UK MP urges world to cancel Pakistan debts amid flood disaster

LONDON: UK MP Claudia Webbe has asked the world to cancel Pakistan’s international debts amid devastating floods that have wreaked havoc across the country, pushing inflation to a 47-year high.

The call from the UK lawmaker came as Pakistan deals with the worst climate disaster with officials saying more than 33 million people are affected — one in every seven Pakistanis — and reconstruction work will cost more than $10 billion.

Rains, described by UN chief Antonio Guterres as a "monsoon on steroids" have claimed hundreds of lives since June, unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.

Read more:  Floods destroyed 118 districts, caused Rs2,000bn loss

MP Claudia Webbe joined several other international figures who have supported Pakistan saying the country is facing a crisis that is caused by the developed world.

“Inflation in Pakistan is at an all-time high at 27%!” she mentioned.

“Pakistan’s international debt should be immediately cancelled - they should instead be given reparations for the climate crisis caused,” Webbe appealed to the world.

She raised the issue earlier as well, slamming the “silence from Western political leaders” while Pakistan faces the historic disaster and termed it “a moral crime”.

The lawmaker said that this is the time to stand shoulder to shoulder in full solidarity with Pakistan and demanded the imposition of a global climate tax so that the global rich can be made pay for the climate damage they cause in the world.

She told that the global community a tragedy is unfolding in Pakistan which is only responsible for 1% of global emissions.

“It’s completely wrong that it has to bear the brunt of climate change. The super-rich caused the climate crisis. The super-rich should bear the cost.”