MPs stress fast aid delivery to flood-hit families

KABUL on Sunday asked the authorities concerned to ensure the floods-affected families in northern Baghlan province were delivered all necessary relief supplies.

The upper house also asked the government to conduct a thoroughgoing investigation into the suicide and bomb attack on a campaign rally of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

The brazen attack on Abdullah’s motorcade left a dozen people dead and 40 others wounded, besides damaging a large number of shops and vehicles in the area west of Kabul.

In Baghlan, heavy rains unleashed flash floods in the Guzargah-i-Noor district on Friday, washing away hundreds of homes and killing nearly 100 people.

However, some sources put at 200 the number of people died in the devastating floods that rendered thousands of people homeless and inundated crops standing over hundreds of acres of land.

Rescuers on Sunday continued delivering aid to the affected families as officials said about 91 bodies had been recovered so far from the floodwaters and from under the rubble of destroyed homes.

The upper house has sent a delegation to the affected area. A member of the delegation, Senator Maulvi Abdul Wali Rajai, who represents Baghlan in the upper house, said up to 200 people had died in the disaster.

He said about 1500 homes had been destroyed and almost all orchards and crops washed away in the floods.

“I have seen 73 dead bodies with my own eyes. There are no resources to continue searching for the dead and missing. The government should be quick in supplying essential relief goods to the marooned families,” the lawmaker demanded.

Rajai suggested the flood-affected families should be taken to another safe place, where they should be provided relief goods.

Several other lawmakers demanded an early delivery of relief goods to the affected families in Baghlan.

A legislator from Kabul Khaliqdad Balaghi said that recent natural disasters had claimed many lives and caused huge financial losses to dwellers in various parts of the country.

He asked the house administrative delegation to summon Emergency Response Committee officials to brief lawmakers about what preparations they had in hand to deal with more possible natural calamities.

Senate chairman Fazl Hadi Muslimyar also said the authorities concerned should assist the affected families as soon as possible.

The house also strongly condemned the suicide and bomb attack on Abdullah’s convoy in Kabul on Friday.

Abdullah survived the two back-to-back explosions and later told a political gathering that he lost three campaigners to the attack.

Senator Nisar Ahmad Haris remarked the attack on Abdullah showed the enemies of Afghanistan were out to sabotage the runoff presidential election.

He said pressure should be mounted on security organs to protect the two presidential runners in addition to providing security to the common people.

His colleague from southern Zabul province Mohammad Daud Hassas said security organs should bolster security of the candidates. He also called on both the candidates to avoid fueling differences on ethnic lines.

Muslimyar said the security organs should seriously investigate the attack on Abdullah’s motorcade and share their findings with the nation.

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