Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Preet Kaur Gill MP urges to urgently increase flood aid to Pakistan

As many as 33 million people have been affected, with at least 1,325 dead due to floods in Pakistan.

Preet Kaur Gill MP urges to urgently increase flood aid to Pakistan

Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill has urged the UK government to increase aid to Pakistan following unprecedented flooding which has left thousands dead.

"It was a matter of huge concern that the government has only pledged £1.5m in financial assistance to Pakistan in response to the immediate humanitarian crisis. I am concerned that this fails to address the scale of the devastation facing the country and its people," the MP said.


In a letter to then foreign secretary Liz Truss on August 30, Gill noted that a third of Pakistan is now under water following the floods, an area roughly equivalent to the size of Great Britain.

As many as 33 million people have been affected, with at least 1,325 dead, including 466 children, in the floods brought by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan's northern mountains, national disaster officials have said.

With yet more rain expected in the coming month, the situation could worsen still further, a top official of the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) warned.

"The UN has appealed for $160m, so the UK’s contribution to date is barely 1 per cent of the total required to meet urgent humanitarian needs. As a close friend of the people of Pakistan, and with so many people across our country having close ties of family and friendship to the country, it is essential that the UK play its part and steps up to meet the scale of this challenge," Gill said.

"What more is the UK government prepared to do to support the people of Pakistan at this incredibly challenging time? I strongly urge you to convene your international counterparts to coordinate and scale up a response proportionate to this crisis. The speed with which the humanitarian situation is evolving demands an equally swift response. There is no doubt that the unfolding disaster constitutes a climate catastrophe. Despite contributing less than 1 per cent to global emissions, Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries on earth to climate change-related weather extremes. Pakistan has over 7,000 glaciers, more than anywhere else on earth outside the poles.”

The lawmaker for Birmingham Edgbaston has said that the scale of this disaster in the country is incomprehensible, adding that the humanitarian situation is set to deteriorate even further as heavy rains continue over the coming days and weeks.

“Once the glaciers melt, the devastation they could unleash would be irreversible. This must be a wake-up call. I have been deeply concerned by some of your comments in relation to climate action during the Conservative leadership contest. Delaying or withdrawing action on mitigation and adaptation, such as your government’s decision to cut £100 million in international climate finance in July, is an inexcusable abdication of leadership given what we know global warming will cause and what we can already see before our eyes," MP Gill said.

"Climate change will be the defining issue of the 21st century, and it is therefore imperative that this government continues to honour its international climate finance commitments and leads from the front to galvanise global action in the run-up to the COP27 in November. I urge you to grasp the implications of this crisis, and I look forward to your swift and comprehensive response."

The floods have followed record-breaking summer heat, with the government and the UN both having blamed climate change for the extreme weather and the resulting devastation.

Pakistani authorities restored power on Tuesday (6) to towns and cities along the Afghan border, where hundreds of thousands of people have struggled without electricity for weeks.

More For You

China pledges to be a good friend and partner to Bangladesh

Xi Jinping

China pledges to be a good friend and partner to Bangladesh

THE Chinese president, Xi Jinping, last Friday (28) pledged deeper cooperation with his Bangladeshi counterpart Muhammad Yunus in a meeting that came as Dhaka seeks new friends to offset frosty ties with India.

Yunus took charge of Bangladesh last August after the toppling of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to New Delhi after a student-led uprising.

Keep ReadingShow less
Milton-Keynes

Eyewitnesses described hearing shouting before the shooting

iStock

Man shot dead by police outside Milton Keynes railway station

A MAN was shot dead by police outside Milton Keynes Central station after reports that he was carrying a firearm.

Thames Valley Police (TVP) said officers were called to the station at 12:55, where they challenged a suspect carrying a knife. The man moved towards officers before police fired at him.

Keep ReadingShow less
EXCLUSIVE: Eastern Eye wins press freedoms to help judges

SCRUTINY: The tribunal’s favourable verdict is an important win for accountability, say current and retired Asian judges (Pic credit: Getty Images/Leon Neal)

EXCLUSIVE: Eastern Eye wins press freedoms to help judges

A tribunal has ordered the body which appoints judges in England and Wales to disclose records it refused to give to Eastern Eye.

The decision is a major victory for press freedoms because it forces the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) to become more open and transparent.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sunita-Williams-Reuters

Sunita Williams was part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission and had been stranded in space for over nine months. (Photo: Reuters)

Reuters)

India looks amazing from space, says Sunita Williams

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams described India as "amazing" from space and expressed her intention to visit her "father's home country" to share her experiences on space exploration.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, she responded to a question about how India appeared from space and the possibility of collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Keep ReadingShow less
british-muslims-iStock

The study noted that this identification was not due to any doctrinal obligation but was influenced by the perception that many Muslims do not feel fully accepted as British. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Majority of British Muslims identify by faith first, study finds

A STUDY by the Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) has found that most British Muslims identify primarily with their religion rather than their nationality.

The research, based on a survey of 815 British Muslim adults by Whitestone Insight, revealed that 71 per cent of respondents identified as Muslim first, while 27 per cent identified as British, English, or Scottish first.

Keep ReadingShow less