Taliban backs relief efforts after deadly Pakistan quake
LAHORE, Pakistan — The Taliban on Tuesday urged its fighters to aid earthquake victims and said it would not block governmental relief efforts in the battered region of northern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The communique was issued as workers scrambled to deliver emergency supplies to the isolated, mountainous area that was rocked by a magnitude-7.5 quake Monday. The death toll rose to more than 370 on Tuesday, but authorities warned it could continue to climb as rescuers reach remote villages where communication lines were cut off by the quake.
The Taliban has waged a series of bloody battles in recent months with troops supporting the Western-backed government in Kabul. As a result, earthquake relief efforts had been hamstrung by security concerns. The Taliban — or Islamic Emirate — indicated Tuesday it would not hinder emergency teams, Reuters reported.
"The Islamic Emirate calls on our good-willed countrymen and charitable organizations to not hold back in providing shelter, food and medical supplies to the victims," the group said in a statement. "And it similarly orders its mujahedin in the affected areas to lend their complete help."
The epicenter of the quake was on the Afghan side of the border, but Pakistan took the brunt of the destruction and deaths. Afghan and Pakistani officials listed the preliminary death toll at 258 people in Pakistan and 115 in Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. More than 200 died in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone.
Thousands of people were injured and thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed. The result: Thousands left homeless ahead of a harsh winter common for the Hindu Kush mountain region that stretches from northern Pakistan deep into central Afghanistan.
Pakistan declined offers of relief assistance from the U.S., neighboring India and other nations.
“We have enough resources to handle the situation,” Pakistan Information Minister Pervez Rashid said at a press conference Tuesday in Islamabad. “The government is utilizing all resources to save human lives and restore communication links."
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the town hit the hardest by the earthquake, Shangla in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along the Afghan frontier, where he said at least 49 people were killed and 80 were injured.
When the earthquake struck, Arshad Khan, a teacher in Buner, fled her house with her 14-year-old son, who suffered a fractured leg and his head required stitches. Khan said she saw a neighbor die under a collapsing house.
“Pakhtunkhwa is in ruins literally — cut off from the road network,” said Khan, who was at Lady Reading Hospital in the provincial capital of Peshawar. “We are waiting to hear about our missing family and friends. We are losing hope.”
Mushta Aziz, a shopkeeper and father of two from Gilgit, a Pakistani city about 100 miles from the border with Tajikistan, said his family was forced to sleep outdoors in the cold amid rubble.
“We are still trying to locate our close relatives,” he said. "My sister and her family are still missing, and there is no way to reach them due to the landslides."
People who were not in the most-affected quake zones were leery, too. Many fear aftershocks that could cause another disaster.
“No one is willing to go back into their houses,” said Faisal Sheikh, 26, an engineering student in Islamabad. “We are good when outside in the open. Let things get stabilized, then fear will vanish from people’s minds.”
Sharif said his government would soon announce details of a relief packages for victims. Authorities were working to clear landslides that had prevented aid from reaching remote areas. A cargo plane carrying 7 tons of rations — including 2,500 ready-made meals, 1,000 tents, medicine and other supplies — shuttled goods to isolated areas. Trucks were carrying another 20 tons of rations, including 10,000 ready-made meals, 1,000 tents and other supplies, authorities said.
“It has caused a delay in response at a time when the utmost rescue operations are needed,” said Omar Shah, a Pakistani soldier who has been working on rescue efforts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mohan reported from New Delhi; Bacon reported from McLean, Va.