Obama seeks another $200 mn for Pakistan

US President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve another $200 million to address the emanating “serious humanitarian crisis” in Pakistan, due to exodus of more than 2.5 million people from the restive North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), escaping military operations against the Taliban.

In a letter to the US House of Representative Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, hours before he left on his overseas trip, Obama said these funds would provide urgent relief to the refugees of Pakistan. The request was part of the new supplemental request sent to Congress for the H1N1 virus. “To date, there are over 2.5 million displaced people in Pakistan, many of whom have fled their homes because of the Pakistani government’s counter-insurgency campaign,” Obama said, adding that the money would be used to address the serious humanitarian crisis developing in Pakistan. “These funds will provide displaces people in Pakistan with urgent relief and resettlement assistance,” he said.

Richard Holbrooke, the special US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, has already announced another $200 million humanitarian assistance for the Swat Valley refugees. Obama has sent him to have a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground.