From: Andrew Johnson
Date: 2010-08-20 09:46:37
Are some people waking up? From: Kathy Roberts [mailto:weerkhr@pacbell.net] Sent: 20 August 2010 07:08To: Undisclosed-Recipient: ;@smtp106.sbc.mail.gq1.yahoo.comSubject: Pakistanis Blame India, US for Floods timesofindia.indiati… Pak hardliners blame India, US for floodsChidanand Rajghatta, TNN, Aug 20, 2010, 06.22am IST WASHINGTON: The Barack Obama administration has urged Pakistan to accept India’s aid offer even as hardline elements in the flood-ravaged country have begun a vicious campaign to blame India, the US and Afghanistan for the calamity. Amid mounting international attention and concern over Pakistan’s future in the face of the tragedy, US officials on Wednesday called on Islamabad to abjure politics and accept India’s help, including an initial $5 million offer it has sat on saying it is under consideration, though it’s begging for international aid. “I think the priority is to use offers of assistance to help the Pakistani people, so we would encourage the government of Pakistan to accept that (Indian) offer,” Frank Ruggiero, deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said on Wednesday. State department spokesman P J Crowley added in a separate statement: “In terms of responding to a disaster, politics should play no role. You have a country (India) that’s willing to help (Pakistan), and…we expect that Pakistan will accept.” Their remarks came amid a rash of reports in the Pakistani media blaming India, principally, for the massive floods, purportedly because New Delhi had deliberately diverted waters from dams in Jammu and Kashmir, and from the ones it “controlled in Afghanistan”. Some reports also charged that the US was manipulating weather patterns over Pakistan. US officials dismissed the idea with incredulity.
“So it was the United States and India that conspired to have the monsoons come to Pakistan? I don’t find that credible,” Crowley said in response to a question on such reports in the Pakistani media. Read more: Pak hardliners blame India, US for floods – Pakistan – World – The Times of India timesofindia.indiati…
