HRW accuses Pak army of hoarding relief

New Delhi: A US-based human rights watchdog has accused Pakistani military officials of putting scarce tents and other relief supplies in storage, rather than handing them out to the needy.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), an organisation monitoring relief efforts in Pakistan, claimed that the lack of coordination between Army and civilian authorities was hampering relief efforts in Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

HRW stated that the army was storing tents and other supplies instead of distributing them in the affected areas.

Pakistani officials at the distress sites claimed that they would lose their jobs if they handed out tents.

?Tents are now the most important commodity (in PoK). But they are being used for power and patronage by military and civilian authorities that control the territory,? said Chairperson Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Asma Jahangir.

?It is essential for the public to know that aid is being handled in a non-arbitrary, non-discriminatory manner?, said HRW Asia director, Brad Adams.

Army denies charge

Pakistan's Chief Army spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, rejected what he called a totally baseless and wrong report.

Sultan stated that relief goods were being received and then distributed to forward bases in affected regions, where quake survivors could obtain them.

?We are trying to regulate the relief more effectively in order to avoid the chaos that we faced in the first phase of distribution,? he said.

Also denying the charge, Deputy Commissioner of Muzaffarabad, Liaquat Hussain, said the civil government had set up a registration system for relief goods coming through official channels.

He indicated that HRW might have misinterpreted what it saw.

?It is part of the system. We have a registration location where we check and register the supplies coming through the official channel and then forward them to the most deserving locations in the affected areas,? he said.

Hundreds of thousands of homeless and displaced victims of the October 8 earthquake, face the threat of disease and death from exposure unless the supply of weatherised tents and blankets increases dramatically and quickly.