An envoy of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is being sent to Islamabad to help step up UN relief operations in Pakistan where an estimated 1,400 people have died in the worst flooding in living memory, officials said Tuesday. Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is UN chiefs Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan, has been instructed to proceed to Islamabad immediately and will soon be on his way there, they said. Ripert was given the Pakistan assignment last year when he retired as Frances UN Ambassador.