Quite difficult for flood victims to spend nights under open sky: Khawaja Asif

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Minister for Defense Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday said flood victims should be compensated timely and without any prejudice.

Responding to a point of order on the floor of the National Assembly, he made it clear that neither the federal nor the provincial governments were distributing flood relief goods on the basis of party affiliation.

The minister said if there was any sort of distinction in some areas, it should be sorted out on priority adding that he would bring the matter into the limelight of the federal cabinet to address the grievances of the respective colleague of the house.

He also mentioned that because of the winter season, it would be quite difficult for the flood victims to spend nights under the open sky. He said it was the responsibility of the government to provide them shelter before the temperature reaches freezing point.

"The government also had given a package for farmers, particularly in those areas which were severely affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods. The government has very limited resources but despite that, it is financially stretching other institutions to provide relief to the flood-affected people," he disclosed.

The minister also lamented that it was the flaw of their political culture that the candidate of the winning party was provided the funds for development schemes while the candidate of the opposition party was not entertained equally.

He said that he had experienced this biased practice during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government which did not provide even a single penny to the members of opposition benches because of that the people of their constituencies were deprived of the development work.

Khawaja Asif said that this political flaw should be eliminated and every member of this august house should be treated equally.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Hashim Notezai of the Balochistan National Party proposed that the government should provide timely compensation to the farmers. He said that the farmers should be given leverage in case of electricity bills and they should be facilitated by solar panels to meet their electricity needs.

He said that the flood-affected people should be provided cash so that they could build their houses as early as possible.

On this occasion, Ghous Bakhsh Mahar of the Grand Democratic Alliance expressed his grievances on the delay in providing relief to the people affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods, particularly in Sindh. He said that the government had announced a Rs 5,000 subsidy per acre to the farmers but they had not paid yet.

He pointed out that the people were forced to live miserable life under the open sky. He urged the government to release funds to the flood victims as soon as possible so that they could arrange something for their shelter, especially in this extreme winter season.