Pakistanis desperate to get out of flooded villages threw themselves at helicopters on Saturday as more heavy rain was expected to intensify both suffering and anger with the government, according to Reuters. President Asif Ali Zardari may have made the biggest political mistake of his career by leaving for visits to Paris and London during the worst floods in 80 years. The disaster has killed more than 1,600 people and disrupted the lives of 12 million. Pakistan's agriculture-based economy, heavily dependent on foreign aid, has suffered a major blow. Heavy rain is expected to lash the country again raising the prospect that more homes and crops will be swept away. In the town of Muzaffargarh, near where rivers bloated with rain from as far away as Afghanistan and India merge with the Indus to flow south to the sea, army helicopters dropped packets of rice to people who had moved to higher ground to a cemetery. Some latched on to helicopter skids as the aircraft took off. An elderly man fought his way inside one. He looked down and wept. "Things are getting worse. It's raining again. That's hampering our relief work," said U.N. World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamal. Districts in southern Sindh were on high alert as the water surged down the Indus river basin. After a dike burst in one Sindh village, authorities ordered people to leave and soldiers started evacuations, said a district official. Authorities said up to a million people in the province have been evacuated. Floodwaters have roared down from the north to the agricultural heartland of Punjab to Sindh along a trail more than 1,000 km (600 miles) long. Sindh is home to Pakistan's biggest city and commercial hub, Karachi, but the floods are expected to hit rural areas. U.N. officials said more than half a million people had been evacuated in Sindh. In Brussels, a spokeswoman for NATO said on Saturday its Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre would assume a coordinating role for aid supplies from members of the Western alliance and partners. She said NATO was responding to a request from the Pakistani government for supplies including food, mosquito nets, tents, generators and medicines. NATO, which is battling Islamist militants in Pakistan's neighbour Afghanistan, mounted a major relief operation after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan's Kashmir region. OVER THE BORDER Flooding was also taking a toll over the border in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where rain was hampering rescue and relief efforts. Flash floods have killed at least 132 people in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. Responding to criticism of his absence, Zardari, said the prime minister was capable of dealing with the crisis. "There is a chief executive at home ... The parliament is in session, the Senate is in session, it's the prime minister's responsibility and he's fulfilling his responsibility," Zardari told the BBC. In Britain, more than 100 Pakistanis protested outside a convention centre where Zardari was due to speak. One banner read "Zardari, part-time president!", echoing sentiment among flood victims back home still waiting for help. "Our president is out visiting foreign countries while we drown here. The government is doing nothing," said villager Anar Gul in northwestern Pakistan. "Just look at our condition. We have no drinking water, nothing to eat, nothing. We are sitting in the rain. We have no tents. We are not getting anything from anywhere." Pakistan's government was already under pressure to tackle a range of problems. Militants still pose a security threat despite offensives, poverty is widespread and corruption is rampant. Although Zardari this year handed most of his powers to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, he still wields influence, and his departure for Europe as parts of Pakistan were submerged further eroded faith in the civilian government. The military, with which Zardari has had differences, has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history. It has spearheaded relief efforts, reinforcing the view that civilian governments cannot handle major crises. Analysts did not expect the army to make a grab for power. It remains too preoccupied with Taliban insurgents to try and orchestrate a takeover. The military would rather play a behind the scenes role and let the government take the heat.
