Charity coalition urge action on ending £30bn Pakistan debt

Pakistan currently owes Western agencies including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank an estimated $49 billion (£31.7bn), costing the country $3bn (£1.9bn) a year in loan repayments.

The Pakistani government is currently in negotiations with the IMF to ask for debt relief. The IMF is believed to be insisting that Pakistan introduces a value-added tax system and remove energy-sector subsidies in order to receive further loans.

Campaigners also expressed concern that international institutions such as the World Bank had promised nearly £1.9bn in new loans to Pakistan rather than giving grant aid. Such loans with "crippling" conditions attached would hit the poor hardest and merely exacerbate the situation, they argued.

The call from the Jubilee Debt Campaign and War on Want followed a visit by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to the blighted region.

On a tour of aid camps near Sukkur this week, Mr Clegg warned that Pakistan will need aid for years to come.

"I think the sheer scale of this is really quite difficult to comprehend," he said.

"The terrible thing is that it has got a long tail. It has got a lot of aftershocks that are going to last for a long time."

He said the international community's response has been too slow, but praised donations from the British government and public.

Jubilee Debt Campaign director Nick Dearden said: "The people of Pakistan have already shown their opposition to the reforms which the IMF is pushing on the country.

"It is unconscionable to use the disaster to continue arm-twisting the government on these reforms. The rest of the world has shown generosity in responding to the plight of the Pakistani people and the IMF needs to respond in a similar way and offer substantial debt cancellation to the country."

War on Want campaigns and policy director Ruth Tanner said: "The Pakistani people are facing a massive humanitarian disaster and need grant aid from the IMF - not loans.

"The British government must press the IMF and World Bank to cancel Pakistan's debts and oppose more loans with crippling conditions that will hit the poorest people."