FOR over a month since the surging floods began taking Swat and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in their lap, then ominously moved downstream, all the four provinces have been accusing the federal government of poor response to their call for financial and material help. In this backdrop, the Prime Minister's remark he made in a meeting with JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Islamabad on Saturday that he would not let coordination between the provinces and the federation suffer looks to be a bizarre utterance. In reality, there is hardly any coordination between them and the question of letting coordination suffer could only arise when it existed in the first place. The pity is that he let slip an excellent opportunity to forge understanding and trust on the issue of the utilisation of flood relief donations when he failed to implement the agreement that he had reached with Mian Nawaz Sharif to establish an independent and transparent commission for this purpose. In fact, that failure further undermined the already low credibility of the Pakistan government. Both our own people and the world concluded that not honouring that commitment meant that there was no guarantee that the contributions they make would be well spent, and the result in the form of collection in the official relief fund is for everyone to see. It is strange, therefore, to hear Mr Gilani say that there does not exist the issue of his government's credibility That the Privatisation Minister Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan presented him a cheque of Rs 200 million only shows that the main contributors were either those who get their salaries from official institutions or who wanted to be in the good books of the government. The Prime Minister also received the head of the Turkish Red Crescent who told him that his organisation was already operating two tent villages, one at Nowshera and the other at Muzaffargarh, where apart from accommodation, the uprooted persons were getting food and medical treatment. Appreciating the gesture, Mr Gilani called upon the world community to come forward and help Pakistan meet the challenge of epidemics that have already broken out at certain places and set up mobile clinics, equipped with necessary equipment and medicines. No doubt, the challenge is daunting; rebuilding the infrastructure, towns and villages and making the people start life afresh would even strain the resources of a development country, let alone Pakistan. Nevertheless, an approach that demonstrates that all of us, whatever political philosophy we subscribe to and whatever religious persuasion we adhere to, are joining hands would doubtlessly see us through.