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Anti-India mindset hurting Pak relief WASHINGTON: The United Nations has appealed urgently for helicopters to reach tens of thousands of Pakistanis marooned by the calamitous floods while scores of choppers idle in Indian hangars in the face of Islamabad's reluctance to accept aid from New Delhi. Amid reports that nearly 800,000 people stranded by the floods can now be reached only by air, the UN put out an SOS for choppers for a disaster that has markedly rendered Pakistan's fetish for F-16 fighter jets irrelevant. "We need at least 40 additional heavy-lift helicopters, working at full capacity, to reach the huge numbers of increasingly desperate people with life-saving relief," Marcus Prior of the World Food Program said in a statement. India meantime is sitting on some 300 utility choppers spread across its air force, navy, coast guard and army without moving a muscle because of Pakistan's obvious reluctance to accept help from New Delhi. Even that acceptance came after pressure from the US and the international community that hinted that Pakistan could not expect the world to come to its assistance while it selectively spurned help from close quarters. Help from the Indian military for Pakistan even amid its national disaster is a non-starter in the eyes of many because of the adversarial relationship between the two countries. Islamabad's move to accept the $5 million assistance from India has been met with scathing criticism from Pakistan's pro-military circles, with one commentator trashing the government for accepting aid under US pressure and invoking the Kashmir issue even as Pakistan is going down the tubes. Back |
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