Under-fire president in flood zone

The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have swamped Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of about 14 million people, or 8 per cent of the population.

Mr Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, set off on a much-criticised trip to meet the leaders of Britain and France as the floods were beginning.

Two days after returning home, he flew to the city of Sukkur on the banks of the swollen Indus river in the southern province of Sindh to inspect the destruction and aid efforts.

Security was tight, with only state media allowed access. Mr Zardari, wearing a traditional white cap, travelled along the one-mile long Sukkur barrage and peered into the roiling Indus waters. He also met victims of the flood at a camp.

Television showed him comforting a sobbing elderly woman with an embrace as children sat on the floor nearby. Villagers told him of their suffering and gestured as they beseeched him for help.

People have been jostling for food at distribution points throughout the disaster area, with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, when hungry people break their fast at dusk with a special meal, adding to people's anxiety.

"The government should provide clean water and clean food," said Mohammad Ali, a baker scrambling for supplies in the north-west. "Ramadan has arrived, but we see no sign of the government giving us any of these things."

Several barrages have been built across the river to divert water into irrigation canals and the flood waters have been building up alarmingly behind them.

Ahmed Kamal, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, said water levels may rise dangerously today and again early next week along stretches of the Indus in the central province of Punjab and in Sindh.

"There can be further devastation," Mr Kamal said. The meteorological office forecast scattered rain with a chance of thunderstorms across much of the country.

The government is still assessing the extent of the damage from the worst floods in the area in 80 years. A UN spokesman said a third of the country had been affected.

Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed from northern mountains to the plains of the south.Countless villages have been inundated, crops destroyed, livestock lost and irrigation systems destroyed.

The military, which has ruled for more than half of Pakistan's 63-year history, has led aid efforts, reinforcing the faith many people have in the armed forces and highlighting the apparent ineptitude of civilian governments.

US bolsters aid efforts

ADDITIONAL assistance arrived off Pakistan yesterday in the shape of the USS Peleliu, an amphibious assault ship, carrying 19 helicopters to help with aid distribution and evacuation.

The vessel anchored off the coast near Karachi to add its capacity to the six American military helicopters seconded from duty in Afghanistan earlier this week.

As well as simple humanitarian reasons, Washington sees prompt help to Pakistan as helpful in going some way to improve the image of the US among the wider Pakistani population.

Hamid Gul, a former Pakistani spy chief who is normally virulently anti-American and a vocal supporter of the Taliban in Afghanistan, has welcomed the US assistance.

"If they are operating in flood-hit areas, let them do this rescue work," he said.