Labour asks Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to step up Pakistan response

Monsoon rains have submerged a third of Pakistan, claiming at least 1,160 lives since June.

• Pramod Thomas
• 31 August, 2022

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By: Pramod Thomas

Preet Kaur Gill MP has written to the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss about the UK’s response to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Pakistan, a statement said.

Floods triggered by unprecedented rains during the monsoon season have caused devastation across the country, with 33 million people impacted, 1,000 dead and over 287,000 homes destroyed.

So far, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has only announced £1.5 million in financial assistance in response to the disaster, barely 1 per cent of the total required to meet urgent humanitarian needs according to the UN, the statement added.

Preet Kaur Gill MP, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for International Development, said: “A third of Pakistan is under water and yet our Foreign Secretary is nowhere to be seen.

“As a close friend of the people of Pakistan, and with so many people across our country with 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.

“Liz Truss must urgently convene our international counterparts to coordinate and scale up a response proportionate to this crisis.”