Flood-hit Pakistanis still waiting on promised rebuild 

In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, flood-affected victims rebuild their house in Dadu district of Pakistan. (AFP/File)
Short Url
Updated 07 June 2023
Follow

Flood-hit Pakistanis still waiting on promised rebuild 

  • The monsoon deluges last summer submerged a third of Pakistan, killing 1,700 people and displacing 8 million more 
  • Scientists say climate change making seasonal rains heavier and more unpredictable, raising urgency of flood-proofing 

DADU: Noor Bibi lost her mother, her daughter and the roof over her head in the catastrophic floods that drowned Pakistan last summer. 

One year later she remains homeless, living with the remnants of her family in spartan tents marking where the village of Sohbat Khosa was gutted by the deluge in southern Sindh province. 

Noor, a farm worker approaching her 60s, prays for “someone with righteous thoughts that will help us build some good houses in an elevated place.” 

“If it flooded again, we would not bear such big losses,” she told AFP. 

But government pledges to rebuild flood-ravaged swathes of Pakistan so they are resilient to future extreme weather have largely failed to materialize. 

The monsoon deluges of last summer submerged a third of the country, killing 1,700 people and displacing eight million more. 

Climate change is making those seasonal rains heavier and more unpredictable, scientists say, raising the urgency of flood-proofing the country. 




In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, flood-affected victims walk through the compound of their damaged house in Dadu district of Pakistan.(AFP)

A failure to do so will be most acutely felt by the poor, who tend to live in the most vulnerable areas. 

Here in Dadu district, which was heavily flooded, no rehabilitation is visible. Rare pieces of public infrastructure remain in disrepair and housing reconstruction is left to locals or NGOs. 

In January, Islamabad announced a “Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework” valued at $16.3 billion, but it remains confined to paper. 

International donors have also pledged $9 billion, but most of the cash will come in the form of loans. 




 In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, a flood-affected village lies in ruins in Dadu district of Pakistan. (AFP)

Villagers’ crops were swept away in the floods, depriving them of livelihoods that might have allowed them to pave their own way to recovery. 

With pooled funds, the residents of Sohbat Khosa only raised enough for a toilet and water tank. 

Their best hope is the Alkhidmat Foundation, a Pakistani NGO, which plans to build around 30 new homes. 

“The government seems to not exist here, and if anything is done by the government, that is only corruption,” said Ali Muhammad, a coordinator for Alkhidmat in Dadu. 




 In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, a flood-affected village lies in ruins in Dadu district of Pakistan. (AFP)

Pakistan is currently mired in dual political and economic crises that have brought all public initiatives to a standstill. 

But decades of entrenched corruption and mismanagement are also to blame. 

“Building back better is expensive, and the amount of damage is colossal,” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told AFP. 

He said he “can’t speak to what the federal government has done,” but in Sindh province, controlled by his party, “we’ve started a couple of initiatives.” 




In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, a flood-affected victim rebuilds his house in Dadu district of Pakistan. (AFP)

“One is the financing of the reconstruction of houses, through NGOs and charity organizations,” he said. 

However, Alkhidmat, like two other NGOs interviewed by AFP, has not received any public money and relies entirely on private funds. 

Thanks to Alkhidmat’s efforts, a few dozen homes have been built in the district, but it’s nowhere near the two million damaged or destroyed in the floods. 

The village of Bari Baital, submerged until November, is expected to eventually host 80 houses built by the foundation — far too few for its thousands of inhabitants. 

To resist future rains they are raised on brick pillars, and built with reinforced roofs and water-resistant cement. 

“People are completely unaware of climate change,” said village teacher Imtiaz Ali Chandio. 

All they know is that their village has been a “passage for floods for centuries,” he said. 

But moving is not an option, meaning the scenario will likely soon be repeated. 




In this photograph taken on May 9, 2023, flood-affected victims rest inside a temporary shelter in Dadu district of Pakistan. (AFP)

“Where else could we go?” asked Abdulrahim Brohi, who already weathered catastrophic floods in 2010. “Everything of ours is here.” 

“Somewhere else people won’t accept us,” added Brohi, who estimates his age to be between 50 and 60. “We don’t have resources to rebuild our houses here, so how can we afford land somewhere else?” 

Prized by tourists for its scenic mountain vistas, the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan was also hit hard by last year’s floods. 

Hundreds of hotels, restaurants, businesses and homes perched on the banks of the Swat river were swept away as ferocious waters were funnelled down the ravine. 

To prevent a repeat of the disaster, authorities have “imposed a complete ban on the construction of any sort of building on the river,” said Irfanullah Khan Wazir, Swat’s deputy commissioner. 

Nonetheless, in Bahrain, a small resort town once half underwater, the government’s writ is so weak that builders are riding roughshod over the ban. 

A number of shops, restaurants and hotels have been renovated or rebuilt just meters from the coursing water. Even the mosque has been rebuilt on the same spot where it was heavily damaged. 

“People are doing illegal construction on weekend nights, but [authorities] are not paying any heed — their silence is baffling,” said hotel manager Zafar Ali. 

His own property is under construction 20 meters (65 feet) from the river, in a zone he says is authorized. 

It is now protected by a flood wall twice the height of the previous one. Economic considerations also prevented them from relocating away from their waterfront vantage. 

“Tourists want to be able to open their windows and see the river outside,” Ali said. “Those built further away struggle to cover their expenses.” 

Locals in Swat also condemned the inaction of authorities. The main road following the river has been reopened, but whole sections of tarmac remain torn away. 

Compensation schemes have been limited to certain people who lost their homes. They are granted 400,000 rupees ($1,400), nowhere near enough to rebuild. 

Muhammad Ishaq, a tailor in Bahrain, built his house near the river for easy access to the water. He watched as his home was swallowed by the floods, and has since been forced to move in with his father further up the mountainside. 

Life there is harsher, he told AFP, but even if he manages to rebuild, he knows he “will have to stay away from the river.” 


‘Fake news’: Pakistan rejects reports of joint military operation with Iran in border area

Updated 9 sec ago
Follow

‘Fake news’: Pakistan rejects reports of joint military operation with Iran in border area

  • Militant outfit Jaish Al-Adl claimed Pakistani, Iranian forces killed 12 of its members in joint operation in Saravan on Tuesday
  • Pakistani security forces conducted operation alone within its territory this week against smugglers, says FO spokesperson

QUETTA: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Thursday rejected reports that Islamabad and Tehran launched a joint military operation in the country’s southwestern border area this week to kill 12 militants, describing it as “fake news” despite a banned militant group claiming the action took place.
The spokesperson’s remarks followed militant outfit Jaish Al-Adl’s statement this week in which it claimed Pakistan and Iran’s forces on Tuesday carried out airstrikes against its fighters in the Iranian border city of Saravan, near Pakistan’s Panjgur district in Balochistan. It said the strikes killed 12 of its members and injured four others.
Iranian rights organization Halvash had also confirmed the development on social media platform X.
“First, I would like to state that this information is not correct. This is fake news,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, said during her weekly press briefing. 
“Statement by terror groups should not be taken seriously.”
Baloch, however, confirmed Pakistani security forces had conducted an operation west of Panjgur to root out smugglers in southwestern Balochistan province.
“The operation took place 30 kilometers within our territory against smugglers, and this was undertaken by Pakistani security forces alone,” she disclosed.
Balochistan Levies, a paramilitary force responsible for law and order in the restive province, confirmed they received reports of an attack in Koh e Sabz area located 70 kilometers from Panjgur city on Tuesday.
“Three people were injured in the attack but we don’t know who carried out the attack in the remotest bordering area,” Shakeel Ahmed, a Levies soldier in Panjgur, told Arab News.
Ahmed said the paramilitary force did not know how many people were killed in the attack since Levies did not receive any bodies in Panjgur.
A local journalist in Panjgur said three persons injured in the alleged attack on Tuesday belonged to Peshawar, Karachi and Washuk cities of Pakistan. He said they were brought to Panjgur for medical treatment.
“The government officials in the district did not confirm the attack yet,” he told Arab News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
HISTORY OF ROCKY RELATIONS
Pakistan and Iran have had a history of rocky relations despite a number of commercial pacts between the two countries, with Islamabad being historically closer to Washington.
One of Iran’s poorest regions, Sistan-Baluchestan on the border with Pakistan has long been plagued by unrest involving drug-smuggling gangs, rebels from the Baloch minority and religiously motivated militants.
Jaish Al-Adl or “Army of Justice” has claimed responsibility for several attacks on Iranian forces in Sistan and Baluchestan over the years, straining ties between the two Muslim-majority countries.
Pakistan and Iran came to the brink of war in January this year after both countries launched cross-border strikes against armed groups and their hideouts operating in border villages.
Regarding this week’s visit by Iran’s foreign minister to Islamabad, Baloch said both sides had agreed to strengthen coordination on border areas.
“Both sides agreed that we will cooperate to ensure that the border between Pakistan and Iran will be a border of peace and amity, and we will strengthen coordination on all aspects of border security,” she said.


Spurred by reduced interest rates, Pakistan’s stock market closes above 92,000 points thrice in a row

Updated 46 min 48 sec ago
Follow

Spurred by reduced interest rates, Pakistan’s stock market closes above 92,000 points thrice in a row

  • KSE-100 index climbs 499 points or 0.54 percent to close at 92,520.48 points on Thursday
  • Analysts say market responding to reduced interest rates, move to restart privatizations

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed above 92,000 points for the third time in a row on Thursday, with analysts attributing the bullish trend to market volatility triggered by reduced interest rates and investors selling their stocks for profit. 
Pakistan’s benchmark index settled at 92,304.32 points on Tuesday and 92,021.44 points on Wednesday. As per the stock market’s official website, the benchmark KSE-100 index increased by 499 points or 0.54 percent on Thursday to close at 92,520.48 points. 
The bullish trend has been observed in the market since Monday when Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 250 basis points to 15 percent. This was the fourth straight reduction since June, as the country keeps up efforts to revive a sluggish economy with inflation easing.
“The market is responding to reducing interest rates and, importantly, is also picking up on the government’s razor-sharp focus on the economy evidenced by the push to increase tax-to-GDP, attract FDI, and restart privatizations,” Raza Jafri, chief executive officer of leading financial services corporation EFG Hermes Pakistan, told Arab News.
He highlighted how lower interest rates were helping in creating valuation multiples at the KSE-100 but their “positive impact on the real economy will come with a lag.”
Jafri said the rally this year was led by banks, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals, adding that a rotation toward the construction, auto and oil marketing sectors more aligned with economic recovery was witnessed.
“An analyst at Topline Securities said the market showed notable volatility, with the index reaching a peak of 92,967 and dipping to a low of 91,891 as investors capitalized on profit-taking in large-cap stocks,” Topline Securities said in a social media post.

The development comes as the South Asian nation’s economic indicators continue to improve after it secured a $7 billion, 37-month bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September. 
Last year, Pakistan narrowly avoided a sovereign default when it clinched a last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout program. The country has suffered a prolonged economic crisis that drained its foreign exchange reserves and saw its currency weaken amid double-digit inflation.

 


Pakistan court remands ex-PM Khan’s acquittal petition to trial court in graft case

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan court remands ex-PM Khan’s acquittal petition to trial court in graft case

  • Khan and his wife are accused of receiving expensive land through trust as bribe from real estate tycoon
  • IHC has instructed Pakistani trial court to announce decision on Khan’s acquittal petition, says his party

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday remanded former prime minister Imran Khan’s acquittal petition back to a trial court in a corruption case in which he is accused of receiving land as bribe from a real estate tycoon, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said. 
The corruption case against Khan, or the Al-Qadir Trust case as it has become popularly known, involves accusations that the former prime minister and his wife, Bushra Bibi, set up a charitable trust named Al-Qadir in 2018 as a front to receive valuable land as gift from real estate developer Malik Riaz Hussain. 
The Al-Qadir Trust runs a university outside Pakistan’s capital Islamabad devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings, a project inspired by Khan’s wife who has a reputation as a spiritual healer. Khan and his wife deny any wrongdoing, saying that charges against them are politically motivated. 
In August, the IHC issued a temporary stay barring a trial court from issuing the final order in the case. The former prime minister filed an acquittal plea, which was turned down by an accountability court in September.
“IHC two-member bench has remanded the acquittal petition by Mr. & Mrs. Khan back to the trial court in Al-Qadir Trust case,” the PTI said in a statement. 
The party said the defense counsel had argued that “no personal gains” received by Khan could be established in the case and that the trustees had not benefitted from any transaction. 
“IHC has instructed the trial court to announce the decision on the acquittal petition,” the PTI said. “We are hopeful it’ll lead to ordering the release of both Mr. & Mrs. Khan.”
HOW DID THE BRIBE ALLEGEDLY WORK?
Pakistan’s government says the controversy originated with 190 million pounds repatriated to Pakistan in 2019 by Britain after Hussain forfeited cash and assets to settle a British probe into whether they were proceeds of crime.
Instead of putting it in Pakistan’s treasury, Khan’s government used the money to pay fines levied by a court against Hussain for illegal acquisition of government lands at below-market value for development in Karachi.
Pakistan’s then interior minister Rana Sanaullah said Hussain gave the land to Khan through the Al-Qadir Trust in exchange for that favor. 
Khan, who was removed from office after losing a parliamentary vote in April 2022, continues to remain popular among the masses. He has been languishing in jail since August 2023 after being convicted in four cases. Pakistan’s courts suspended two of the verdicts against Khan while he was acquitted in the remaining two.
Since his ouster from the Prime Minister’s Office, Khan has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military, whom he accuses of colluding with his political rivals to orchestrate his removal and keeping him imprisoned. 
The military and incumbent coalition government deny Khan’s allegations vehemently.


Pakistan announces free business, visit visas for Bangladeshis with 48-hour processing time

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan announces free business, visit visas for Bangladeshis with 48-hour processing time

  • Pakistan and Bangladesh were single country known as East and West Pakistan until Bangladesh was born in 1971
  • Historically strained ties have warmed since ouster of former PM Sheikh Hasina on Aug. 5 after student-led uprising

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Dhaka, Syed Ahmed Maroof, this week announced a new visa policy for Bangladeshi citizens, offering free business and visit visas with 48-hour processing time as both nations push to thaw historically frosty ties.
Pakistan and Bangladesh share a complex history, having been a single country known as East and West Pakistan until Bangladesh was born in 1971 after a war of liberation backed by Pakistan’s arch-rival and neighbor India. Nearly three million people were killed in the conflict.
Ties reached a new low in 2016 when Bangladesh executed several leaders of its Jamaat-e-Islami party on charges of committing war crimes in 1971. Pakistan called the executions and trials “politically motivated,” arguing that the convicts were being punished for taking a pro-Pakistan stance during the independence war.
The bitter ties have warmed since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Aug. 5 after a student-led uprising in Bangladesh.
“I’m happy to announce that or to let you know that there are going to be no fees in two visa categories, one is a business visa and the other is a visit visa,” Maroof said on Wednesday.
“It’s a free-of-cost visa for Bangladeshis. Secondly, the visa is decided within 48 hours and thirdly, you don’t have to come to the Pakistan High Commission [to apply for the visa].”


He said Bangladeshi citizens who wanted to visit Pakistan needed to print out a form from the visa website that they would be required to present at the immigration desk in Pakistan in order to get a visa.
“But as a precaution, there are a few things they should always carry with them along with this paper,” he added. “They should have a proper verified place of where they will stay, in a hotel or with some friends or family, and a return ticket.”
Calling the new visa regime “pretty much straightforward and very simplified,” the official said the move would make travel much easier for Bangladeshis wishing to go to Pakistan.
“All in all, the new visa policy is amazing, wonderful and hassle-free,” Maroof concluded.
In September, Pakistan’s foreign office said Islamabad sought “robust, multifaceted relations, friendly relations” with Bangladesh to ensure peace and stability in the South Asian region.


Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag

  • Over 10,000 students participate in activity held during Punjab government-backed youth festival in Lahore
  • Record was previously held by India where 7,368 students formed the waving flag image in March this year 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan smashed India’s record by forming the world’s largest human image of a waving flag in the eastern city of Lahore city, with over 10,000 students participating in the activity this week, state-run media reported on Thursday. 

The new world record was made during the Lahore Youth Festival, organized by the provincial Punjab government and currently underway at the Fortress Stadium in Lahore.

“Pakistan has set a new world record by making the largest human flag,” Radio Pakistan said. “The record was achieved by the students of Army Public School Lahore who participated in the formation of the flag.”

The Guinness World Record website showed that the record for the largest human image of a waving flag was last held by India where 7,368 students formed the flag in March this year in Sonipat. 

State media in Pakistan widely reported on Thursday that Pakistan had now broken India’s record, with over 10,000 students from the Army Public School in Lahore forming the image of the nation’s flag. 

The national flag of Pakistan, also known as the Flag of the Star and Crescent, is made up of a green field with a stylized tilted white descending crescent moon, and five-pointed star at its center, and a vertical white stripe at its hoist-end. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Aug. 11, 1947, and became the official flag of Pakistan on Aug. 14, following independence from the British Empire. 

The flag is referred to in the third verse of Pakistan’s national anthem and is widely flown on several important days of the year, including Republic Day, Independence Day and Defense Day. It is also hoisted every morning at schools, offices and government buildings to the playing of the national anthem and lowered again before sunset.