Pakistan

Cataclysmic floods in Pakistan kill over 1,100, including 380 children

Published

9 months ago

Farwa

United Nations describes floods as “unprecedented climate catastrophe” while appealing for aid.
Pakistan receives nearly 190% more rain than 30-year average so far this year.
Guterres to head to Pakistan next week to see effects of catastrophic floods.

CHARSADDA: Torrential rains and flooding have submerged a third of Pakistan and killed more than 1,100 people, including 380 children as the United Nations appealed for aid on Tuesday for what it described as an “unprecedented climate catastrophe.”

Army helicopters plucked stranded families and dropped food packages to inaccessible areas as the historic deluge, triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains, destroyed homes, businesses, infrastructure and crops, impacting 33 million people, 15% of the 220 million-strong South Asian nation.

The country has received nearly 190% more rain than the 30-year average in the quarter through August this year, totalling 390.7 millimetres (15.38 inches). Sindh province, with a population of 50 million, was hardest hit, getting 466% more rain than the 30-year average.

“One third of the country is literally under water,” Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman told Reuters, describing the scale of the disaster as “a catastrophe of unknown precedent”.

She said the water was not going to recede anytime soon.

At least 380 children were among the dead, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told reporters during a briefing at his office in Islamabad.

“Pakistan is awash in suffering,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message, as the United Nations launched an appeal for $160 million to help the South Asian nation. “The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding.”

Guterres will head to Pakistan next week to see the effects of the “unprecedented climate catastrophe,” a UN spokesperson said.

He said the scale of the climate disaster commanded the world’s collective attention.

Nearly 300 stranded people, including some tourists, were airlifted in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, a state-run disaster management agency said in a statement, while over 50,000 people were moved to two government shelters in the northwest.

“Life is very painful here,” 63-year-old villager Hussain Sadiq, who was at one of the shelters with his parents and five children, told Reuters, adding that his family had “lost everything.”

Hussain said medical assistance was insufficient, and diarrhoea and fever common at the shelter.

Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the northern valley of Swat and reviewed rescue and relief operations, saying that “rehabilitation will take a long, long time.”

The United States will provide $30 million in support for Pakistan’s flood response through USAID, its embassy in Islamabad said in a statement, saying the country was “deeply saddened by the devastating loss of life, livelihoods, and homes throughout Pakistan.”

‘Obligation to help’

Early estimates put the damage from the floods at more than $10 billion, the government said, adding the world had an obligation to help Pakistan cope with the effects of man-made climate change.

The losses are likely to be much higher, said the prime minister.

Torrential rain has triggered flash floods that have crashed down from northern mountains, destroying buildings and bridges, and washing away roads and standing and stored crops.

Colossal volumes of water are pouring into the Indus river, which flows down the middle of the country from its northern peaks to southern plains, bringing flooding along its length.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said hundreds of thousands of people were living outdoors without access to food, clean water, shelter or basic healthcare.

Guterres said the $160 million he hoped to raise with the appeal would provide 5.2 million people with food, water, sanitation, emergency education and health support.

‘Not enough aid’

Prime Minister Sharif said that amount of aid would need “to be multiplied rapidly,” pledging that “every penny will reach the needy, there will be no waste at all.”

Sharif feared the devastation would further derail an economy that has already been in turmoil, possibly leading to an acute food shortage and adding to skyrocketing inflation, which stood at 24.9% in July.

Wheat sowing could also be delayed, he said, and to mitigate the impact of that, Pakistan was already in talks with Russia over wheat imports.

General Akhtar Nawaz, chief of the national disaster agency, said at least 72 of Pakistan’s 160 districts had been declared calamity-hit.

More than two million acres (809,371 hectares)of agricultural land were flooded, he said.

Bhutto-Zardari said Pakistan had become ground zero for global warming.

“The situation is likely to deteriorate even further as heavy rains continue over areas already inundated by more than two months of storms and flooding,” he said.

Guterres appealed for a speedy response to Pakistan’s request to the international community for help, and called for an end to “sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change.”

“The extreme monsoon flooding tells us that there is no time to waste, the climate tipping point is here,” said Rehman, the climate change minister, adding Pakistan is looking for the developed world to not let it pay for other countries’ carbon-backed development.

Pakistan

KU students end protest after ‘picked up’ student returns

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

KARACHI: Students of Karachi University called off their protest after a fellow student who was allegedly “picked up” from the varsity’s premises returned.

A KU student confirmed to Geo News that Saqib, the student who was allegedly “whisked away”, has returned.

The students of the varsity had launched a protest, earlier today, after Saqib was allegedly “taken away”.

The protesters told Geo News that the student, studying at the Department of Urdu, was allegedly whisked away by some people in plain clothes. They said the men claimed they were from a law enforcement agency.

However, KU Security Adviser Dr Moiz Khan said Rangers have disassociated themselves from the incident.

The university’s administration analysed the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage to identify the students and the people who picked him up.

After the incident, the students staged a protest outside KU’s Silver Jubilee Gate and blocked the University Road.

However, upon the police’s request, they shifted their protest to the front of the varsity’s administration block.

The Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) claimed that the student was its worker.

Pakistan

Jibran Nasir’s ‘kidnapping’ case registered hours after he was ‘picked up’ in Karachi’s DHA

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Cases registered under sections 365 and 34 of PPC.
Nasir’s wife seeks immediate release of her husband.
Protest today at 4:00pm at KPC to demand Nasir’s release.

KARACHI: The port city’s police have registered a “kidnapping” case of prominent lawyer and human rights activist Jibran Nasir on the complaint of his wife, Mansha Pasha, hours after the advocate was “picked up” from Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area.

The case has been registered at the Clifton Police Station under two sections of the Pakistan Penal Code — 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

Pasha, a renowned actress, told police in an application earlier that her husband was “picked up” by men on Thursday night.

Mansha Pashas application to the police. — provided by the reporter — Mansha Pasha’s application to the police. — provided by the reporter

Police were at first, according to Pasha, not registering the FIR. She said she would move the court if the law enforcers did not register the case.

She stated: “On 01.06.2023 at about 11:00 pm, I was returning from dinner with my husband in our personal car … when a white color Toyota Hilux / Vigo … intercepted and hit our car from the front-left side and forced us to stop near Ideal Bakery on 26th Street, Defence Phase 5, Karachi.”

She further added: “Another vehicle i.e. a Silver Corolla blocked our vehicle from behind and as such, we were surrounded. Some 15 people along with weapons came out from the said vehicles in civil clothes and forced my husband to get out of the car, man-handling him towards the subject vehicle. They then abducted him and took him away and his whereabouts are unknown till now.”

In her application, she also requested immediate action be taken to ensure his swift release.

“In light of the above-mentioned situation, I have no other recourse than to approach your office for registration of my complaint for my missing husband. I would be thankful if an immediate action is taken for his swift release. Furthermore, action in accordance with law must be taken against those who abducted my husband,” she wrote.

Furthermore, Pasha told Geo News that a protest was being held at 4:00pm at the Karachi Press Club to demand her husband’s release.

Condemnations

As the news of Nasir’s abduction went viral, several people and human rights organisations condemned the incident.

Concerned by the abduction, they demanded that Nasir be returned home safely and quickly.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) took to Twitter stating: “HRCP is deeply concerned by reports that lawyer and activist [Jibran Nasir] has been abducted by unknown armed persons in Karachi. We demand that he be safely recovered immediately and his abductors held accountable under the law.”

Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Salman Sufi also tweeted his support for the human rights activist.

“Very disturbing to hear about [Jibran Nasir] abduction. Hope Sindh police will assist his family and locate him immediately. Jibran has always spoken against violent extremism and rioting. Hoping for his safe and immediate return,” he wrote.

Moreover, Imaan Mazari, the daughter of the former human rights minister Shireen Mazari expressed his dismay at the news.

“No words… complete madness,” she tweeted.

Pakistan

8-year-old girl raped in Islamabad

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

Afghan girl was raped by a man in broad daylight.
Case lodged at Shahzad Town Police Station.
Medico-legal official confirms the girl’s rape.

ISLAMABAD: An 8-year-old Afghan girl was raped by a man in broad daylight who managed to run away in the presence of residents of Mohallah Diptian falling in the jurisdiction of Shahzad Town Police Station, The News reported Friday.

The minor victim was shifted to a hospital where the medico-legal official confirmed the rape.

The Shahzad Town police have registered the case against the unidentified rapist under sections 376 and 377/B of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the father of the victim but couldn’t hunt down the rapist till the filing of this report.

Hazar Gul, an Afghan national, hailing from Jalalabad, lodged a complaint with the Shahzad Town, saying that he was living in Mohallah Diptian, located near Mariam Masjid with his family for a couple of months.

“I was present at my house along with my elder brother when we heard some noises from the street, we rushed out of the house and witnessed a young man running towards us, consequently, without knowing the reason for his escape, we both tried to intercept him but he succeeded to let loose from our clutches and ran off from our custody,” the complainant narrating his story, said.

However, he said, “We moved towards the place where people of the street were gathered and saw my minor daughter crying.”

Upon query, the minor victim told him the tale of the brutal attack on her, saying she was playing near her house when she was dragged by the rapist into an under-construction house and raped forcibly.

The DPO (Rural) has taken up the case and asked the Shahzad Town police to take the case as a challenge and use all their efforts to make headway to arrest the rapist, the police sources said.

The SP has constituted teams and sent them to different locations to get a clue about the rapist.

The sources added that the police have rounded up a few suspects for investigation, claiming that the police teams would make headway to the criminal and hunt him down within the next 24 hours.