Our Staff Report
ISLAMABAD : The President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, has conferred the civil award of Hilal-e-Pakistan upon Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, in recognition of her outstanding services to Pakistan.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and members of her delegation including Congressman Thomas Suozzi, Congressman Al Green, and Ambassador of USA to Pakistan, Mr Donald Blome, , called on the President and thanked him for bestowing the award.
The President congratulated the Congresswoman and thanked her for her outstanding leadership of the Pakistan Congressional Caucus and its keen interest in strengthening Pakistan-US ties. He also expressed his gratitude to her for visiting Pakistan at a critical moment and expressing solidarity with the flood victims and appreciated her concern for flood victims.
While briefing the delegation on the devastation caused by climate-change-induced floods, the President said that according to initial estimates USD 10 billion were required to rehabilitate flood victims and reconstruct the lost infrastructure. He urged the USA delegation to extend its helping hand to mobilize the USA and international community’s help to alleviate the sufferings of the flood victims for the reconstruction of lost infrastructure. “Pakistan alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of rehabilitating the flood victims due to the enormity and scale of devastation especially when it is faced with acute economic and financial difficulties”, he said. .
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Chairperson of the US Congressional Pakistan Caucus, showed her deep concern over the devastation caused by the super flood in Pakistan and promised that she would take up the matter with the US administration to provide further assistance to Pakistan in terms of material, equipment, and technical assistance to support the efforts to bring relief to the hardest-flood hit areas of Pakistan.
She said that the USA had committed USD 30 million for urgently needed humanitarian assistance, and it had already provided over USD 1.1 million in grants and project support to ensure direct assistance to those communities who had been most impacted and to help in preventing future floods. She said that the Pakistani diaspora in the USA was fully mobilized to collect donations for the flood affectees in Pakistan.
