KARACHI: Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, which has been in the grip of hot weather for months, has extended summer vacations in educational institutions till August 14, the provincial education department said on Tuesday, as a Pakistani charity reported nine suspected heat-related deaths.
Pakistan has witnessed several heat waves since May, with temperatures rising above 52°C (125.6°F) in the Sindh province, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
The province has received less rains so far this year, compared to other parts of Pakistan, while residents complain of humid weather making the weather even hotter for them.
On Tuesday, Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity, said it had found nine bodies in Hyderabad, the second-largest city in Sindh, suspected to have died from extreme heat, with temperatures recorded at 41°C a day earlier.
“The summer vacation are hereby extended in all public and private institutions under the administrative control of the School Education and Literacy Department till 14.8.2024 in the wake of the heatwave and expected monsoon rains,” the Sindh education department said in a notification.
Sumer vacations in Sindh schools were due to end on July 31, according to an earlier notification issued by authorities.
Deaths in Hyderabad
Earlier in the day, Mairaj Ahmed, a top Edhi Foundation official in Hyderabad, said their volunteers found nine dead bodies in the city on Monday, which was “the largest number in recent years.”
“We typically discover one or two bodies a day, but since the beginning of the heat wave, the number has often risen to three, four or even five per day,” he told Arab News.
Ali Nawaz Channa, a spokesperson of the Sindh health department, told Arab News no such deaths were recorded in Hyderabad on Monday, though the Edhi Foundation shared the details of all individuals, including their phone numbers.
“Yesterday, we found nine bodies. Today, we have found two more,” Ahmed said, adding most of the deceased were drug addicts and beggars who often stay on the streets.
“While we are not qualified to confirm that heatstroke was the cause of death, we are certain that these deaths are linked to hot weather.”
Earlier this month, Muhammad Amin, an Edhi Foundation official in Karachi, told Arab News that hundreds of people were brought to the charity organization’s morgues who had possibly died of hot weather.
“We have received 1,309 dead bodies since June 19,” Amin said, though he was unable to confirm if all the bodies belonged to people who had lost their lives due to heat wave complications.
The Sindh health department has reported only 45 people died of heatstroke, though 3,338 people experienced it across the province in the ongoing summer season.
The health department has not shared data on heatstroke cases for July.
Rain and flash flood forecast
On Sunday, the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMA) in Sindh warned of flash floods in the province amid a forecast of heavy rains, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
Rains and thunderstorms are likely to hit Sindh’s Tharparkar, Umarkot, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Matiari, Kambar, Shadad kot, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Sukkur, Thatta and Sajawal districts this week.
A PDMA spokesperson urged the masses to follow the government’s instructions and take necessary precautionary measures to avoid any incident.
Pakistan is recognized as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change effects in the world. Unusually heavy rains in June 2022 triggered flash floods in many parts of the country, killing over 1,700 people, inflicting losses of around $30 billion, and affecting at least 30 million people.
Pakistan’s Sindh extends summer vacations as charity suspects nine heat-related deaths in Hyderabad
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Pakistan’s Sindh extends summer vacations as charity suspects nine heat-related deaths in Hyderabad
- Pakistan has witnessed several heat waves since May, with temperatures rising above 52°C in the Sindh province
- Provincial Disaster Management Authorities has also warned of flash floods in Sindh amid forecast of heavy rains
Pakistan eyes major boost in date palm exports with UAE’s assistance
- Pakistan currently exports 125,000 metric tons of dates, valued at nearly $50 million, with dry dates worth $35 million mainly exported to the UAE
- The UAE’s potential investment in establishing processing plants will increase shelf life of dates, maximize production and benefit farmers, envoy says
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan aims to boost its date palm exports beyond the current $50 million per annum with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan’s envoy to Abu Dhabi said on Monday.
Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi was recognized by the UAE for his outstanding contributions to date palm cultivation and production alongside Pakistani scientist Dr. Ghulam Sarwar Markhand, who won the prestigious “Influential Figure” award at the 17th Khalifa International Awards for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation in Abu Dhabi on April 16. The event, under the patronage of UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, honored global leaders in agricultural innovation.
During the awards, Pakistan and the UAE signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the second Pakistan International Date Palm Festival 2025 that will take place in the South Asian country later this year and marks a new chapter in agricultural cooperation between the two nations, according to the Pakistani mission in the UAE.
Ambassador Tirmizi told Arab News that Pakistan’s annual date production, which normally ranged between 500,000 and 600,000 metric tons, was expected to reach 800,000 metric tons this year.
“Pakistan currently exports 125,000 metric tons of dates, valued at nearly $50 million, with dry dates worth $35 million exported mainly to the UAE, while other destinations include Germany, the UK [United Kingdom], and Turkiye,” he said.
“Since the UAE market is a global re-export hub, it offers great opportunities for Pakistani agro-based products, including dates, to expand trade through different initiatives and marketing strategies.”
Pakistan produces large quantities of dates in Khairpur district of its southern Sindh province, and in Turbat and Panjgur districts of the southwestern Balochistan province. The export of these dates helps the country earn substantial revenue.
Dr. Markhand, who established a Date Palm Research Institute as a professor at Shah Abdul Latif University in Khairpur in collaboration with Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission, said he was excited to see three decades of his hard work earn global recognition at the Abu Dhabi awards.
“We worked on various aspects of date palm research, with major achievements including the micropropagation and tissue culture of date palms using inflorescence explants, a rarely used method,” he said, describing the details of his work.
The scientist said no one ever succeeded globally in producing female plants through this technique, but he successfully propagated several thousand plants, established a nursery, and distributed those plants among growers.
“These plants are now fruiting well, marking a major breakthrough in date palm tissue culture,” he said.
Dr. Markhand said Pakistan, in collaboration with the UAE, could benefit greatly in further developing the sector and increasing its exports.
At the Abu Dhabi awards, the UAE recognized Ambassador Tirmizi’s key role in facilitating high-level exchanges between government officials, private sector leaders and experts that created new avenues for bilateral cooperation in the field of date palm production.
“These efforts have led to the signing of several important MoUs aimed at boosting bilateral trade, enhancing agricultural exports, and promoting joint ventures in agri-tech, food security, and sustainable farming solutions,” the Pakistani diplomat said.
The Pakistani mission actively worked with Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Award management to help set up processing plants in key areas and boost Pakistan’s value-added date chain, according to Tirmizi.
“Since dates are used in various ways in domestic, industrial applications and value-added product manufacturing, the UAE’s potential investment in establishing processing plants would increase the shelf life of dates, maximize high-quality date product output, benefit farmers with additional income, and generate local employment opportunities in Pakistan’s agriculture sector,” he shared
Panic in Pakistan as India vows to cut off water supply over Kashmir attack
- India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani agriculture
- India says militants who killed 26 people in Kashmir last week were from Pakistan, Islamabad has denied any role
HYDERABAD, Pakistan: Spraying pesticides on his parched ridge gourd cultivation a street away from the Indus River, Pakistani farmer Homla Thakhur is worried about his future. The sun is at its peak, the river is running very low, and India has vowed to cut supplies upstream after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir.
“If they stop water, all of this will turn into the Thar desert, the whole country. The basic issue is water. Nothing is possible without water,” said Thakhur, 40, before heading back to the river to refill the tank for the spray gun.
“If water comes, it will bring prosperity, otherwise we will die of hunger,” he said.
His nearly 5-acre (2 hectare) farm is located in the Latifabad area of the southeastern province of Sindh, from where the Indus flows into the Arabian Sea after originating in Tibet and snaking through India. Thakhur’s fears were echoed by more than 15 Pakistani farmers and several other experts, especially as rain has been scanty in recent years.
For the first time, India on Wednesday (April 23) suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
India says two of the three militants who attacked tourists and killed 26 men in Kashmir were from Pakistan. Islamabad has denied any role and said “any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan ... and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War.”
The treaty split the Indus and its tributaries between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Two Indian government officials, who declined to be named discussing a sensitive subject, said the country could within months start diverting the water for its own agriculture, using canals while planning hydroelectric dams that could take four to seven years to finish.
Immediately, India will stop sharing data like hydrological flows at various sites of the rivers flowing through India, withhold flood warnings and skip annual meetings under the Permanent Indus Commission headed by one official each from the two countries, said Kushvinder Vohra, a recently retired head of India’s Central Water Commission.
Nadeem Shah, who has a 150-acre farm in Sindh where he grows cotton, sugar cane, wheat and vegetables, employing 50 people, said he was also worried about drinking water.
“Allah is the provider. There will be rains, God willing, and the water will come, but yes, this is a potential threat at the moment,” he said.
The three rivers meant for Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, irrigate more than 16 million hectares of farmland, or up to 80 percent of the total.
Ghasharib Shaokat of Pakistan Agriculture Research, a Karachi research firm, said India’s actions inject uncertainty “into a system that was never designed for unpredictability.”
The treaty remained largely unscathed even when India and Pakistan fought four wars since separating in 1947, but the suspension sets a dangerous precedent, Pakistani politicians said.
“My biggest concern is that we are already locked into generations of conflict, and by exiting the Indus Water Treaty, I believe we’re locking future generations into a brand new context of conflict between India and Pakistan,” said Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan’s former foreign minister.
“That must not happen.”
Pakistan says won’t build new canals, dousing row over key irrigation project
- Government launched project in Feb. to build network of six canals on Indus to irrigate millions of acres of barren lands
- Critics say project would trigger water shortages, weeks of protests forced government to pause plans last week
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Monday decided not to build new canals on River Indus, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said, following weeks of protests in the southern Sindh province over the key irrigation project.
Pakistan’s government launched the ambitious agricultural project in February to build a network of six canals on the Indus. The government said it aimed to irrigate millions of acres of barren lands and ensure food security for 240 million people of the country.
But critics said the project would trigger water shortages in the southern parts of the country, mainly Sindh. The project sparked protests by lawyers, civil society and supporters of nationalist parties that disrupted trade and traffic on National Highway in Sindh, forcing the government last week to pause it.
On Monday, PM Sharif summoned a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI), a constitutional body aimed at resolving the disputes between the federation and its provinces, to discuss the irrigation project and heightened tensions with New Delhi over a recent attack in Kashmir among other things.
“Federal Government has decided that no new canals will be built without mutual understanding from CCI,” Sharif’s office said in a statement after the meeting. “It has been decided that the Federal Government will not move further until mutual understanding is evolved among the provinces.”
The development comes at a time when India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan that splits Indus River and its tributaries between Pakistan and India, threatening Pakistan’s food security. Islamabad has described the move as an “act of war” and said it would take “all appropriate steps” to safeguard its due share of water.
Sharif’s office said the government was forming a committee to engage all provincial governments to chart out a long-term consensus roadmap for the development of an agriculture policy and water management infrastructure across Pakistan, adding that water rights of all provinces were enshrined in the Water Apportionment Accord-1991 and Water Policy-2018.
“The committee will propose solutions to Pakistan’s long-term agriculture needs and water use of all provinces in line with the two consensus documents,” it said, adding that any concerns on the proposals would be addressed through due diligence among all stakeholders.
“Water is one of the most precious commodities and the makers of the constitution recognized this, mandating all water disputes to be resolved amicably through mutual understanding.”
Azad Kashmir residents condemn Indian threats to cut water, warn against escalation
- Ties plummeted as Delhi blamed Pakistan of being behind attack last week in Indian-administered Kashmir
- Both nations have since announced a series of punitive measures against each other aimed to downgrade ties
CHAKOTHI, Pakistan: Residents of Chakothi, a town in Pakistan-administered Kashmir situated on the Line of Control with India, have condemned Indian threats to cut off water supply and warned against any escalation to war.
The latest diplomatic crisis between the cross-border neighbors was triggered by the killing of 26 men at a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday April 22, in the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings.
India blames Pakistan for the attack. Pakistan denies responsibility and called for a neutral probe.
After the attack, India and Pakistan unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines and India suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries.
Chakothi is a strategically sensitive area on the LoC, along the Line of Control (LOC), which runs 742km (460 miles), dividing Indian- and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, and acts as part of the de facto border between the two countries. The military frontline, which runs through inhospitable terrain, has separated hundreds of families and even divided villages and mountains.
Chatkothi on Sunday expressed determination to defend their land against any aggression and were unfazed by India’s threats to cut off water supply.
“We’re not intimidated,” said Ahmed Abbasi, a resident of the area. “We’ve faced such challenges before and won’t back down.”
Raja Ali, a local resident, echoed similar sentiments, saying, “We’d rather die as martyrs than become a burden in old age. We’ll keep moving forward, unafraid of death.”
Chakothi, the last major settlement before the heavily militarized Line of Control, has frequently seen cross-border shelling during periods of India-Pakistan tensions.
Pakistan says next few days ‘crucial’ amid specter of military incursion by India
- “If something has to happen, will occur in next two to four days, otherwise immediate danger will pass,” defense minister says
- Pakistan and India have downgraded ties since last week’s attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday the next few days were “crucial” with regards to a possible Indian military incursion, as tensions surged between the two countries over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last week.
The attack killed 26 people and triggered outrage in India along with calls for action against Pakistan, whom it says is involved, accusations Islamabad has denied. India has long accused Pakistan of backing militancy in Kashmir, a region both nations claim and have fought two wars over. Islamabad says it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris in their struggle for self-determination.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations continued to boil on Monday, and experts and officials in Islamabad both raised the specter of limited airstrikes or special forces raids near the border with Pakistan.
Following a report by Reuters quoting Defense Minister Khawaja Asif as saying an Indian military excursion was “imminent,” he told a local news channel that he had said only that the next few days were “crucial.”
“The threat [of Indian attacks] is there, there is absolutely no doubt about it, but I have not suggested anything about its inevitability,” Asif told Geo News on Monday night.
“If something has to happen, then it will occur in the next two to four days … otherwise the immediate danger will pass.”
He added that if “war” was imposed on Pakistan, it was prepared for a “full response”:
“Our armed forces have 100 percent preparation, be it in our waters, air or soil. No one should have a doubt about this.”
Asif’s remarks followed a key meeting presided over by Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar to discuss India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which was one of the punitive measures it announced to downgrade ties with Islamabad following Tuesday’s attack. The treaty splits the Indus River Basin and its tributaries between Pakistan and India and ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms.
“Pakistan will take all appropriate steps to safeguard its due share of water, guaranteed by the Indus Waters Treaty,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement after the meeting, quoting Dar.
“Pakistan will continue to advocate for the full implementation of the Treaty to ensure the protection of its water rights and the well-being of its people.”
The statement said India’s “unilateral and illegal” move to hold the treaty in abeyance contravened established norms of inter-state relations, international law, and the treaty’s own provisions.
“Noting that the waters of the Indus River System remain a lifeline for Pakistan’s 240 million people, he [Dar] deplored the Indian attempts to weaponize water,” the ministry added.
Earlier on Monday, Asif told Reuters Islamabad had approached friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and also briefed Britain, the United States and others on the situation.
“Some of our friends in the Arabian Gulf have talked to both sides,” Asif said, without naming the countries.
China said on Monday it hoped for restraint and welcomed all measures to cool down the situation. Asif said the United States was thus far “staying away” from intervening in the matter.
Riyadh and Tehran have also both offered to mediate the crisis.
Pakistan and India have fought multiple wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since their independence from British rule in 1947.
In the past, New Delhi has accused Islamabad of backing militants who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed more than 166 people, including foreigners. Pakistan denies the accusations.
Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and India were weak even before the latest conflict as Pakistan had expelled India’s envoy and not posted its own ambassador in New Delhi after India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir in 2019.
