Interview with Pakistani High Commissioner, Fauzia Nasreen

Sky News Australian Agenda program, 29th August 2010

Helen Dalley: Can you give us an update? The floods are so devastating that I think many
Australians and many people around the world just can’t come to grips with the numbers of
people who’ve been made homeless, who have no food, who have no medicines, who are
without clean water. Can you give us a picture right now?

Fauzia Nasreen: I’m sure as you must have been seeing most of the pictures that have been
coming out from Pakistan, the water has moved from the northern parts of Pakistan to the
southern part of Pakistan. Now it’s the province of Sindh which is in the south east that has
been most badly affected by the floods right now. 19 districts out of 23 districts have been
inundated and the water is still standing over there. A number of villages of course had to be
evacuated. The total number I’m sure you would know of the people who’ve been displaced is
something like 20 million people, and obviously they are facing the severe problem of not only
being rescued, to provide relief to them, to put them in some camps, provide them shelter and
look after other needs, especially the medical problems that are cropping up. So it’s a huge,
huge task. In addition to that, of course, the infrastructure has been destroyed and we are
having difficulty in evacuating people. Fortunately the international community has stepped
forward and we are getting more helicopter support to evacuate these people from places where
it’s not possible really to reach them through any other means.

Helen Dalley: We’re hearing reports that there could be something like six million children and
women who are homeless and who are without food. Australia perhaps was a bit distracted
during the election campaign, but the campaigns to raise money for Pakistan have been going
very strongly in the last couple of days. What more do you want Australia to do?

Fauzia Nasreen: I think probably right now what has happened is that the World Bank and the
Asian Development Bank, they have already undertaken a damage needs assessment. The
early recovery is presently what is going on in Pakistan, but we are I think in the medium term
going to go into a long-term recovery program. I think that is where Australia can play a very
important role, because there are several developing programs that are already going on with
the help of Australia and Pakistan. So probably there will be a need to have another look at
these programs and see in the post-flood situation how these programs can be adjusted and
maybe the outcome can be maximised. But I can say one thing, that despite the fact that there
were elections in Australia, I think the response was very, very impressive at the government
level. I think there was a bipartisan kind of consensus. The political parties were on board. We
received something like $35 million of assistance. In addition to that there’s a medical team that
is already in Pakistan and they’ll start operating from tomorrow. I think people also have started
contributing. I must mention about the ABC Radiothon and SBS Radiothon, they’ve been able
to raise huge amounts. The Premier of NSW has committed something like A$500,000 and I
think the Premier of Queensland has also pledged something like $500,000. This will go to
UNISEF and I think to Red Cross. So I think people are responding, and I’m not discouraged.
I’m not dissatisfied.

Helen Dalley: We are hearing reports that terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba is setting up some of
the relief centres under other names. How much of a risk to you and your fight against terrorism
and extremism is this development?
Fauzia Nasreen: I think the military is involved in a very major way in the relief efforts in
Pakistan and also providing shelter, along with other government agencies. So right now I think
the challenge for the military is to be able to devote attention to this still going on tragedy in
Pakistan.

Helen Dalley: But is this true, that Lashkar-e-Taiba is setting up relief centres under other
names?

Fauzia Nasreen: I think these are reports, but I think the authorities in Pakistan are cognisant of
it and I’m sure there won’t be any possibility of anyone taking undue advantage of the situation,
and our authorities are fully competent of handling any sort of development.

Paul Kelly: I’d like to ask you, High Commissioner, about how relations operated with Australia
during the caretaker period? I mean the caretaker period in this country coincided with a lot of
this crisis. Who did you deal with? Were you able to deal with a government and opposition
effectively during this caretaker period?

Fauzia Nasreen: I think we were dealing with the caretaker government and obviously I was in
touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs, AusAID, and also the Prime Minister’s office, the
Foreign Minister’s office, and of course the Defence Minister and the Department of Defence
was also involved in a very big way. But I’m sure from the press releases that you’ve seen, they
reflected very clearly that the counterpart Shadow Minister was taken into confidence by the
government, or was appraised of the kind of assistance that was being provided to Pakistan.

Helen Dalley: We will have to leave it there, High Commissioner. Thank you so much for
joining us and bringing us up to date.

Fauzia Nasreen: Thank you very much.