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Pakistan is to clamp down on charities linked to Islamist extremists amid fears their involvement in flood relief could exploit anger against the government and undermine the fight against groups such as the Taliban.
Islamist charities have moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by a government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and struggling to reach millions of people in dire need of shelter, food and drinking water.
It would not be the first time the government has announced restrictions against charities tied to such groups, but critics say banned organizations often re-emerge with new names and authorities are not serious about stopping them.
"The banned organizations are not allowed to visit flood-hit areas," said Interior Minister Rehman Malik. "We will arrest members of banned organisations collecting funds and will try them under the Anti-Terrorism Act."
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned on Thursday that militants were trying to exploit the floods to promote their agendas -- as they did after a devastating earthquake in Kashmir in 2005.
More than four million Pakistanis have been made homeless by nearly three weeks of floods, making urgent the critical task of securing enough aid.
In a sign of improving relations between the Pakistan and India since the Mumbai militant attacks in 2008, New Delhi said that $5-million in aid had been accepted after initial reluctance from Islamabad.
"We welcome acceptance of our offer by Pakistan's government. It is a goodwill offer for solidarity," India's foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi.
Eight million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance after around a third of the country was hit by floods, with waters stretching dozens of kilometres from rivers.
The floods have marooned villages and destroyed power stations and roads just as the government had made progress in stabilising Pakistan through offensives against militants.
There were increasing fears of disease outbreaks.
"With over 38,000 reported cases of acute diarrhoea already and at least one confirmed cholera death, the spectre of major cholera outbreaks is real," Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta of the women and child health division at Aga Khan University in Karachi wrote in the Lancet medical journal.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said millions of livestock were at risk and at least 200,000 cows, sheep, buffalo, goats and donkeys had already died.
"Livestock in this country are the poor people's mobile ATM," said David Doolan, senior FAO Officer, in charge of FAO programmes in Pakistan. "In good times people build up their herds and in bad times they sell livestock to generate cash."
Weather officials said floods could recede in Punjab province but there
was a danger of more rain in Sindh over the next week. These provinces, where the majority of Pakistanis live, have been hit hardest by the floods.
The United States led a stream of pledges of more funds for Pakistan during a special meeting of the UN General Assembly on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised a further $60-million, bringing to more than $150-million the contribution Washington would make toward emergency flood relief.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the world had a duty to act.
"It is one of the greatest tests of global solidarity," said Mr. Ban, saying that Pakistan was facing a "slow-motion tsunami."
The UN has issued an appeal for $459-million, of which about 60% had been pledged.
Pakistani officials are due to meet the International Monetary Fund next week for talks on easing growth and fiscal deficit targets following the country's worst-ever floods.
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Islamist charities have moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by a government overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster and struggling to reach millions of people in dire need of shelter, food and drinking water.
It would not be the first time the government has announced restrictions against charities tied to such groups, but critics say banned organizations often re-emerge with new names and authorities are not serious about stopping them.
"The banned organizations are not allowed to visit flood-hit areas," said Interior Minister Rehman Malik. "We will arrest members of banned organisations collecting funds and will try them under the Anti-Terrorism Act."
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari warned on Thursday that militants were trying to exploit the floods to promote their agendas -- as they did after a devastating earthquake in Kashmir in 2005.
More than four million Pakistanis have been made homeless by nearly three weeks of floods, making urgent the critical task of securing enough aid.
In a sign of improving relations between the Pakistan and India since the Mumbai militant attacks in 2008, New Delhi said that $5-million in aid had been accepted after initial reluctance from Islamabad.
"We welcome acceptance of our offer by Pakistan's government. It is a goodwill offer for solidarity," India's foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said in New Delhi.
Eight million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance after around a third of the country was hit by floods, with waters stretching dozens of kilometres from rivers.
The floods have marooned villages and destroyed power stations and roads just as the government had made progress in stabilising Pakistan through offensives against militants.
There were increasing fears of disease outbreaks.
"With over 38,000 reported cases of acute diarrhoea already and at least one confirmed cholera death, the spectre of major cholera outbreaks is real," Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta of the women and child health division at Aga Khan University in Karachi wrote in the Lancet medical journal.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said millions of livestock were at risk and at least 200,000 cows, sheep, buffalo, goats and donkeys had already died.
"Livestock in this country are the poor people's mobile ATM," said David Doolan, senior FAO Officer, in charge of FAO programmes in Pakistan. "In good times people build up their herds and in bad times they sell livestock to generate cash."
Weather officials said floods could recede in Punjab province but there
was a danger of more rain in Sindh over the next week. These provinces, where the majority of Pakistanis live, have been hit hardest by the floods.
The United States led a stream of pledges of more funds for Pakistan during a special meeting of the UN General Assembly on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised a further $60-million, bringing to more than $150-million the contribution Washington would make toward emergency flood relief.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the world had a duty to act.
"It is one of the greatest tests of global solidarity," said Mr. Ban, saying that Pakistan was facing a "slow-motion tsunami."
The UN has issued an appeal for $459-million, of which about 60% had been pledged.
Pakistani officials are due to meet the International Monetary Fund next week for talks on easing growth and fiscal deficit targets following the country's worst-ever floods.
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