid more."
The UN say they need £328million in emergency aid for quake victims but donors have pledged only £78million so far.
Time is running out for tens of thousands of survivors in ruined villages who will be exposed to appalling weather with heavy snow within days
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