Islamabad: A year after he faced
embarrassment for visiting "dummy" relief centres during
Pakistan's unprecedented deluge, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani has again travelled to a "fake" flood relief camp in
Sindh, the media here said today.
Gilani, accompanied by federal ministers Naveed Qamar and
Khursheed Shah and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, went to
the "temporary relief camp" set up by the local administration
at a girls' college in Kunri area yesterday.
Media reports said the camp was set up on Sunday night
only for the Premier's visit.
Gilani flew to the area in a helicopter and waved to
people in the camp from a distance. He returned to the
helicopter after shaking hands with the local legislator from
his Pakistan People's Party.
People expecting to be provided relief goods, or an
announcement in this regard from the Prime Minister, received
nothing, the reports said.
After Gilani left the area, the rain-hit people tried to
pull out tents at the camp but they were chased away by PPP
workers.
The temporary camp housed peasants from constituencies of
some PPP legislators, the media reports said.
A number of rain-affected people, including women, who
had been living on the road outside the college for the past
few days, were barred from entering the camp in Kunri. They
were allowed in only after some journalists intervened in the
matter.
Several areas of Sindh have been flooded following heavy
monsoon rains.
Reports said over 200,000 people had been displaced by
flash floods.
In August last year, Gilani had faced embarrassment after
he visited dummy relief camps in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab
provinces. The camps had been set up by local authorities only
for the Premier's visits to flood-hit areas.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 19:53