Qureshi says Pak media’s sensationalizing aid ‘misuse’ hitting country’s image abroad

ISLAMABAD - Blasting the country’s media for raising the issue of transparency in utilisation of foreign aid, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the doubts being raised by the media is affecting the country’s international image.

“If you yourself raise doubts about your government and its agencies, you would weaken the world confidence,” Qureshi told reporters here during a press conference.

“Everyone wants transparent use of the assistance. There can be no two views. But it is more under debate over here than it is with the international community,” he added.

Qureshi was responding to questions regarding allegations that the flow of international aid for Pakistan has been slow, at a time when it is facing its worst natural catastrophe of the past years 80 years, because of fears of fair and transparent use of aid.

The United Nations (UN) has been struggling to obtain 460 million dollars to provide emergency aid to six million victims of the country ravaged by heavy flooding, as the donor countries fear that the aid being flown into Pakistan may end up in the hands of the Taliban.

“The UN must explain to donor states that the money is not going to go to the hands of the Taliban.The victims are the mothers, the farmers, children. But in the past, information linked to Pakistan has always been linked to Taliban and terrorism,” Melanie Brooks, spokeswoman of the humanitarian group, Care International, said.

When asked about India’s five million dollar assistance, he said there were sensitivities involved in the issue because of “a different nature of relationship with it,” The Dawn reports. (ANI)