UK warns extremists may exploit flood crisis in Pakistan

LONDON - In the wake of vast devastation and humanitarian crisis caused by unprecedented floods in Pakistan, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned of extremists coming to fill in the void and exploiting the natural calamity to their ideological advantage, if the international community failed to come up with adequate aid.

“Extremists can move in to a vacuum that if Governments did not show that they can do something to help those people then others will move in there and start to win their confidence,” the Daily Times quoted Hague, as saying.

“If we don’t do more to help then we’re making the problems worse. Then we are making the potential threat that has sometimes come out of Pakistan in the past, we’re potentially making that worse,” he added.

Pointing out that the UK was leading the way, and that other EU nations as well as the west needed to do more, Hague opined, “It’s in their vital interest as well that Pakistan is a stable society and a more successful economy than it has been.”

The UK government has earmarked 64 million pounds towards the floods and brought forward a bridge project worth ten million pounds, while the British public has contributed a total of 40 million pounds to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Pakistan has so far received 291 million dollars in aid from the international community.

The “worst floods in Pakistan’s history”, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours in July, have claimed the lives of over 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 20 million people, eight percent of the population. (ANI)