By Michael Georgy
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Parts of northwest Pakistan inundated by the worst floods in 80 years face life-threatening food shortages, creating another crisis for the politically fragile president and a government perceived as inept.
President Asif Ali Zardari and his government have been hit by a barrage of criticism for their handling of the catastrophe which has so far killed at least 1,400 people. Zardari left for Europe earlier this week, at the height of the disaster.
World Food Program (WFP) spokesman Amjad Jamal said the organizations' workers were urgently trying to reach flood areas in the northwest cut off from food supplies, which a U.N. aid agency said devastated the lives of over 3 million people.
It's too early to gauge the economic costs of the flood but they are likely to be staggering. Pakistan is heavily dependent on foreign aid and its civilian governments have a poor history of managing crises, leaving the powerful military to step in.
"You can imagine for five or six days floods have caused havoc in these areas. People have lost their food stocks. The markets are not up and running. Shops have collapsed. People are definitely in the greatest need of food," Jamal said.
"That's what we fear. The need to rush to those areas which have been cut off for the past week to provide life-saving food."
The mainstay agriculture industry has been hit hard. Thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed in the Punjab agricultural heartland alone.
Rice exports may be hurt while the country could see more spending on imports of cotton and sugar.
Before the floods hit, a million people were already forced from their homes in the Pakistani northwest because of fighting between the army and Taliban militants.
If the floods deepen the problem, it could set back government efforts to get the people back home in a bid to help stabilize nuclear-armed U.S. ally Pakistan.
"We have sent a request to the government and we are getting six helicopters from them and we will be doing air drops to the areas which are cut off," WFP's Jamal told Reuters by telephone.
"A lot of agriculture-based activities have gone under water. So people may not be able to harvest or even sow their crops. This is a food crisis," he said.
"This region was already under the highest food insecurity status and the floods have further aggravated the situation."
The flood catastrophe, which started a week ago, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected. A breakout of water-borne diseases such as cholera would create a health crisis.
CRISES BESET ZARDARI
The disaster has also, once again, called into question the leadership of Zardari, already hampered by problems ranging from a stubborn Taliban insurgency, widespread poverty to chronic power cuts.
Political violence in Karachi this week has also killed more than 60 people, raising concern about the already struggling economy. [nSGE67307I]
Stability in Pakistan is vital to American interests in the region. Washington wants Islamabad to increase efforts to tackle a Taliban insurgency raging in Afghanistan by cracking down on militants who cross over the border to attack U.S. troops.
Zardari's administration has faced a cascade of crises over the last few weeks, from the worst ever domestic plane crash on the edge of the capital Islamabad to leaked reports on Islamabad's alleged support for militants battling U.S. troops in Afghanistan, to diplomatic rows with Britain.
Adding to the pressure, Islamist charities, some tied to militant groups allied with the Taliban and al Qaeda, are competing with the government to provide aid to the affected areas, possibly boosting their credibility and support among the people at the government's expense.
A similar dynamic occurred after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which killed almost 75,000 people according to official figures.
Pakistani civilians who resettled after being forced to flee fighting in the northwest now face fresh uncertainty after the floods. Some had just gone back, hoping to start a new life.
Now they must move again.
"First it was the Taliban, now it's mother nature." said Nawab Ali, 45, a resident of Swat Valley, where state officials had vowed to improve services and governance to prevent the Taliban from returning to recruit disillusioned Pakistanis.
(Additional reporting by Asim Tanveer, Augustine Anthony in Islamabad and Junaid Khan in Swat; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
