UK to send three Chinook copters for relief operations

LONDON—Muslim British MPs Shahid Malik and Mohammad Sarwar have helped secure the supply of 3 British Military Chinook Helicopters to assist in the disaster relief effort in Pakistan.
This week the two Muslim Parliamentarians, Shahid Malik of Dewsbury and Mohammad Sarwar of Glasgow Central met British Secretary of State for Defence, Dr John Reid MP and urged him to supply military helicopters to the quake-hit areas of Pakistan. They were clear in their statement that more needed to be done to aid the relief effort.
“Our continuous lobbying of the government coupled with close working with Pakistan’s High Commissioner Dr Maleeha Lodhi has meant that the government have now committed another 20 million pounds pounds for the aid programme,” Malik said in a statement here Friday.
Shahid Malik, who was in Islamabad when the earthquake struck, said he had never seen devastation on such a scale. He returned to the UK two days after the disaster to speak in the House of Commons, urging the government to commit the UK to a long term reconstruction plan that would span 10-15 years and also delivered the more urgent immediate request on behalf of the Pakistan government for helicopters.
“I was delighted that during our meeting with the Prime Minister Tony Blair that UK government committed £13 million in aid to Pakistan , and that yesterday Defence Secretary John Reid has agreed to supply 3 Chinook heavy lift helicopters to assist in the relief effort, said Malik.—Agencies