Quake survivors stage anti-graft protest

Posted by Kashif Aziz
October 8, 2006

Hundreds of survivors of last year’s earthquake in Pakistan staged an anti-graft protest in the capital on Saturday, accusing reconstruction officials of corruption.

Waving placards reading “Stop taking bribes”, “Spend the winter with us” and “Build our homes before snowfall”, the demonstrators marched from parliament to the office of the Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra).

The protest came a day before the first anniversary of the earthquake. “For the past four and a half months, I have received not a single penny,” said Gohar Rehman, a father of five who had come from Muzaffarabad.

A month after the disaster international donors pledged $6.5 billion for Pakistan to help it through the relief, recovery and reconstruction phases of the crisis. But many protesters said they were not receiving enough assistance. International aid agency Oxfam in a report this week also said the progress of recovery was patchy and administrative bottlenecks and corruption had compounded problems for victims.

President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday dismissed the criticism and said reconstruction activities were going well. He also described as grossly exaggerated Oxfam’s assessment that at least 1.8 million people living in makeshift shelters and tents were at risk from the Himalayan winter. He said only 35,000 people would be facing the winter living in tents.

Another 2,000 people staged a rally in Muzaffarabad to express their resolve to rebuild their devastated city. “The earthquake killed around 45,000 people in Azad Kashmir but thanks to Allah our people have not lost their courage and are determined to rebuild their lives,” Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, prime minister of the region, told the rally. Earlier, another 200 students rallied to pay tribute to their colleagues who lost their lives in the earthquake.

Source: The News

Aftermath

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