ISLAMABAD: Authorities have issued a flood alert for parts of Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday, amid heavy monsoon showers in the South Asian country.
Torrential rains in Pakistan have killed at least 30 people this week as the second-largest city of Lahore was drenched in the most rainfall it has received in more than four decades, according to authorities.
The arrival of the monsoon season has sparked floods and landslides across South Asia in the past week, with at least 200 killed and almost 200 missing in one disaster in neighboring India.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a flood alert for Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan division, Zhob, Sibbi, Naseerabad and Kalat in Balochistan, and Larkana and Hyderabad divisions in Sindh.
“Medium to High Level Flash Flooding is expected up to Monday,” the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported. “NDMA has issued instructions to all relevant departments to take necessary precautions to mitigate the possible effects of flooding and extreme weather.”
Rains pummelled Pakistan’s north, causing floods, building collapses and heightening the risk of electrocution this week.
“The 44-year-old rainfall record was broken in Lahore once again,” said utility officials in the eastern province of Punjab, where authorities tallied six deaths.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 12 children were among the two dozen people who died in the last three days of rains and floods in the northwestern province, according to the provincial disaster management authority.
Pakistan is recognized as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change effects in the world. This year, the South Asian country recorded its “wettest April since 1961,” with 59.3 millimeters rainfall and at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses, mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the authorities.
In June, a UN official warned that an estimated 200,000 people in Pakistan could be affected by the upcoming monsoon season, which is expected to bring heavier rains than usual.
The United Nations, with help from local authorities, has prepared a contingency plan, with $40 million set aside to respond to any emergencies, said Mohamed Yahya, the newly appointed Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan.
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.
Authorities warn of flash floods in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan amid heavy rains
https://arab.news/26zsz
Authorities warn of flash floods in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan amid heavy rains
- Torrential rains killed at least 30 people in Pakistan this week, inundating the second-largest city of Lahore
- In June, a UN official warned an estimated 200,000 people in Pakistan could be affected this monsoon season
Pakistan reassures investors after Barrick announces review of Reko Diq project after attacks
- Mining giant announced it would reassess all aspects of project after coordinated Jan. 30-31 assaults killed 58 in Balochistan
- Copper-gold project’s development long overshadowed by decades-long separatist insurgency in remote province
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has assured foreign investors it has the “capacity and capability” to secure the multibillion-dollar Reko Diq copper-gold mine, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Monday after Canada’s Barrick Mining Corporation ordered a review of the project following deadly separatist attacks in the province last month.
The mining giant announced it would reassess all aspects of the project after coordinated Jan. 30-31 assaults by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) killed 36 civilians and 22 security personnel across multiple districts of the remote southwestern province. Pakistani authorities say 216 militants were killed in follow-up operations.
The Reko Diq mine, one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits, is a cornerstone of Pakistan’s efforts to attract foreign investment and expand mineral exports after a prolonged economic crisis. Islamabad hopes the mines will generate $70 billion in free cash flow and $90 billion in operating cash flow. The project, expected to begin production in 2028, is jointly owned by Barrick Gold and the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan.
The project’s development, however, has repeatedly been overshadowed by security concerns in Balochistan, a sparsely populated province bordering Iran and Afghanistan that has faced a decades-long insurgency in which separatist groups target security forces, infrastructure and projects linked to foreign investment. Militants accuse the state of exploiting local resources without benefiting residents, an allegation the government denies.
“Of course, the government of Balochistan is concerned [about security], it’s not that they aren’t,” Bugti told Arab News in an interview in Islamabad.
“Barrick Gold has a very large investment and we have other international partners in that [Reko Diq mining project]. We want to assure them through your platform as well and also when our meetings will take place that we have the capacity and capability to protect our foreign investors.
“The state is intact, the government is intact. There is a functional government, there is a functional state in Balochistan.”
Bugti said authorities were redesigning security arrangements for the project, including raising a dedicated protection force in mineral-bearing areas and strengthening border controls. However, he acknowledged that attacks affected investor confidence.
“Yes, [attacks] do make a dent, when your country or province takes off [economically],” he said. “It does impact the perception.”
However, Bugti refused to describe the coordinated January attacks as a “security failure.”
“A security failure is when the [army’s] corps headquarters is captured ... when someone seizes control of the biggest cantonment in Quetta, or for that matter, captures our IG [Inspector-General of Police] headquarters, or the IG FC [Frontier Corps] headquarters, you call it a security failure,” the chief minister said.
“I say it was a success of security forces that within hours, as I told you, other than Nushki, everything was clear.”
The minister accused Pakistan’s neighbor and archival India of supporting insurgent groups in Balochistan, an allegation New Delhi has repeatedly denied.
“What evidence do you need? Kulbhushan Jadhav was not here to sell chickpeas. It is on record that he was an intelligence officer who came to support Baloch insurgents, and the way he was arrested highlighted this,” he said.
Jadhav is an Indian national arrested by Pakistan in 2016 and convicted by a military court on espionage charges. India disputes the allegations and challenged the case at the International Court of Justice, which ordered Pakistan to review the conviction but did not rule on guilt or innocence.
Ultimately, Bugti said long-term stability in Balochistan depended on pursuing economic development alongside security operations.
“See there is a development paradigm and the security paradigm. Both should be carried forward together,” he said.
“My vision is that meritocracy and an anti-corruption drive are key to success in Balochistan.”
