ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan should not be forced to go with a ‘begging bowl’ to rich polluting nations after floods devastated the country, stressing that it is ‘climate justice’ that his government is seeking.
In the second part of his interview with the British daily The Guardian published on Thursday, Mr Sharif pointed out that Pakistan is facing an unprecedented crisis of health, food security and internal displacement after the ‘apocalyptic’ monsoon rains put a third of the country’s areas under water.
With Pakistan responsible for only 0.8 percent of the global carbon emissions, the premier said it was the “responsibility of the developed countries that caused these emissions to stand by us”.
“I’ve never seen this kind of devastation, inundation and suffering of our people in my lifetime,” he said. “Millions have been displaced, they have become climate refugees within their own country.”
While the international community has given millions in funds and donations and commitments for further support, Mr Sharif was clear this was “not enough”. “The enormity of this climate-induced catastrophe is beyond our fiscal means. The gap between our needs and what is available is too wide and it is widening by the day.”
The official death toll from the floods is 1,600, but some other assessments have come up with higher tallies. More than nine million people have been displaced, and over two million homes destroyed in the flash floods; millions of families have been forced to live in tents or makeshift shelters by the roadside.
The extent of the damage has been put at between $30 billion and $35bn, but Mr Sharif said it was “a rough estimate, it could be more” with more than 30,000km of roads destroyed along with bridges, railway tracks and power lines, besides 4 million hectares (10m acres) of crops washed away.
“Let me be clear, this is about climate justice,” said the prime minister. “We are not blaming anybody, we’re not casting allegations; what we are saying is, this is not of our making but we have become a victim. Should I be asked to cast my appeal into a begging bowl? That is double jeopardy. That’s unjust, unfair.”
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader expressed confidence that Pakistan would not default on its obligations despite the upcoming debt payments in billions of dollars and billions more needed for flood relief and rehabilitation work. “No way. We will not default,” he remarked.
The premier confirmed that his government would be talking to “everybody” about the possibility of a debt repayment moratorium. “What we are asking for is fiscal space but not through the burden of more debt,” he said.
He said that because of the enormity of the flood crisis and large distances between the affected areas, the government is struggling to overcome the challenges. He added that the government is disbursing flood relief funds among the affected people through the Benazir Income Support Programme in a transparent manner.