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The Pakistan Taliban has apparently urged the government to reject international aid for victims of the catastrophic flooding.
If foreign help is banned, the Taliban itself would provide the cash needed to deal with the worst floods in the country's history, according to spokesman Azam Tariq.
Claiming the aid groups are trying to enforce a Western agenda, Tariq said: "Pakistan should reject this aid to maintain sovereignty and independence."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's president has returned home to protests and anger.
Asif Ali Zardari has been heavily criticised for continuing his diplomatic visit to Europe while the lives of millions were being devastated.
The United Nations has said the natural disaster is worse than the 2005 Asian tsunami and Haiti earthquake in terms of the number of people affected.
Aid agencies warn that millions have been affected by flooding
Although 1,500 people have died in the heavy monsoon rains, the lives of at least 13.8 million have been badly affected.
The figure is more than the combined total of those affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
With the flooding expected to spread south, officials said Mr Zardari is scheduled to visit flood-hit areas.
But the move will be too little, too late for some Pakistanis.
One trader in the town of Nowshera in northwest Pakistan said: "A government is supposed to be like a parent.
"If a parent leaves his children in trouble and goes on jaunts abroad, it is scandalous."
Dozens of protesters in the southern town of Sukkur, in Sindh, have also accused politicians of ignoring the stricken population.
Sindh has yet to see the full force of the deluge flowing from the north of the country south to the sea.
However, up to one million people have been rescued from low-lying areas.
Thousands of people have also fled the major central city of Muzaffargarh amid warnings swollen rivers could soon submerge the area.
In the north, families are trapped on slivers of land with a few belongings and livestock, totally surrounded by water.
The floods have been triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain over the upper Indus river basin.
The waters have ploughed a swathe of destruction more than 600 miles long from northern Pakistan to the south.
Poor weather has grounded relief helicopters.
:: The Disasters and Emergency Committee has set up an appeal to raise money and received £7m in donations so far.
British boxer Amir Khan - whose family comes from Pakistan - has joined the calls to pledge cash, saying: "Day by day (the monsoon weather) is getting worse.
"It's just a shame to see that. Pakistan is a poor country, and you just feel for them because they need help."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wo...ejected_As_President_Asif_Ali_Zardari_Returns
If foreign help is banned, the Taliban itself would provide the cash needed to deal with the worst floods in the country's history, according to spokesman Azam Tariq.
Claiming the aid groups are trying to enforce a Western agenda, Tariq said: "Pakistan should reject this aid to maintain sovereignty and independence."
Meanwhile, Pakistan's president has returned home to protests and anger.
Asif Ali Zardari has been heavily criticised for continuing his diplomatic visit to Europe while the lives of millions were being devastated.
The United Nations has said the natural disaster is worse than the 2005 Asian tsunami and Haiti earthquake in terms of the number of people affected.
Aid agencies warn that millions have been affected by flooding
Although 1,500 people have died in the heavy monsoon rains, the lives of at least 13.8 million have been badly affected.
The figure is more than the combined total of those affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
With the flooding expected to spread south, officials said Mr Zardari is scheduled to visit flood-hit areas.
But the move will be too little, too late for some Pakistanis.
One trader in the town of Nowshera in northwest Pakistan said: "A government is supposed to be like a parent.
"If a parent leaves his children in trouble and goes on jaunts abroad, it is scandalous."
Dozens of protesters in the southern town of Sukkur, in Sindh, have also accused politicians of ignoring the stricken population.
Sindh has yet to see the full force of the deluge flowing from the north of the country south to the sea.
However, up to one million people have been rescued from low-lying areas.
Thousands of people have also fled the major central city of Muzaffargarh amid warnings swollen rivers could soon submerge the area.
In the north, families are trapped on slivers of land with a few belongings and livestock, totally surrounded by water.
The floods have been triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain over the upper Indus river basin.
The waters have ploughed a swathe of destruction more than 600 miles long from northern Pakistan to the south.
Poor weather has grounded relief helicopters.
:: The Disasters and Emergency Committee has set up an appeal to raise money and received £7m in donations so far.
British boxer Amir Khan - whose family comes from Pakistan - has joined the calls to pledge cash, saying: "Day by day (the monsoon weather) is getting worse.
"It's just a shame to see that. Pakistan is a poor country, and you just feel for them because they need help."
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Wo...ejected_As_President_Asif_Ali_Zardari_Returns