Canada's minister Harjit Sajjan visits flood-hit Chitral

Canada's Minister of International Development, Harjit Sajjan, visited flood-hit areas in Chitral - a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said Canada supports Pakistan for immediate relief and rehabilitation purposes.

He was accompanied by the high commissioner of Canada to Pakistan, Wendy Christine Gilmour and Iqra Khalid, Member of Parliament in Canada, President Ismaili Council for Pakistan, Hafiz Sherali and CEO Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan Akhtar Iqbal.

Interacting with the communities in Chitral, the Canadian minister observed the Aga Khan Development Network’s (AKDN’s) flood response and early recovery efforts in severely affected areas.

The Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), AKDN’s lead response agency for the floods, evacuated over 9000 people from the affected areas. The agency has provided more than 4000 families with food packages since the flooding began. The AKAH has set up healthcare camps in several parts of the country where over 50,000 patients have been treated in Sindh, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Harjit Sajjan also visited Brep, a flood-affected village in Chitral. He had discussions around climate change resilience, youth employment and women empowerment and visited areas where the current Global Affairs Canada (GAC) supported programmes of Broadening Economic and Social Transformation for Women’s Economic Empowerment and Recovery (BEST4WEER), Foundations for Health and Empowerment (F4HE) and SehatmandKhandaan (SMK) are being implemented by AKDN agencies.

There has been a long-standing relationship between Pakistan and Canada. The Canadian government has expressed its concern at this crucial time and has committed to supporting the relief efforts in the country.

The Canadian minister, in a statement, said no country can prepare for a climate emergency of this scale. He said his country is supporting Pakistan for immediate relief and rehabilitation purposes.