ONE of the main missions of the United Nations is to assist any nation hit by a natural disaster, especially a poor nation like Pakistan. However, if the disaster is massive, far worse than the Tsunami that hit Asia in 2004, as the UN recently said, the whole world should act swiftly to assist the ill-fated country. No-one knows exactly how many people have died in the floods from which Pakistan is suffering, but the number must be very large Ð two whole villages in the north of the country have totally disappeared, while others have become completely cut off. The worst-ever flooding seen by this country has left millions of Pakistanis homeless and hungry. The UN estimates that 6 million people have been affected by the floods. In a country whose economy is already suffering badly from the so-called war on terror, with the US forcing Pakistan to chase fugitive Afghan al-Qaeda elements, the whole world, especially the US, should speedily come up with an emergency plan for salvaging Pakistan. The US came up with a similar plan, when Haiti was rocked by a tragic earthquake last January, destroying most of the country's capital, including the presidential palace. Pakistan needs millions of dollars to implement an emergency salvage plan and billions of dollars to reconstruct damaged towns and villages, as well as its infrastructure. Helping a nation hit by a natural disaster shouldn't be done for political reasons, but the world could still use this incident to gain the strong support of the Pakistani nation in the global war on terror, if it offered real assistance to Islamabad. If not, no-one should blame the Pakistani people for sympathising with and sheltering Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives.
