Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani has issued a statement authorizing that a third of the Imam's share of the khoms charity tax be donated to help victims of the floods in Pakistan.

In the statement issued on Saturday, Ayatollah Lotfollah Golpayegani offered his condolences to the families of victims of the natural disaster in Pakistan and gave permission for a third of the Imam's share to be donated as humanitarian assistance to the Muslim people of Pakistan.
Iran has so far sent 142 tons of humanitarian assistance shipments to Pakistan. Around 84 tons of the supplies were sent via air while another 58 tons were transported through the border.

A plane load of Iran's 3rd humanitarian relief batch, prepared by Iranian Red Crescent Society, was forwarded to flood stricken victims in Pakistan on Wednesday.

Secretary General of the Red Crescent Society told IRNA while the Iranians' contributions were being loaded on the plane to be dispatched to Pakistan, "41 tons of the most needed items for the flood victims, such as tents, food stuff, floor covering, blankets and garments, are being loaded on this plane."

Zaher Rostami added, "Keeping in mind the huge dimensions of this devastating flood the president issued a state order to accelerate the assisting process to the flood victims, according to which so far 140 tons of required items have been sent to Pakistan.

He added, "The first batch, comprised of 58 tons was forwarded in the shortest possible time, in less than 10 hours, by land and the second batch, comprised of 42 tons, was sent from Tehran by land on Tuesday night."

The official said that Iran's philanthropist contributions would continue and by the end of the week at least six more batches would be sent to Pakistan.

He said that the reason why Bandar Abbas was chosen for forwarding this 3rd batch was the capability of the Hormozgan Province in preparing humanitarian contributions, whose Red Crescent Society prepared and packed some 41 tons of humanitarian aided in less than 24 hours.

The number of people affected by catastrophic floods in Pakistan may outnumber those suffering from the recent major natural disasters -- the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 South Asia earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations said here on Monday.

"The number of people affected by Pakistan's floods is now estimated to be 13.8 million, according to the government of Pakistan," said a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"While not all may be in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, and the severity of their needs has not yet been fully assessed, this is a higher figure than those who were affected by the 2005 South Asia tsunami (five million), the 2005 South Asia earthquake (three million), or the 2010 Haiti earthquake (three million)," the press release said. "The estimate of homes destroyed or seriously damaged -- 290,000 -- is almost the same as those destroyed in Haiti."

The floods have so far killed more than 1,600 people, forced two million from their homes, and affected the lives of about 15 million people.

A third of Pakistan is now under water, and new rains threaten two more waves of flooding in the southern province of Sindh.

Sources: ABNA & IRNA