Bhai Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) expresses the sympathy of the Sikh community for the people of Kashmir. Over a million in the UK have relatives or decedents from the regions affected and are very distressed in seeing the effects of the earthquake. We are totally taken aback after hearing the derisory pledge of £100,000 by the UK Foreign Secretary in response to the earthquake in the Muzaffarabad area in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. We call upon the UK Government to announce a massive increase in financial and humanitarian aid. We are also pleased to learn that the UK Sikh charity Khalsa Aid has mobilised and is sending teams to Kashmir. Given the magnitude of the earthquake and the nature of the area affected we would not be surprised if the death toll reaches tens of thousands, the numbers injured probably exceeds a hundred thousand and the homeless runs into several millions. The UK Government and the international community should therefore be committing many millions of pounds of assistance. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FINALLY REACTS TO SCALE OF DISASTER We are pleased the international community today finally recognised the severity of the situation in Kashmir and have pledged much greater financial and other assistance. The Department for International Development has reacted to the pressure in the last 24 hours and increased assistance from its initial £100,000, to firstly £500,000 and now a million. The US Government has been the most generous with a pledge of $50 million. As we predicted earlier the number of dead is not a few hundred as first suggested, but has already run into tens of thousands with some towns and cities completely flattened. It is particularly saddening that children have been the biggest casualties with many schools collapsing just after classes began. In some areas it is reported that a whole generation has been lost. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that have lost loved ones or are unaccounted for. Over 25,000 Sikhs from across the globe will be travelling to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan in the next few weeks to celebrate the birth of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Those from leading Sikh organisations in the UK are expected to deliver personal messages of sympathy to General Musharraf.

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