SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Pakistan’s foreign minister repeated calls for compensation for the unprecedented destruction caused to the country by this summer’s flooding, saying debt relief could be a mechanism for doing so.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told The Associated Press on Wednesday at the UN climate summit in Egypt that the world is unequipped to deal with weather-related disasters of this scale and urged countries to find ways to address the issue.
“There’s no pot of gold sitting anywhere or no financial international mechanism really available to deal with the tragedy of this scale,” he said.
His comment comes as Pakistan races against time to arrange tents, food and other supplies for the flood victims ahead of winter just weeks away. Climate-induced flooding killed 1,739 people, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused around $40 billion in damages, according to the World Bank.
“Many months on from the initial flooding and rainfall, there are still many areas that are underwater,” said Bhutto-Zardari, adding that the World Health Organization warned that the country faces a health crisis because of waterborne diseases.
He added that instead of “charity” or “reparations” to pay for climate damage, nations should consider “out-of-the-box solutions that we could propose that can be a win-win for developing countries and developing countries.”
One of these is for debts owed by developing countries to rich countries to be written off, allowing nations to spend that money on clean energy and adapting to worsening weather caused by climate change.
Experts say Pakistan is responsible for only 0.4 percent of the world’s historic emissions that are blamed for climate change. The US is responsible for 21.5 percent, China for 16.5 percent and the European Union for 15 percent.
Bhutto-Zardari said Pakistan will hold an international donor conference early next year to seek financial assistance to start the much-needed rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the flood-hit areas, where thousands of people still live in tents and makeshift homes.
Bhutto-Zardari’s comments come more than a month after the United Nations issued a revised appeal, seeking five times’ more international aid for Pakistan amid a surge in deaths from waterborne and other diseases. The UN in October raised its request to $816 million from $160 million, saying recent assessments pointed to the urgent need for long-term help lasting into next year.
Doctors in Pakistan’s worst-hit southern Sindh province and southern Balochistan are still trying to contain the outbreak of waterborne diseases, which have caused nearly 400 deaths in flood-affected areas since July. According to the World Health Organization, about 10 percent of Pakistan’s health facilities were damaged in the floods, leaving millions without access to care.
However, most of the people displaced by floods have returned to their homes.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited flood-hit areas in Pakistan in September, assuring Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif his maximum support in highlighting the ordeal of flood victims. Sharif this week also attended the climate change conference in Egypt and sought help in tackling the flood damage.
Bhutto-Zardari said Guterres has been talking about debt relief for climate-hit nations. “Pakistan is the eighth most climate-stressed country on the planet, but most climate-stressed countries on the planet are also debt stressed, and that debt is owed to developed countries,” Bhutto-Zardari said.
So far, China and Washington have been the largest contributors in response to the floods in Pakistan, although several other countries also sent planeloads of aid, many flood victims in Pakistan say they were still without any help or they received too little aid from the government or aid agencies.
China’s leader is not attending this year’s climate summit, nor is the leader of India, Pakistan’s top rival as well as one of the top polluting countries.
Bhutto-Zardari said “it would have been helpful had India participated at an appropriate level.”
“And we do hope that our neighbors also take this issue seriously,” he said. “This is truly something that we can only combat if we were together across the world and take our responsibilities seriously.”
Pakistan foreign minister seeks compensation for damages caused by floods
https://arab.news/5jkz8
Pakistan foreign minister seeks compensation for damages caused by floods
- Instead of ‘reparations’ for climate damage, Bhutto-Zardari wants debt owed by developing nations to rich countries written off
- The Pakistani FM says money owed to richer nations can be used to adapt to worsening weather by climate-stressed countries
Pakistan army chief assumes role as first Chief of Defense Forces, signaling unified command
- New role is held simultaneously with Gen Asim Munir’s existing position as Chief of Army Staff
- It is designed to centralize operational planning, war-fighting doctrine, modernization across services
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most senior military officer, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, formally took charge as the country’s first Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) on Monday, marking a structural change in Pakistan’s defense command and placing the army, navy and air force under a single integrated leadership for the first time.
The new role, held simultaneously with Munir’s existing position as Chief of Army Staff, is designed to centralize operational planning, war-fighting doctrine and modernization across the services. It reflects a trend seen in several advanced militaries where a unified command oversees land, air, maritime, cyber and space domains, rather than service-level silos.
Pakistan has also established a Chief of Defense Forces Headquarters, which Munir described as a “historic” step toward joint command integration.
In remarks to officers from all three forces after receiving a tri-services Guard of Honor at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, Munir said the military must adapt to new theaters of conflict that extend far beyond traditional ground warfare.
He stressed the need for “a formalized arrangement for tri-services integration and synergy,” adding that future war will involve emerging technologies including cyber operations, the electromagnetic spectrum, outer-space platforms, information warfare, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.
“He termed the newly instituted CDF Headquarters as historic, which will afford requisite integration, coherence and coordination to meet the dynamics of future threat spectrum under a tri-services umbrella,” the military quoted Munir as saying in a statement.
The ceremony also included gallantry awards for Pakistan Navy and Air Force personnel who fought in Marka-e-Haq, the brief May 2025 conflict between Pakistan and India, which Pakistan’s military calls a model for integrated land, air, maritime, cyber and electronic combat. During his speech, Munir paid tribute to the personnel who served in the conflict, calling their sacrifice central to Pakistan’s defense narrative.
The restructuring places Pakistan closer to command models used by the United States, United Kingdom and other nuclear-armed states where a unified chief directs inter-service readiness and long-range war planning. It also comes at a time when militaries worldwide are re-engineering doctrine to counter threats spanning satellites, data networks, information space and unmanned strike capabilities.
