Death toll breaches 1061 mark as flash floods sweep country

Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across Pakistan have killed over 1,061 people and injured and displaced thousands more.

Powerful flash floods in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caused the Kabul River to swell, sweeping away bridges overnight, cutting off some districts from road access.

Downstream, fears of flooding around the river banks prompted thousands in the district of Charsadda to flee their homes, according to disaster officials, with some spending the night on highways with their livestock, miles away from their inundated villages and towns.

The picturesque Kalam Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is one of the areas most affected by the rains and flooding. Waters from overflowing rivers swept away entire buildings, including an iconic hotel.

The monsoon season, which began earlier than normal this year, has lashed Pakistan with particularly heavy rains and rescuers have struggled to evacuate thousands of marooned people from flood-hit areas. The crisis forced the government to declare a state of emergency.

Historic monsoon rains and flooding have damaged more than 950,000 homes while over 800,000 animals were killed. Over 3,400km of roads and about 150 bridges were severely damaged.

In Balochistan all 34 districts of the province were badly affected by heavy rain and flooding and road networks were destroyed and bridges washed away and relief was only possible by deploying helicopters, which are not often able to operate because of bad weather.

Provincial officials have confirmed over 250 deaths but the number was expected to increase significantly after communications are restored.

In Punjab, the Rajanpur district appeared to be the hardest hit along with the district of Dera Ghazi Khan. Thousands of mud and brick houses were inundated by water, most of them completely demolished or at least partly destroyed.

Residents made homeless by the flood took shelter on higher ground, where they waited for relief goods and other help.

In Sindh, so far 349 people have been killed by floods with over 170,000 houses destroyed and crops spanning 2,800,000 acres were severally damaged.

Pakistan Army has joined the national and provincial authorities in responding to the floods and COAS on visited the areas which has been hit heavily by the rains.

 

PM summons 'emergency meeting' of Govt's allies

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called an "emergency meeting" of the government s allies to deliberate upon the current situation in the country.

The emergency meeting of the government allies will be held at the Prime Minister house at 6:00pm today (Monday).

The chief ministers of all provinces have also been invited to attend the meeting. The meeting will be also attended by the heads of the three armed forces.

According to media reports, the meeting will review the current flood situation in the country. Important decisions are expected to be taken during the meeting.

Pope Francis urges aid for flood-hit Pakistan

Pope Francis on Sunday called on the international community to help flood-hit Pakistan.

According to international media, his comments came as he visited the city of L'Aquila in central Italy, which was hit by an earthquake that killed more than 300 people in 2009.

The 85-year-old pope praised the people of L'Aquila's "resilience" and "dignity".

Pope Francis, who used a wheelchair during the visit, was due to return to the Vatican early this afternoon.

He will chair a meeting with cardinals from around the world on Monday and Tuesday, where they will discuss the future of the Catholic Church.

Monsoon floods: PM convenes APC on Monday

Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has summoned an “All Parties Conference” (APC) over the ongoing flood disasters in the country, which will be held at the Prime Minister’s House on Monday.

The conference will discuss measures to tackle the calamity befallen on the people due to the monsoon brust and flooding across the country.

It should be noted that the humanitarian situation in Pakistan has deteriorated further over the past two weeks as heavy rains continue to cause flooding, over 1000 have died due to rain and flood disasters in the four provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan, while millions have been displaced.

Furthermore, crops on millions of acres have been completely destroyed and many houses have become piles of rubble

Death toll breaches 1030 mark as flash floods sweep country

Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across much of Pakistan have killed over 1,030 people and injured and displaced thousands more.

Floods continued to devastate the country on Sunday, particularly the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan leaving at least 119 people dead and more than 70 injured in the past 24 hours.

Floods have claimed over 1,030 lives, with 74 deaths reported in Sindh, 31 in K-P, six in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), four in Balochistan, and one in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

According to the data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 32 children, 56 men and nine women are among those who died in the flood after the rains, while the number of victims has reached 5.77 million.

Over the past 24 hours, nearly 0.95 million houses and 0.72 million livestock were flooded while 0.27 million houses were destroyed and 3,116 kilometres of highways and 149 bridges were washed away.

According to media reports, 0.49 million people in Sindh, 0.45 million in Punjab, and 0.36 million in Balochistan have been affected by floods.

Meanwhile, two ships carrying relief goods from Turkiye are expected to arrive in Karachi tomorrow [Monday]. The Turkish Consul General in Karachi will hand over the relief goods to the Pakistani authorities at the airport tomorrow morning.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Sunday that various private mobile network services had been restored in the provincial capital of Balochistan, while efforts were underway “to restore services in other affected areas”.

Earlier this week, as the unprecedented vicious attacks triggered by climate change had continued unabated, leaving many marooned, the environmental crisis had robbed Balochistan of digital connectivity after almost cutting it off from the rest of the country physically.

PTI plotting against IMF deal: Shehbaz Sharif

Self-centred politics can cause irreparable damage to Pakistan as unfortunately, a party is playing politics over the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) when the lender's board meeting is around the corner, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said, without naming the PTI.

"I have never seen such self-centered politics; it will be a huge injustice with Pakistan and a big conspiracy against the country,” the premier said while referring to PTI on his visit to the flood victims in Sujawl, Sindh.

PM Shehbaz said that the federal government had allocated Rs38 billion in grant to support the flood-affected families with the disbursement of Rs25,000 to each of them.

Speaking to the flood victims, the prime minister said he had already announced Rs15 billion in grant to Sindh while the distribution of flood relief amount among the affected families had commenced in the province after Balochistan under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). “The BISP has complete data, ensuring prompt and fair distribution among the deserving families,” he added.

Assuring the provincial governments of the federal government’s support, the prime minister said other provinces would also be provided with grants. The prime minister was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, federal ministers and relevant authorities.

The prime minister said the federal government had continued it efforts to support the provincial governments in rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts with the support of the National Disaster Management Authority and other relevant departments. “A survey will be launched soon to assess the damages and losses caused by floods across the country,” he added.

The prime minister stressed that in the hour of trial, they had to work collectively, instead of playing politics.

The prime minister said that they would have to devote themselves to the country and the nation and urged industrialists and businessmen to come forward and support people suffering from the impacts of rainfall and floods. He said it was time to seek Allah Almighty’s mercy.

“In Swat and Kalam, flash floods have caused colossal losses as hotels have been swept away and scores of lives were lost,” he maintained. The prime minister also directed Minister for Energy Khurram Dastagir to supervise efforts for restoration of power supply to affected areas.

Meanwhile, Pakistan contacted the IMF for a clarification of a letter written by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.

 

All eyes on Pak vs Ind clash in Asia Cup 2022 today

The high-octane clash between arch-rivals Pakistan and India in the T20 Asia Cup 2022 is all set to take place today (Sunday) at the Dubai Cricket Stadium in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 7pm PST.

Both teams are well prepared for the major cricket event. Pakistan has finalised its playing eleven but the names of the team will be revealed before the toss.

The green shirts will have batting powerhouses like captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali and Hyder Ali. Both Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz will showcase their spinning skills along with their batting prowess.

Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf will join the team as fast bowlers. Either Shahnawaz Dhani or Muhammad Hasnain will be in the playing eleven.

The Indians will feature big names like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who will be aided by talented pacers and spinners. The two major bowlers of the two teams -- Shaheen Shah Afridi and Jasprit Bumrah -- will not be available for this match. Cricket fans will miss both of them.

The Asia Cup 2022 will feature six teams from the Asian continent divided into two groups. Pakistan is in Group A along with India and Hong Kong. Group B has the other three Asian teams -- Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Following the group matches, two top teams from each group will qualify for the Super Four stage, which will begin on September 3.

The final between the top two teams of the Super Four will be played on September 11. The cricket action will continue in Dubai and Sharjah till the final on September 11.

Pakistan playing XI (probables):

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani.

India:

Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.