Pakistan's Foreign Minister urges UN to help secure aid for flood survivors

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says the administration of Imran Khan is to blame for 'difficult economic times'

People affected by floods queue to receive food distributed by the Red Crescent Society in Larkana, Pakistan. EPA

Al Mahmood Social Welfare Association workers prepare food aid in Larkana, Pakistan. EPA

More than 33 million people have been affected by floods since June 2022, Pakistan's Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman says. EPA

A Pakistan Red Crescent Society worker sorts food parcels to be distributed to people affected by floods in Larkana. EPA

A girl carries a bottle filled with floodwater at a camp for displaced people in Sehwan, Pakistan. Reuters

Women affected by the floods wait for food aid at a camp for displaced people in Sehwan. Reuters

Flood-affected children suffering from malaria receive treatment at the Sayed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences in Sehwan. Reuters

Women wait with their sick children at the medical institute in Sehwan. Reuters

Flood-affected people eat food distributed by Al Mahmood Social Welfare Association in Larkana. EPA

Pakistan's Foreign Minister was on Friday seeking UN support to raise money for recovery efforts following devastating floods in the country, telling The National the funds would go towards “the beginning of our process of economic recovery”.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres this week on the sidelines of the G7 ministerial conference in New York. The UN chief reiterated his full support for humanitarian relief and recovery work in Pakistan’s flood-hit areas.

Monsoon rains, probably worsened by climate change, lashed Pakistan for months starting in mid-June, damaging or washing away two million homes and killing more than 1,700 people.

Mr Guterres said Pakistan's “resilient” reconstruction was his “top priority”, according to a UN statement.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister blamed his country's previous administration, led by Imran Khan, for causing “particularly difficult economic times” and said Islamabad had been in danger of defaulting on its debt obligations.

When asked about the increasing cross-border attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan, Mr Bhutto Zardari reiterated his commitment to engaging with the Taliban to “ensure that terrorist activities do not take place”.

“No one wants to see Afghanistan becoming a regional hotbed for terrorism,” he said.

“We want to work with the interim government of Afghanistan to ensure that they demonstrate both the will and the capacity to take on these groups.”

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have become increasingly tense over the past few months, especially in border regions. This week, eight Pakistani civilians and a Taliban soldier were killed in cross-border shelling.

And shots were fired at the Pakistani embassy in Kabul this month in what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called a “dastardly assassination attempt” against the head of the mission.

Mr Bhutto Zardari said he had no plans to visit Afghanistan anytime soon.

On wider regional issues, regarding the ousting of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women, Mr Bhutto Zardari told The National: “I don't think this is a good precedent.”

The adoption of a resolution calling for the removal of Iran from the body with “immediate effect” marked the first time a member of the commission had been removed.

A total of 29 states voted in favour of the resolution while eight were against, including China, Nigeria, Oman, Russia. Sixteen countries abstained.

Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at a press conference in Karachi in October this year. EPA