PTI chief Imran raises Rs5b for Pakistan’s flood victims in 3-hour telethon

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan received pledged of Rs5 billion from private donors during a three-hour telethon for the flood-affected people.

PTI chairman held an international telethon to raise funds for the flood victims.

In the beginning, he said the objective of holding the telethon was to raise funds for flood victims as no government alone can deal with such a catastrophe.

“Entire country has been affected by this [floods]… as per initial assessment losses of over Rs1,000 billion incurred due to floods and over 1,000 people have died so far,” he remarked. Imran said he received a lot of calls from Pakistanis including expats who wanted to help the flood victims.

The former premier said people can donate to two bank accounts opened by the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governments. The funds will be spent to help the flood-hit people across the country, he assured.

The event was moderated by PTI leader Faisal Javed while chief ministers of Punjab and KP — Perviaz Elahi and Mehmood Khan — and the former premier’s ex-assistant on social protection Sania Nishtar were also present on the occasion.

The initial economic losses from floods in Pakistan could reach at least $10 billion. Unprecedented and historical flash floods caused by abnormal monsoon rain have washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing at least 1,100 people in recent weeks and affecting more than 33 million.

Officials said it was going to be huge. So far, a very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10 billion, they said.

They said it might take five years to rebuild and rehabilitate the South Asian nation of 200 million people, which will be facing an acute challenge of food shortage.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said that his government will snatch its due share if the province will be ignored.

While visiting the flood-stricken districts of Nowshera and Charsadda, Khan took a jibe at Prime