'34000 women paramedics missing in Pak's flood affected areas'

Nov 27, 2010 |

Islamabad

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As many as 34,000 female paramedical workers have reportedly gone missing in areas affected by the devastating floods that swept across Pakistan earlier 2010, civil society activist Tahira Abdullah has claimed.

Ms Abdullah claimed an unnamed UN consultant submitted a report regarding the missing paramedics but the government and concerned ministries failed to take any action.

"Even the provincial governments are silent on this report, which should have been enough to shake the entire set-up," she told a roundtable discussion on transparency in governance in Islamabad on Friday.

Ms Abdullah said she had contacted Pakistani officials after reading the report but they contended the report was "fabricated" and "had nothing to do with reality".

She added: "they tried to play down the matter and said that there actually is exaggeration in the report, as according to their statistics, only 10,000 have gone missing during the floods."

She suggested that the government should conduct a roll call of the paramedics to confirm that they were safe and sound.

She also claimed the government had not rebutted the UN report. The worst floods in Pakistan's history killed over 1,700 people and affected 20 million, a majority of them women and children.

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