As Pakistan still awaits the generosity of the international community, famed British singer Sami Yusuf recently released a charity single called "Hear Your Call" to benefit the victims of the devastating floods that afflicted the country a few weeks ago. Foundations, individuals and companies have given only $25 million as of August 30, according to Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy. This is a meager amount of money compared to what was pledged for disaster relief campaigns in Haiti or Southeast Asia during the Tsunami. The number of people who died in those disasters is much greater than those who perished in Pakistan's floods, but close to 20 million people have no shelter, little food, and no basic needs. International fundraising agencies report major difficulties in collecting donations for the victims of the floods, according to an NPR segment yesterday. It was refreshing to see Sunjay Gupta from CNN last night reporting from Pakistan and trying hard to raise some awareness for the magnitude of this tragedy, but it's hard to know what relief is slow coming. Is it the economy? Is it the fact that Pakistan is seen at the center of the war on terrorism? Or is it the timing with the Park51 controversy in New York spreading all kinds of fear around anything Muslim?

Muslim countries and individuals have pledged close to $1 billion to Pakistan after criticism aid was not flowing as expected, particularly from the rich Gulf. Pledges were made during telethons held in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.