Pakistan has no plans to cut its defence spending despite needing billions of dollars to rebuild after the October 8 earthquake, President Pervez Musharraf said on Monday. “There is a security requirement which is separate and there is the earthquake requirement which is totally separate,: he said. “We don’t want to do one and jeopardise the other. This would be most unwise.”Musharraf said Pakistan would host an international donors’ conference to be attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on November 19 to raise funds for post-quake reconstruction. Financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank would be invited along with international donors and Pakistani industrialists, he said.Meanwhile, the United Nations said at the weekend that only about $117 million of $550 million flash appeal launched for Pakistan had been provided so far. The United Nations warned that unless more money was forthcoming, it could keep its vital helicopter fleet running for only another week.
