4th November, 2005

STEFAN J. BOS
BosNewsLife

Pakistan has raised the death toll of last month's earth quake to over 73,000 as survivors including school children braved the onslaught of the Himalayan winter to reach a devastated town as part of "a solidarity march" organised by a religious rights organization.

The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), which fights for the rights of persecuted Christians and other non-Muslim religious minorities in the Asian nation, said the march in Balakot was "a gesture" towards all victims of the 8th October quake.

Located near the earth quake's epicenter in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, Balakot had become a symbol of suffering as the town was virtually wiped out from the map.

The solidarity march was therefore "a mode to bring [survivors] out of grief and sorrows," APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti told BosNewsLife. "APMA [already] launched a massive rescue and relief operation when the colossal earthquake hit the northern areas of Pakistan, which left thousands dead and wounded, and approximately 3.3 million without shelter," he added in an internet interview from the region.

RECONCILIATION EFFORTS
There has been concern among human rights organizations that minority groups such as Pakistani Christians struck by the earthquake will not be seen as a priority for aid in the mainly Muslim country. Christian aid groups and APMA hope their efforts to reach out to all communities could lead to reconciliation in areas where religious minorities like Christians have been persecuted by Muslim militants.

APMA Chairman Bhatti suggested to BosNewsLife that the Balakot march was an effort to "symbolize that we all stand hand in hand in this crisis. APMA will also be delivering gifts and relief goods on the Eid day, the Muslim festival after fasting month, to share the grief and sorrows of these victims," he stressed.

"The situation for the victims is getting worse and miserable as the winter with heavy snow is around the corner and thousands of families still need food, shelter, warm clothing [and] blanket etc. to save themselves from a second wave of death," Bhatti said.

NEW DEATH TOLL
It came as Pakistan's government announced that the death toll from last month's 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the country's northern region rose to more than 73,000 as the rescue workers reach the areas that were inaccessible earlier. The official death toll jumped from a 57,000 total given by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to the nation's parliament a day earlier, news reports said.

In addition at least 1,300 people are believed to have died in the Indian part of Kashmir, the disputed territory between India and Pakistan. BosNewsLife New Delhi Bureau Chief Vishal Arora said it was believed that Christians were among those who were killed and injured in both India and Pakistan.

Native Christian missionaries meanwhile said they have been trying to reach out to all communities. Christian Aid Mission (CAM) said its "native missionaries have been in place since the disaster, lending what assistance they are able to [give to] homeless and injured victims. They continue relief work today with what resources they have." Gospel for Asia, another Christian advocacy and aid group working with local missionaries has made similar statements.

RIVALLING TSUNAMI
"Many in the international community have turned their attention away from this disaster, even though some observers have said that the fallout from it could rival that of the tsunami," CAM told BosNewsLife.

Christian oriented aid group World Vision said supporting children had become its priority as the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, reported that up to 2.2 million children were affected by the quake, and another 17,000 killed. "There are clearly more children than adults in need of shelter, protection, food, medical care, and other necessities," it said.

However landslides, caused by rain and more than 1,000 aftershocks, are reportedly hampering aid efforts as they continue to block the few roads available in the mountainous area of 25,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) in Pakistani Kashmir and the North West Frontier province affected by the quake.

North Pakistan has more mountains higher than 8,000 meters than any region on earth. Besides the punishing landscape, violence continues to make relief efforts difficult, Christian aid workers say. In one incident a rocket-propelled grenade apparently was fired at a US-military helicopter ferrying relief supplies to quake victims in Pakistan's portion of divided Kashmir on 1st November but the aircraft was not hit and nobody was injured, the US military said.

Pakistan's army spokesman General Shaukat Sultan reportedly doubted an attack took place.

Copyright 2005 BosNewsLife. All rights reserved.

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