Ban due in Pakistan tomorrow

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would visit Pakistan tomorrow while Senator John Kerry would come on August 18 to survey relief operations after major floods. Presidential spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said that the floods inflicted huge losses which could not be met sans foreign aid and assistance. The President also thanked the global communities for pouring aid in this hour of critical need and for the solidarity being shown.Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-authored last year's 7.5 billion-dollar aid bill for Pakistan, will be the first senior US policymaker to visit since the disaster that affected up to 20 million people. Since the floods, the United States has offered $76 million in aid and sent helicopters to assist relief. A US text-messaging donation campaign has raised some 12,000 dollars for Pakistani flood victims, compared with more than 30 million dollars for Haiti's earthquake earlier this year, according to State Department figures.