The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) said the international donors' conference was a total failure as it could not get the desired results and only $1.9 billion was pledged as aid and remaining $4 billion was soft-loans which would create another mountain of debt.
In a joint statement, Punjab PPP Vice-President Malik Ahmed Hussain Dehar, District PPP President Khalid Hanif Lodhi, City PPP President Khurshid Ahmed Khan, PPP Information Secretary Khawaja Rizwan Alam, Habibullah Shakir, advocate, ex-member, Punjab Bar Council, said the present regime headed by General Pervez Musharraf did not take the parliament into confidence nor did it contact the opposition properly to make the donors' conference a success.
Even the European Union (EU) expressed its doubts on the spending of funds and demanded transparency of funds.
They in their immediate reaction after the announcement of $5.82 billion funds, said that 'Pakistani nation was disappointed that most of the money in the new pledges is in the form of loans instead of grants. We fear that yesterday's pledges would prove to be short-term solutions for long-term needs."
They said that international media and analysts say "the international community risks heaping even more miseries on survivors by increasing the debt-burden of Pakistan through these reconstruction loans. It will be the poorest who will be the most affected by this.
PML(Q) leaders Faisal Mukhtar, District Nazim, Rai Mansab Ali MPA, Rana Suhail Ahmed Noon Town Nazim, Abbas Akbar Mohni Shah, Town Nazim, and Iqbal Khan Khakwani said pledges made by the international community to provide funds for rehabilitation of the earthquake-affected people reflect success of Pakistan's foreign policy.
In their statements they said the world community has so far made cumulative pledges of $5.827 billion, including the promises made at the donors' conference for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the quake-hit areas, and the figure was expected to rise. "The pledges made by the international community are more than the estimated figures," they said.
They also said the response of the world community showed that Pakistan was not isolated and a dignified nation.
"The foreign policy being pursued by President General Pervez Musharraf has started showing results," they said.
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