Muzaffarabad, October 22:

An international human rights group claimed today that Pakistani officials are storing tents and other relief supplies instead of immediately distributing them to earthquake survivors - an accusation angrily denied by the government and military officials.

The charges came as the UN appealed for more aid for victims of South Asia’s massive earthquake, warning of another wave of deaths if survivors don’t get shelter and food before the Himalayan winter comes. NATO has agreed to send up to 1,000 troops to Pakistan to boost relief efforts.

“We urgently need tents, shelter and helicopters for inaccessible areas,” said Jan van de Moortele, the UN’s humanitarian aid coordinator for Pakistan. “Time is against us, we can buy everything with money, but not time.”

New York-based Human Rights Watch issued a statement accusing civilian authorities, working under military supervision, of storing tents and other needed relief goods at a supply depot in Muzaffarabad, the city at the heart of the quake-shattered region.

During the October 19 incident, Pakistani officials at the scene told the organisation it was being done “so that they would be able to avoid problems when senior military and civilian officials demand supplies that otherwise would not be available,” the group’s statement said. One official said he would be fired if he gave out tents, the group added.

“Tents are the difference between life and death,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch. “It is essential for the public to know that aid is being handled in a non-arbitrary, non-discriminatory manner.” But Pakistan’s chief army spokesman, Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, rejected what he called “a totally baseless and wrong report.” “At present there is no need to store, and there is no place to store these things, which we desperately need to save tens thousands of people rendered homeless,” he said.

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

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

He indicated that Human Rights Watch may have misunderstood 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.

Aid inadequate: Musharraf

Islamabad:

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said the amount of foreign aid pledged for reconstruction after the South Asia quake is “totally inadequate”. In an interview with the BBC, Musharraf said about $620 million had been promised, but Pakistan needed $5 billion to rebuild devastated areas. — AP