Welcome India's aid for flood relief: US to Pak

Washington, Aug 19: As Pakistan has not accepted India's aid for flood relief work, the Obama Administration said Pakistan should welcome the offer.

"In terms of responding to a disaster, politics should play no role. You have a country (India) that's willing to help (Pakistan), and... we expect that Pakistan will accept," State Department spokesman P J Crowley said.

Days back Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna had called Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi and offered USD 5 million in aid for flood relief work.

Frank Ruggiero, Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan also asked Pakistan to accept India's aid.

"I think the priority is to use offers of assistance to help the Pakistani people, so we would encourage Government of Pakistan to accept that India's offer," he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister has arrived in New York to attend the meeting of UN General Assembly on the flood relief work, where he is expected to ask more international aid.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to announce more US aid for Pakistan. The US so far has provided USD 90 million for the relief work.

Mark Ward, Acting Director for USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance said Pakistan floods was one of the greatest challenges as 17 million Pakistani people were affected.

OneIndia News