By: Asem Mustafa Awan
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres during his two-day visit to Pakistan has said that the world is facing an “extremely unfair” situation.
Talking to media representatives along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Secretary General said that those countries responsible for the climate change should come forward to help Pakistan.
Play your part as the environment destroyed needs to be repaired to bring back the balance in the ecosystem. The UNSG said it is important for the international community to understand that Pakistan needs massive financial assistance to overcome the crises, it is not a matter of generosity but of justice.
United Nations head urged the world to provide support in building infrastructure and helping to create favorable conditions for people who are at the epicenter of climate change.
Pakistan is one the few countries that get the maximum brunt from the climate change conditions resulting in natural disasters.A country with a fertile, peaceful and vibrant workforce is subject to floods, earthquakes, droughts and storms. It is prone to drought and heavy monsoons.
In the last 17 years, Pakistan has faced three major catastrophes. These crises have affected a total of about 28 million inhabitants. While their nature and scale varied, two of them were due to natural disasters. The 2005 earthquake affected 3.5 million people, the 2010 floods affected more than 20 million people. A third disaster that has caused violence and killings in Pakistan is terrorism. There was a crisis of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in scenic areas. About 4.2 million people were displaced from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
According to media reports, 89 percent of the displaced people chose not to stay in refugee camps set up by the government. The rest of the families were kept in camps in Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat and Peshawar. About 50 percent of the IDPs were children and 90 percent had lost all their assets.
With the visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the disaster in Pakistan will be exposed to the world, the international organization provides support in various rehabilitation projects, with the interest of Antonio Guterres, global efforts for the rehabilitation of the flood victims can be accelerated.
It is noteworthy that whether it is Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie or United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres after the flood of 2010, international personalities who came to help the people of Pakistan in difficult times look disappointed when they see the rulers and officers of Pakistan moving with expensive clothes and lavish protocol.
Seeing the pompous and rich talk, no one believes that this nation is going through a tragedy and it needs international help. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appealed to the world to help Pakistan, previously some money has been collected in the flash appeal due to his interest.
Diplomats from different countries and American parliamentarians have visited the flood-affected areas. British MPs are asking for forgiveness of international debts due to Pakistan. All of them are sympathizers of Pakistan and willing to help the disaster-stricken people here, but our system and the lifestyle of the rulers prevent these sympathizers from trusting Pakistan.
The writer is Special Correspondent at The Dayspring