Pak says Cameron's 'terror sponsorship' remarks hampering flood aid efforts

London, Aug 12(ANI): Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Abdullah Hussein Haroon, has said that British Prime Minister David Cameron's accusation of Islamabad promoting terrorism has hampered aid efforts for the flood-stricken country.

"Pakistan has suffered because of what David Cameron has said, because the British people will listen to their Prime Minister," The Daily Mail quoted Haroon, as saying.

The Disasters Emergency Committee, an umbrella group comprising thirteen UK charities, has so far raised 9.5 million pounds from the British public for the flood-affected people in Pakistan.

However, experts have said that the amount is less than the money raised for comparable disasters, such as the Haiti earthquake.

Cameron, during his visit to India last month, had said that Pakistan could not "look both ways" in receiving billions of dollars in aid from Western nations while continuing to "promote the export of terror, whether to India or Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world".

He later defended his comments, and said: "I think it's important, as I say, to speak frankly about these things to countries that are your friends".

Over 1,600 people have been killed and 15 million affected as raging floodwaters continue to wreak havoc in Pakistan.

The United Nations (UN) has said that Pakistan will need billions of dollars to recover from the unprecedented devastation caused by the country's worst ever floods.

"The UN is still calculating specific figures, but the emergency phase will require hundreds of millions of dollars and the recovery and reconstruction part will require billions of dollars," said Jean-Maurice Ripert, UN Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan.

Relief and rescue work has been hit badly by continuous rains, particularly in the north western region. (ANI)