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* Villagers say they were looted while trying to flee chaotic floods
* Nobody to save flood victims from bandits
KARAMPUR: Armed bandits are exacerbating the misery of Pakistan’s massive floods, stealing cattle and food from survivors fleeing the country’s worst humanitarian crisis, witnesses said on Friday.
UN officials have warned that the extent of the losses to the infrastructure and economy will put the country back years.
The US has increased its aid to $76 million and said that Senator John Kerry would visit the country next week to raise public awareness and drum up donations for the ally.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who Thursday visited flood victims for the first time, has cut back a scheduled visit to Russia next week to less than a day because of the crisis, his office announced.
Political pressure has been building on the unpopular president from the powerful opposition and the general public after he failed to cut short a visit to Europe last week in order to deal personally with the crisis.
But in the village of Karampur outside the city of Sukkur, local residents waded through stagnant floodwaters up to their chest, retrieving valuables and lashing out at the government for failing to protect them from looters.
Some villagers said that they preferred to guard their flooded homes while sending their wives and children to safety. Others said they had been looted while trying to flee during chaotic scenes.
“There was nobody to rescue us from the floods and now there’s nobody to save us from bandits. We were waiting for help when armed men came and seized our belongings at gunpoint,” said Abdul Karim, 20.
“There was not so much. Two goats and some wheat and rice. They snatched it all and escaped.”
Speaking to AFP in a tent city in Sukkur, mother of five, Mai Meema, 60, said she lived in Khanpur, near Karampur. “We left with our belongings in a tractor when armed men surrounded us. They snatched everything and fled. We were poor people but never slept on an empty stomach. This flood has made us beggars. We have nothing at all. They deserve God’s curse. Instead of helping us, these criminals looted us,” she said.
Pakistan says up to 20 million people face direct or indirect harm, although without providing a detailed breakdown on how. afp
* Nobody to save flood victims from bandits
KARAMPUR: Armed bandits are exacerbating the misery of Pakistan’s massive floods, stealing cattle and food from survivors fleeing the country’s worst humanitarian crisis, witnesses said on Friday.
UN officials have warned that the extent of the losses to the infrastructure and economy will put the country back years.
The US has increased its aid to $76 million and said that Senator John Kerry would visit the country next week to raise public awareness and drum up donations for the ally.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who Thursday visited flood victims for the first time, has cut back a scheduled visit to Russia next week to less than a day because of the crisis, his office announced.
Political pressure has been building on the unpopular president from the powerful opposition and the general public after he failed to cut short a visit to Europe last week in order to deal personally with the crisis.
But in the village of Karampur outside the city of Sukkur, local residents waded through stagnant floodwaters up to their chest, retrieving valuables and lashing out at the government for failing to protect them from looters.
Some villagers said that they preferred to guard their flooded homes while sending their wives and children to safety. Others said they had been looted while trying to flee during chaotic scenes.
“There was nobody to rescue us from the floods and now there’s nobody to save us from bandits. We were waiting for help when armed men came and seized our belongings at gunpoint,” said Abdul Karim, 20.
“There was not so much. Two goats and some wheat and rice. They snatched it all and escaped.”
Speaking to AFP in a tent city in Sukkur, mother of five, Mai Meema, 60, said she lived in Khanpur, near Karampur. “We left with our belongings in a tractor when armed men surrounded us. They snatched everything and fled. We were poor people but never slept on an empty stomach. This flood has made us beggars. We have nothing at all. They deserve God’s curse. Instead of helping us, these criminals looted us,” she said.
Pakistan says up to 20 million people face direct or indirect harm, although without providing a detailed breakdown on how. afp
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