Footage from a raid carried out at a rice mill in Sindh, Pakistan, shows that the ruling party hoarded tents and food supplies
PAKISTAN: In Naseerabad, Sindh, a session judge raided the rice mill of Wazir Phulpoto, a former councilor and local leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and found 1,500 tents for people who had been affected by the floods.
The floods in Pakistan have resulted in 32 million people being displaced – with most of the flood victims from Sindh and KPK (northern Pakistan). The footage comes as a shock to local residents and flood victims who have repeatedly lodged complaints concerning a lack of resources and supplies to help deal with the environmental disaster.
Arif Mehmood, who first reported this raid, says that the PPP leader has been charged because session judge Zahid Hussain Matilo told them to. According to him, Phulpoto is a close friend of provincial lawmaker Burhan Chandio.
In response to this accusation, Rab Nawaz Baloch, who is in charge of the PPP’s social media team, says that these tents were bought by a UAE-based organization and some of them were paid for by PMA Burhan Chandio out of his own money. They were stored here for distribution two days ago, but the session judge wrongly raided the area.
PPP claims that this was propaganda as the tents and supplies were the relief efforts of the government in UAE, and were kept there for storage purposes only while the leaders figured out how to distribute the supplies properly.
As it stands, flood victims across Pakistan still face dire conditions and see no permanent solution in sight. Government measures to assist flood victims have been insufficient so far, and there seems to be little to no work towards long-term rehabilitation.
While the country has received aid in the past few weeks from various countries and organizations, many wonder if it will be enough to compensate for this devastating natural disaster as Pakistan simultaneously comes to terms with its troubling economic situation.
