ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has canceled his tour of four European countries in view of countrywide damages by floods, the Pakistani foreign office said on Sunday, with the death toll from torrential rains surging past 770 in the South Asian country.
Bhutto-Zardari was scheduled to visit Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway in his maiden trip to Europe from August 22 till August 26.
However, Pakistan’s foreign office said late Sunday the tour had been canceled after monsoon downpours and floods ravaged large swathes of land across the country.
At least 777 people have lost their lives in Pakistan since the beginning of the season in mid-June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Authorities have been trying to rescue hundreds of others in marooned areas.
“In view of calamities across Pakistan caused by the ongoing heavy monsoon rains and flooding, as well as heavy damages to lives and property, the Foreign Minister has postponed his official visits to Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway,” the Pakistan foreign office said in a statement.
“The Foreign Minister is looking forward to his interactions with his counterparts, other dignitaries and media, as part of Pakistan’s continued engagement with Europe.”
The visits by the Pakistani foreign minister to these capitals would be rescheduled at mutually agreed dates in consultation with the host governments, the statement read.
Meanwhile, the administration in the worst-affected Balochistan province announced closing all government and private schools for five days after nine more people were killed by heavy rains in different districts of the province.
The southwestern Pakistani province has also suffered significant infrastructure damage and witnessed the death of 225 people so far.
The provincial education department issued a notification on Sunday, announcing a temporary closure of all schools from Monday to Friday.
“Monsoon rains have caused severe devastation in Balochistan and destroyed a number of government schools in various districts,” said the provincial education secretary, Rauf Baloch, while talking to Arab News. “In view of the situation, we have decided to close all schools in the province for five days.”
He informed that the provincial administration had carried out a joint survey with the United Nation International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) last week which showed that 574 government schools had been damaged due to the ongoing rains and floods in 32 districts.
Baloch added that about 79,000 children were enrolled in these education institutes.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), six men, two women and a child were killed in Quetta, Khuzdar and Killa Abdullah districts due to heavy rains on Sunday.
Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa called the top military commander in Balochistan a day earlier and instructed him to fully cooperate with the provincial and district administrations by providing them support in flood relief operations.
The flooding of several key districts in Balochistan has disconnected the province with the rest of the country, and the Quetta-Islamabad and Quetta-Karachi highways have remained blocked for the last four days.
“The provincial health department has imposed a health emergency in Balochistan since there is imminent threat of diarrhea, cholera and malaria outbreaks in flood-hit districts,” Saleh Muhammad Nasir, the secretary health in the province, told Arab News.
“We have established a control room in the director general’s office to provide timely health facility to the residents of flood affected areas,” he continued.
Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, was also lashed by heavy rain on Sunday which caused major damage to various neighborhoods of the city and resulted in prolonged power outages.
“Several houses in Quetta were partially damaged on Sunday, but the entire administration was on the ground to deal with the situation and prevent untoward incidents,” said the commissioner, Sohail-ur-Rehman Baloch, while talking to Arab News.
