[xtypo_dropcap]P[/xtypo_dropcap]akistani President Asif Ali Zardari returned home Tuesday to criticisms over his visit to Europe while floods in Pakistan continue to kill hundreds and affect millions of people.
Catastrophic flooding in the country has worsened affecting almost 14 million people, according to United Nations figures based on estimates by the Pakistani government.
One critique published anonymously in the Pakistan Daily, said that the president should have cut short his visit and returned to Pakistan if only for purely symbolic reasons.
“In the face of such calamity people need to feel that their leaders are standing by them,” the critic wrote.
Zardari visited France and Britain, where British Prime Minister David Cameron did not retract his comment made in July that Pakistani officials are not doing enough to counteract terrorism.
The Pakistani government has already been criticized at home for its slow or nonexistent humanitarian response.
The U.N. said that the number of people affected had already exceeded the impact of the earthquake that struck the South Asian country in 2005.
The floods continue to destroy and damage thousands of homes, crops, and other property as well as hamper humanitarian efforts.
World Health Organization reported that acute diarrhea, scabies, and acute respiratory tract infections are the main health problems arising among those affected by the floods.
Catastrophic flooding in the country has worsened affecting almost 14 million people, according to United Nations figures based on estimates by the Pakistani government.
One critique published anonymously in the Pakistan Daily, said that the president should have cut short his visit and returned to Pakistan if only for purely symbolic reasons.
“In the face of such calamity people need to feel that their leaders are standing by them,” the critic wrote.
Zardari visited France and Britain, where British Prime Minister David Cameron did not retract his comment made in July that Pakistani officials are not doing enough to counteract terrorism.
The Pakistani government has already been criticized at home for its slow or nonexistent humanitarian response.
The U.N. said that the number of people affected had already exceeded the impact of the earthquake that struck the South Asian country in 2005.
The floods continue to destroy and damage thousands of homes, crops, and other property as well as hamper humanitarian efforts.
World Health Organization reported that acute diarrhea, scabies, and acute respiratory tract infections are the main health problems arising among those affected by the floods.
