‘If Allah wills…’: Pak PM responds to Modi’s Tweet on Pakistan Floods
Rainfall has been 500% above average in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, drowning entire villages and fields, razing buildings, and destroying crops.
The destruction brought on by the floods in Pakistan grieved Prime Minister Modi, who expressed his hope on Monday for a speedy restoration of normalcy.
On Wednesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for expressing worry over the material and human losses brought on by the country’s worst flood in years and promised to help his nation recover from the disaster.
“I thank Indian PM Narendra Modi @narendramodi for condolences over the human & material losses caused by floods. With their characteristic resilience the people of Pakistan shall, InshaAllah, overcome the adverse effects of this natural calamity & rebuild their lives and communities,” Sharif tweeted.
The destruction brought on by the floods in Pakistan grieved Prime Minister Modi, who expressed his hope on Monday for a speedy return to normalcy.
“Saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the injured and all those affected by this natural calamity and hope for an early restoration of normalcy,” Modi had tweeted.
Pakistan Floods
The day before Sharif’s tweet, he essentially ruled out the possibility of looking into food imports from India to help resolve shortages caused by the severe floods.
In a TV interview on Monday, Pakistan’s finance minister, Miftah Ismail, suggested that his nation should look into importing vegetables and other food goods from India to help its citizens deal with the extensive crop loss brought on by flash floods.
When Sharif met the foreign media on Tuesday on the extraordinary floods in Islamabad, he was bombarded with inquiries about potential food shipments and the restart of trade with India.
“Trading with India won’t have presented any issues, but genocide is taking place there and Kashmiris are being denied their rights. By abolishing Article 370, Kashmir has been forcibly annexed, according to Sharif, who was referring to India’s intention in 2019 to end Jammu and Kashmir’s unique status and divide the area into two union territories.
But I’m willing to have a conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. War is unaffordable. We will have to devote our limited funds to reducing poverty in our individual nations, but without tackling these problems, we cannot live in peace, Sharif remarked.
Unprecedented monsoon rains have caused hundreds of deaths in landslides and floods. Up to 33 million individuals have been forced to relocate.
Nearly 500,000 people are housed in relief camps in Pakistan, where more than 1,000 people lost their lives as a result of the torrential downpours.
In order to avoid a default, the country had to acquire a $1.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to official estimates of the damage, which total more than $10 billion. Large tracts of agriculture are currently under water, posing a threat of an impending food crisis for the nation.
International organisations have requested that imports from India be permitted through the land border, according to Ismail on Wednesday. However, the Pakistan government can only take this into consideration after analysing the supply situation and consulting with its coalition partners and other important parties.
“Numerous international organisations have requested permission from the government to cross the land border with food from India. After speaking with its coalition partners and other important stakeholders, the government will decide whether to permit imports or not based on the supply deficit situation “Tweeted by the minister.
(With inputs from agencies)
