In a paradoxical move while reportedly denying permission to the use of US-controlled Shahbaz air force base in southern Sindh province for flood relief operation, the Department of State has established the Pakistan Relief Fund. The establishment of the fund was announced on August 19, in a video statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. This Fund is in addition to $150 million help announced earlier.
The floods have affected 20 million people and about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory. The flood disaster has apparently hit more Pakistanis than the toll of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake combined.
Shahbaz airbase
In a stunning statement before the Standing Committee on Health of the Senate,
Health Secretary Khushnood Lashari said, on August 18, that the relief operations in flood-hit areas of Jacobabad could not be conducted from the Shahbaz airbase because it is controlled by the US.
"Health relief operations are not possible in the flood-affected areas of Jacobabad because the airbase is with the United States," he said answering a question from a member of the committee.
Dr Jahanzeb Aurakzai, coordinator of the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Centre, said: "Foreign health teams could not start relief operations in remote areas because there are no airstrips close to several areas, including Jacobabad."
The town has been evacuated and 500,000 to 700,000 people have been affected. People displaced from Jacobabad, Thul, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Ghouspur and Karumpur are camping in Dera Allahyar.
"It is very unfortunate that Americans can launch a drone attack from Shahbaz airbase but the government is helpless even in using the country's base for relief operations," Senator Semeen to Dawn.
Telling, on August 16, while the focus of the Pakistani nation was on the sufferings of the flood victims, US launched two separate drone strikes in one day in North and South Waziristan killing 18 people. At least six people were killed in US drone attack in North Waziristan on Saturday (August 21).
Interestingly, US drones have now launched more than 100 deadly strikes in Pakistan since President Barack Obama came to power. In other words, US drone attacks in Pakistan have more than tripled under Obama claiming lives of more than 700 people compared to 200 under his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The US embassy has denied that Shahbaz airbase (from where drone attacks are reportedly being launched) was controlled by American authorities. "These allegations are completely false. Shahbaz airbase in Jacobabad is a Pakistan Air Force base, commanded and operated by PAF forces," the embassy's spokesman said in a statement.
However, the ground realities belie this denial.
According to the Nation, a leading Pakistani newspaper, the Pakistan Air Force was denying all manner of access to the airbase because of the presence of US personnel who had come along with the Block 52 F-16s, which were delivered at this base and had US conditionalities including the presence of US personnel to "keep an eye" on how the planes were used by the PAF.
While the PAF was responsible for the security of the base, it was the pressure from the US on security grounds, that was preventing access to the base-even of Pakistanis who had been involved in carrying out building work at Shahbaz, the paper added.
Organizers of national and international NGOs told The Nation that they could not reach Jacobabad to provide food and drinking water to as many as 500,000 to 700,000 flood victims due to strict security conditions adopted for Shahbaz Air Base.
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