President Musharraf: It is my proud privilege to be hosting the Secretary-General here. I would like to express my gratitude, from the bottom of my heart, to the Secretary-General and his wife, Mrs. Kofi Annan, for traveling so far to see on the ground what is happening here and to contribute their bit in generating all the support for these earthquake victims. We are grateful. May I also express my gratitude to the entire United Nations organizations - many organizations which are here, to the NGOs which are working here, whether foreign or Pakistani, I must commend all of you for the degree of cooperation that is going on between the military, the civil government, NGOs and the United Nations organizations. I thank you for that also.
SG: Thank you very much, Mr. President. I came to see the situation for myself and to listen to the needs of the people and to have discussions with the government. I have been impressed and depressed by what I have seen. Depressed by the number of houses that have been destroyed and will need to be rebuilt, but impressed by the level of cooperation and determination that I have seen this morning. As the president said, everyone is working together and I am extremely pleased with the work that my colleagues from the UN, the NGO's and other organization are doing here. And we can really have far greater impact when we pool our efforts and that is happening and I'm very, very pleased to see that. Tomorrow, there will be a pledging conference - a pledging conference to raise money to continue the relief activities for recovery and reconstruction. The figures seem big –we need $5.2 billion - but when you consider the magnitude of the task it's not very much. And I hope governments and individuals and private organizations, those with capacity will give and give willingly and generously to help our fellow human beings in need. Thank you very much.
Q: Donors are concerned about the military's oversight over earthquake relief. Are you convinced that the structures for honesty and transparency are there?
SG: During the tsunami, we set up a tracking mechanism and we worked with a professional accounting firm on it and we have a mechanism for tracking expenditures and donations. So on our side, working with our partners, I think we should be able to do that. But I don't know if I should speak for the president. I'm sure he would speak for himself as to how they are dealing with this themselves.
President Musharraf: we are extremely cognizant of this fact of corruption, therefore transparency and accountability [..] there are two levels that we have to ensure, one that what ever money is being spent or given in terms of cash is being given to the right persons and not to the wrong persons. And for that purpose we have made committees of revenue department, the local government, the parliamentarians and the military to make ensure that money and relief is given to the right person, so that area of accountability, of transparency is covered. The other is that the money that is coming to the government, and being given for distribution, is used correctly, that is where I'm going to declare at the conference tomorrow all [the] transparency and accountability measures the government has adopted, including, audit by foreign auditors, not by local, and total transparency and accountability will be ensured for every penny that we get.
Q: What message would you like to give to the world community?
SG: I think I sent out a message in my preliminary remarks. I would want to tell them that the situation is serious, the needs are enormous and the people affected can use all the help they can get. And I hope they will be able to support these people. Regardless of the distance, regardless of where they are, when so many people are affected, none of us should be indifferent.
Q: Now that you have seen, how would you describe the scale of the devastation that you have witnessed?
We have always described this earthquake as one of the largest humanitarian tragedies we've had to deal with and seeing it and realizing that house after house has been destroyed, people have had to be moved into tents and some are still up in the mountains, with the winter approaching, it is a really tragic and urgent situation. And the scale is gigantic. We often talk of the tsunami, and we did because it killed so many people and affected so many countries, but when you look at the terrain here and the logistical challenge that had to be overcome in order to get aid to the people, it is really, really, a gigantic task that we have ahead of us.
Q: How can the UN help Pakistan with a long-term strategy with this earthquake? Secondly, how would you describe or react to the efforts of the Pakistani military working in this mountain terrain and working and helping the affected people in these difficult areas?
SG: I think for the long-term, it begins tomorrow. Tomorrow (Saturday 19th November) at the pledging conference I will appeal to the donor community and to the world to respond to the appeal for money for reconstruction, for recovery and to help people recover their livelihood and their jobs. I think we've been extremely happy to be able to get the kind of cooperation that we've got. Normally, humanitarian workers don't like to work with the military. But it has worked extremely well here. The military and the civilians, as you've heard from the president have really made a good team. And quite frankly, without the logistical heavy lifting by the military we wouldn't be where we are today. So I applaud the military for its ability to work with the civilian humanitarian teams, the way they have done. I also know that often the military want to do their own military work and do not want to linger doing these civilian or humanitarian tasks, any longer than it is necessary. So I am very, very pleased with what I have found here.
President Musharraf: May I also chip in here, because this military part and the accountability part that the lady asked here … maybe you don't know the Pakistani environment that well. Even if you want to ensure a 100 per cent transparency and accountability, it is the civil government who asked the military to be included. It is the inclusion of the military which will ensure the transparency and accountability of all the funds that come in. So please, understand the environment of Pakistan. Thank you very much.
SG: Thank you.