Climate change major recipe for disaster for South Asian stability: Mushahid

TUNIS : The Secretary General of the Pakistan Muslim League, Mushahid Hussain Sayed told an international conference in Tunis (Tunisia) on "International Economic and Political Stability" that the environment and climate change was a major issue of survival for the people of South Asia and he expressed the hope and confidence that the upcoming conference on this issue in Denmark would protect the interest of one-fifth of humanity that resides in South Asia.

Mushahid Hussain was addressing the international conference as a representative of South Asia and he also linked the global economic crisis with the issue of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, whose total cumulative cost now is in the vicinity of $ 2 trillion, quoting leading American economists.

Mushahid Hussain said that the recent sea level could submerge a huge part of the South Asian coastal belt and according to estimates, over 70 million people living in coastal areas may be forced to leave their homes.

Additionally, he underlined that the rapid melting of glaciers in the Himalayas could cause flooding as well as loss of farm production and lives of 500 million people in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh could be affected. And two South Asian countries, Bangladesh and The Maldives could well be submerged under water.

Referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mushahid Hussain said that even official American estimates had said that the Iraq war had cost over $ 700 billion and Afghanistan over $ 200 billion while, additional cost including rehabilitation of the injured and medical costs of the casualties could be $ 2 trillion.

He also emphasized the link between militarization of policies and the global economic crisis.