British Foreign Secretary William Hague has underscored the importance to provide further aid to Pakistan in dealing with the humanitarian crisis arising out of unprecedented floods in the South Asian country which has affected 20 million people.
In an interview with a British TV channel he explained why the international community needs to do more to help Pakistan. Hague said that more help was needed for humanitarian reasons, but also for the security of Britain and the West.
"Extremists can move in to a vacuum that if Governments don't show that they can do something to help those people then other people will move in there and start to win their confidence." "If we don't do more to help then we're making the problems worse. Then we are making the potential threat that has sometimes come out of Pakistan in the past, we're potentially making that worse."
The UK Government has so far earmarked 64 million pounds sterling to the floods and brought forward a 10 million pounds bridge project. The UK public have contributed 40 million pounds to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal. The Foreign Secretary said that the UK is leading the way and that other EU nations have to do more: "It's in their vital interest as well that Pakistan is a stable society and a more successful economy than it has been in recent years."