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Six more killed as destructive rains intensify Balochistan’s woes

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  • Death toll reaches 182 in Balochistan.
  • Several villages submerged in water.
  • Floods wash away three dams.

QUETTA: The ongoing monsoon rains continued to wreak havoc in Balochistan, with flash-floods in Qila Abdullah and several other areas killing as many as six people and inundating a number of villages overnight.

According to Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Balochistan, the number of rain-related deaths has reached 182 in the province and several villages have been submerged in floodwaters.

Three dams have washed away and many link roads have been destroyed in Qila Abdullah.

The train service between Chaman and Quetta has also been affected due to floodwater in the area, while scores of cattle head have perished and crops and orchards ruined.

Children wade across at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP
Children wade across at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP

The traffic between Quetta and Karachi was also suspended as the linking highway had been damaged in different areas of the Lasbela district.

CM’s concern

According to Commissioner Kalat Division Dawood Khilji, the recently established alternate route at the Landa area of Uthal on the National Highway was washed away by flood on Friday.

He appealed to the public to avoid travelling on the Quetta-Karachi highway.

The PDMA rescue teams are present in the area and are providing rescue services to people stranded in flood-hit areas, the official said.

A local resident takes belongings from his damaged mud house at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP
A local resident takes belongings from his damaged mud house at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP 

Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Qadoos Bizenjo expressed his grave concern over massive damage to Qila Abdullah, Chaman, Lasbela, and Muslim Bagh due to heavy rains.

He contacted the public representatives and district administration officials of the flood-ravaged areas directing them to visit the affected areas and provide all possible help to the affectees.

Affectees seek help

Despite the passage of more than a month, the government has not yet been able to provide relief to the people affected by floods as bureaucratic hurdles come in the way.

Flood affectees have accused the administration of treating them in a derogatory fashion during the distribution of rations by asking for original computerised national identity cards (CNICs).

The officials are reportedly seeking the CNICs for verification purposes, but the affectees have stated that they lost everything when their homes were flooded.

Local residents receive relief supplies near their damaged houses at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP
Local residents receive relief supplies near their damaged houses at a flood-affected town called Gandawah in Jhal Magsi district, southwestern province of Balochistan, Pakistan on August 2, 2022. — AFP

“Ration comes for us but they ask for CNICs. We did have some cards but not for everyone. How can a family of 10 survive on one card’s ration?” one of the victims from Lasbela told Geo News.

The victim appealed to the administration to resolve this issue, adding that if they feel they are lying, they can survey their homes to determine the number of people in a household.

“We are standing here for ration. We have not received anything [but] they are pushing us out. We can talk to the tehsildar when we go inside,” another victim told Geo News.

Vigorous monsoon activity in coming days

The woes of Balochistan are far from ending as the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast more rains not only in the province, but also in Sindh and South Punjab.

The Met Office, in a statement, said that depression has developed in Arabian Sea which is likely to move towards the west along the Makran coast. 

Due to this weather system, monsoon currents are continuously penetrating in southern parts of the country. Another low pressure (LPA) is likely to approach Sindh on 16th August. 

Under the influence of this weather system, widespread rain-wind/thundershowers — with scattered heavy to very heavy falls — are expected in Sindh and Balochistan from August 16-18 with occasional gaps.

Soldiers of Pakistan army rescue people from the flood-affected Rajanpur district, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, on August 2, 2022. — AFP
Soldiers of Pakistan army rescue people from the flood-affected Rajanpur district, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, on August 2, 2022. — AFP

It warned that flash flooding is expected in Qilla Saifullah, Loralai, Barkhan, Kohlu, Mosa Khel, Sherani, Sibbi, Bolan, Kalat, Khuzdar, and Lasbella, Awaran, Turbat, Panjgur, Pasni, Jiwani, Ormara, Gwadar from August 14-18.

The Met asked fishermen to remain more cautious from August 16-18. It also asked travellers and tourists to remain more cautious during the forecast period.

“All concerned authorities are advised to remain alert and to take necessary precautionary measures during the forecast period,” the meteorological department said.

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Nawaz Sharif departs for a five-day personal visit to China.

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Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and a former prime minister, departed for China on Monday night for a five-day private visit.

Nawaz Sharif is visiting China, escorted by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.

Nawaz Sharif reportedly planned to see Chinese company owners as well as discuss the Punjab province’s development projects. During his visit in China, he will also have a medical examination.

In addition, the fact that Nawaz and his party chose China for his first overseas trip after he returned to Pakistan in October of last year shows how much weight the Asian superpower holds.

Eight other Chinese companies were reportedly prepared to start working right away, while 16 Chinese companies had expressed interest in the Nawaz Sharif IT City, which is the brainchild of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who has plans for similar projects in all of the province’s major cities.

Remarkably, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s scheduled visit to China ahead of his anticipated talks with Chinese authorities next month coincides with the elder Sharif’s visit.

Dar’s presence alongside Nawaz simultaneously underscores the party leadership’s confidence in him and serves as a reminder of why he was chosen to be foreign minister.

The fact that this visit was organized in the wake of the recent terror assault in Shangla on Chinese engineers involved in the Dasu hydroelectric Project, however, may provide some insight into the significance of this visit.

That was followed by Pakistan’s resolute pledge to deal harshly with those groups that have been attacking Chinese citizens in an effort to undermine the cordial relations between the two countries.

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Education

The president of Iran’s wife, Dr. Jamileh, claims that knowledge without ethics is worthless.

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The Iranian President’s wife, Dr. Jamileh-Sadat Alamolhoda, claimed on Monday that Islam had illuminated the globe 1400 years ago by emphasizing the value of knowledge.

She said, “Knowledge without ethics has no value,” during her speech at the National University of Modern Languages (NUML).

Dr. Jamileh earlier today opened the university’s cultural festival. She visited a number of foreign and national booths exhibiting distinct cultures and customs.

Attendees included academic members, a sizable student body, Director General Brig Shahzad Munir, Rector NUML Major General (retd) Shahid Mahmood Kayani, and many others.

Speaking to the pupils, Dr. Jamileh added that religious leaders in Iran and this area were crucial in keeping the nations unified during the colonial era.

She was impressed by Muhammad Iqbal, the Poet of the East, for his contribution to the dissemination of Islamic norms and knowledge via his poetry.

She also gave a speech at the launch of her own book, “The Art of Living Femininely,” adding that it was also being translated into Urdu.

She expressed gratitude for NUML’s contribution to the creation and sharing of knowledge and expressed a willingness to investigate the potential for reciprocal scholarly cooperation in the fields of languages and science and technology.

Thanking the NUML administration for welcoming her and giving her a chance to engage with the teachers and students, Dr. Jamileh expressed her gratitude.

In his remarks at the event, the Rector NUML stated that profound people-to-people links as well as bilateral relations between Pakistan and Iran are historical, fraternal, and mutually trustworthy.

The honorable guest accepted an honorary doctorate in educational sciences from the NUML Rector.

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Latest News

To discuss the judges’ letter, the IHC CJ calls for a full court meeting.

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A full court conference has been called by the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court for this Tuesday in order to consider the matter of the letter of six IHC judges.

The full court session is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. All judges, including district and session court judges, have been asked for comments by the chief justice’s office of the Islamabad High Court.

The development follows accusations made by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the nation’s intelligence services for meddling in judicial matters.

Judges Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, and Justice Rafat Imtiaz are the six judges.

In response to the letter, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa had intimated on March 27 that the Supreme Court would convene as a full court.

The Supreme Court’s Justice Yahya Afridi has withdrawn from the suo moto case involving the letter authored by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Prior to this, the Islamabad High Court Bar Association petitioned the Supreme Court under the Constitution, asking for an open and impartial inquiry into the six judges’ letter that purportedly involved meddling in judicial matters.

The petitioner begged the supreme court to prosecute individuals who were found to have influenced the legal system.

The petition claimed that the judges had brought up a serious matter. “If the apex court deems it necessary, it should refer the matter to the Supreme Judicial Council for review,” it requested.

The petitioner argued that the only source of justice and defender of the Constitution was an independent judiciary. Under no circumstances can the judiciary’s independence be compromised.

How it started

A letter against the “interference of intelligence agencies in judicial matters” was sent to the Supreme Judicial Council on March 25 by six justices of the Islamabad High Court.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court took suo moto notice and made hints about forming a full court to consider the case. Prior to that, the federal government established a one-man inquiry commission, but Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the former chief justice, refused to allow the body to begin any proceedings.

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