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ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Rehman Malik on Saturday said the government would provide cooked food to flood affectees and all out efforts are being made to provide relief to the stranded people in different areas of the country.

In a telephonic talk with a private news channel he said, the government is taking several measures to mitigate sufferings of the affectees. Medicines with para-medical staff and doctors are also being sent to flood affected areas, he added.

Interior Minister said President Asif Ali Zardari is monitoring the relief activities for flood affected areas through monitoring cells.

He informed that a large number of tourists are facing difficulties in ‘Naran’ due to flash flood, adding efforts were being made to clear roads of Naran valley especially for small vehicles so that stranded people could move towards their destinations.

To a question the minister said that sufficient food stocks are available in the area adding, helicopter service has also been provided there to meet any emergency situation.

NOWSHERA: Flooding in Pakistan has killed more than 800 people in a week, a government official said Saturday as rescuers struggled to reach marooned victims and some evacuees showed signs of fever, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases.

The flooding caused by record-breaking rainfalls caused massive destruction in the past week, especially in the northwest province, where officials said it was the worst deluge since 1929. The UN estimated Saturday that some 1 million people nationwide were affected by the disaster, though it didn’t specify exactly what that meant.

The information minister for the northwest province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said reports coming in from various districts across the northwest showed that more than 800 people had died due to the flooding. Many people remain missing.

Floodwaters were believed to be receding in some sections, but it was difficult to get a complete picture.

In the Nowshera area, scores of men, women and children sat on roofs in hopes of air or boat rescues.

”There are very bad conditions,” said Amjad Ali, a rescue worker in the area. ”They have no water, no food.”

A doctor treating evacuees at a small relief camp in Nowshera said some had diarrhea and others had marks appearing on their skin, causing itching. Children and the elderly seemed to have the most problems, Mehmood Jaa said.

”Due to the floodwater, they now have pain in their bodies and they are suffering from fever and cough,” Jaa told The Associated Press.

Rescuers were using army helicopters, heavy trucks and boats to try reaching flood-hit areas, the UN said. It reported that thousands of homes and roads were destroyed, and at least 45 bridges across the northwest were damaged.

The destruction is slowing the rescue effort, said Luther Rehman, a government official in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, the northwest province.

”Our priority is to transport flood-affected people to safer places. We are carrying out this rescue operation despite limited resources,” he said, adding they needed more helicopters and boats.

Qamarul Zaman, the head of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said that no more rain was expected in the next few days for the northwest and that floodwaters there were receding. But Punjab province in the east, Sindh province in the south, and Pakistan’s side of the disputed Kashmir region all could expect a lashing over the next three or four days, he said.

Flooding has already affected some of those regions, with more than 21 people dying in Kashmir.

KARACHI: Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani declared flood affected areas of Naseerabad, Bolan, Barkhan, Kohlu, and Sibbi as calamity prone districts.

After taking an aerial inspection of the flooded areas, he spoke to the media persons at Dera Murad Jamali.

Raisani said that the government would take all measures necessary for the rehabilitation of the affected people.

“There is large scale destruction from the floods in Balochistan and infrastructure has been damaged,” Raisani added.

He also ordered the local agencies to complete the survey and file the reports within one week. – DawnNews

SARGODHA: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said that Pakistan will never compromise on its nuclear program.

Gilani said this while speaking to the media during a natural gas distribution ceremony in Sargodha. Gilani said that Pakistan is a conscious and modest state and that the US should respect the institutions of Pakistan.

Gilani said that the nation trusted him and it was his mission is to empower the poverty-struck people of Pakistan.

He said that development was taking place in all marginalized areas. Gilani also said that the government has fulfilled all promises such as restoration of constitution and making Gilgit-Baltistan a separate province. – DawnNews 

ISLAMABAD: Investigation teams on Saturday found the black box of Air Blue’s flight ED 202 which crashed on Thursday in Margalla Hills, according to a DawnNews report.

There were 152 people on board the ill-fated plane which crashed just as it was getting ready to land in Islamabad. All passengers and crew on board were killed.

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Law and Justice has said the judicial system of Pakistan needs an overhauling.

Addressing the office bearers of Bar Associations of Faisalabad and Sargodha divisions at Governor’s House on Friday, he said that it was need of the hour to review the institutions in line with the increase in population of the country as the existing system had been made when the population was about forty million.

He said that he had brought the ministry of Law and Justice to the door step of lawyers from Islamabad and added that the PPP was de-centralizing the powers to resolve the problems of the people.

“We believe in the empowerment of the people,” he said.

He remarked that he was going to door to door of the lawyers instead of calling them to the ministry in the capital, adding it was the duty of the representative of the people to visit them for realizing their problems.

He said that the Balochistan High Court was made by the PPP in its first term and added that now another High Court is being established by the PPP to facilitate the people.

The minister remarked a summery had been already moved for establishing Lahore High Court benches in Faisalabad and Sargodha, adding both benches would be instituted within a year.

He further said the PPP would provide speedy justice to the masses at their door steps, adding that power was of the people and the parliamentarians were its custodians.

Raja Riaz Ahmad, Senior Minister Punjab, Saleem Akhter Kachela, president Sargodha Bar Association, S.M Iqbal, president Faisalabad Bar Association, and presidents of Minawali, Bhakar, Khoshab and Chiniot district bar associations including other office bearers were present.

ISLAMABAD: Head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), Manuel Bessler said that after launching relief efforts in seven districts of Balochistan, the UN has started relief operations in 29 flood affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Bassler said that there is no need for international help; however, the final decision will be taken after a complete scenario of the issue.

“There is flood situation in 36 districts which affected 5.5 lacs peoples,” he added.

Bassler said that the Pakistan Army is transferring peoples to safer places by boats and helicopters, however, more efforts are also needed. Different UN agencies are making every effort to provide food, medicines and shelters to homeless peoples.

Bassler said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is worst affected from rains and floods. Four lacs peoples from Peshawar, Charsadda, Noshehra, Swat and from other 25 districts are severely hit by the rains and floods. The UN is making all efforts for the relief of the affected people. -DawnNews

QUETTA: Unidentified assailants on Friday blew up a Nato oil tanker near the western by-pass in Quetta, a private television channel reported.

The Afghanistan-bound oil tanker that started travelling from Karachi had reached Quetta’s Akhtarabad area early on Friday, police said.

The driver pulled up the tanker at a petrol pump and after a while the tanker exploded, with the oil spilling out.

Police arrested two suspects who were attempting to flee from the scene and started an investigation.

PESHAWAR: The death toll in three days of flooding in Pakistan reached at least 313 on Friday, rescue and government officials said, as rains bloated rivers, submerged villages, and triggered landslides.

The rising toll from the monsoon rains underscore the poor infrastructure in Pakistan, where under-equipped rescue workers were struggling to reach people stranded in far-flung villages. The weather forecast was mixed, with some areas expected to see reduced rainfall and others likely to see intensification.

Television footage showed striking images of people clinging to fences and other stationary items as water at times gushed over their heads.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa appeared to be the hardest hit, and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the province, said it was the worst flooding in the region since 1929. The highway connecting Peshawar to Islamabad was shut down after the water washed away bridges and other links.

At least 291 people died in various parts of that province over the last three days, said Mujahid Khan of the Edhi Foundation.

In Pakistani-administered Kashmir, at least 22 people had been confirmed dead as of Thursday evening, the region’s prime minister, Sardar Attique Khan, told reporters.

The tolls from the deluge were expected to rise because many people were still missing. Poor weather this week also may have been a factor in Wednesday’s Airblue plane crash that killed 152 people in Islamabad.

In the Swat Valley, residents were forced to trudge through knee-deep water in some streets.

A newly constructed part of a dam in the Charsadda district collapsed, while the UN said it had reports that 5,000 homes were underwater in that area. Hussain estimated 400,000 people were stranded in various northwest villages.

”A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to the bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available for rescue,” he said on Thursday.

Pakistan’s poorest residents are often the ones living in flood-prone areas because they can’t afford safer land.

Balochistan province has also been hit hard by the recent rains. Last week, flash floods in the region killed at least 41 people and swept away thousands of homes. The UN statement Thursday said 150,000 people were affected there.

The UN said Punjab province was also hit by some flooding. Crops were soaked in farmlands throughout the country. The UN said the humanitarian community was trying to put together a proper response, but the rains were making many roads impassable, complicating efforts to assess needs.

ISLAMABAD: Investigators spent a third day searching Friday for the black box of a Pakistani jet that crashed into Islamabad’s hills, killing all 152 people on board, officials said.

The search for human remains has been called off and most bodies handed over to families for burial, police said.

The Airblue passenger jet crashed in a ball of fire in the forested Margalla Hills overlooking the Pakistani capital in heavy rain and poor visibility on Wednesday, while trying to land after flying from Karachi.

“We have recovered remains of all the dead bodies. Now our focus is on the investigation and we are searching for any clue which can help us,” senior Islamabad police official Bani Amin told AFP.

Monsoon rains hampered the search for two days, but aviation experts and other investigators resumed work after the weather cleared on Friday.

Investigators are focusing on the black box as the flight data recorder will provide valuable clues as to why the 10-year-old Airbus 321, which was piloted by an experienced captain, came down.

“Today the investigators are going to the hilltop. The priority is the black box and any other technical clue from the wreckage,” Ramzan Sajid, spokesman for the Islamabad city administration official, told AFP.

Airblue, one of Pakistan’s most respected airlines, has been tight-lipped about any possible technical fault or pilot error.

Reports that the pilot was told to take another route were mere speculation, company spokesman Raheel Ahmad told AFP.

The only deadlier civilian plane crash involving a Pakistani jet occurred when a PIA Airbus A300 crashed into a cloud-covered hillside on approach to the Nepalese capital Kathmandu in 1992, killing 167 people. – AFP

PESHAWAR: Seventeen people were killed in Shangla due to land-sliding on Friday, DawnNews reported.

Another 35 people were also wounded in the incident.

KARACHI: A fire erupted in the engine of a Lahore-bound PIA plane at the Karachi airport early Friday morning.

Sources said that the flight, PK 302, was taxiing on the runway when a bird smashed into its engine number one. At least 421 passengers were reported to be onboard.

Ambulances and rescue teams reached the spot to put out the fire.

Spokesman for PIA, Sultan Hasan said all the passengers are safe and will be taken to Lahore through another fight.

“We heard a loud voice as the plane took off,” said a passenger Sumaiyya Baig.

“The incident of birds bumping is usual, we stop the plane in such situation and resumes the flight after examination,” said PIA spokesman Sultan Hasan. “In some cases the damaged plane replaced with a new one”.

An emergency has been declared at the Karachi airport. —Agencies

ISLAMABAD: Eight persons were swept away by the raging torrents and one was killed in roof collapse in Islamabad, Attock and Taxila after the unrelenting rain on Thursday.

Four persons, including a 10-year-old boy drowned in different overflowing nullahs in the capital here, police said.

Mohammad Ali, 16, drowned in a Nilor nullah where he went for swimming along with his two other friends.

In another incident Mohammad Qudoos, 20, a resident of Pind Masrial drowned in Korang Nullah. The victim, a mason by profession, was crossing the nullah when he was swept away by gushing water.

In another incident Mano, 22, drowned in a nullah which falls in Leh. People of the area said he jumped in the nullah to pull out a piece of wood floating in the water but could not maintain balance and disappeared in the raging water.

A 10-year-old boy, Gharib Nawaz, fell in Soan section of Korang Nullah. The police said that he was plying in the rain at the bank of the nullah when raging water carried him away.

In Attock, a three-year-old boy Zeeshan and an unidentified man drowned in nullahs near Karbalah Muhallah of Attock city and near Mirza village of Attock saddar.

Moreover, a woman Zobaida was killed and her three children were injured, when a roof of her room collapsed in Sheenbagh village due to heavy rain.

In Taxila, two minors reportedly drowned in drain in Wahdat colony area and their bodies could not be recovered.

According to police and Edhi sources, Kashif Riaz, 5, and Zareen Gull, 10, resident of Wahdat Colony reportedly fell into drain. Local volunteers were searching for them but without success.

RAWALPINDI: It was almost a repeat of 2001 flash floods for citizens of the garrison town on Thursday when the Nullah Leh swelled after daylong heavy showers and inundated several low-lying areas.

The channel became a ragging torrent and the Gowalmandi bridge was submerged by the evening when the water level rose to around 30 feet.

Two units of the Pakistan Army’s elite 111 Brigade were called in to deal with any emergency. District administration, Civil Defence department and Rescue 1122 evacuated 170 families from the low-lying areas and shifted them to flood relief centres.

“But most of the people went back to their localities soon after the rain subsided,” said District Officer (Civil Defence) Tayyamam Raza. He added that the rescue team faced difficulties as people were not willing to leave their houses.

Military and Civil Defence personnel used boats to evacuate a dozen families trapped in rainwater at Safdarabad, Nadeem Colony, Javed Colony and other adjoining areas. However, no causality was reported till filling of this report at around 11pm.

Commissioner Zahid Saeed said the district administration was put on high alert to deal with any emergency. He said emergency sirens were sounded at 6pm, adding that flood centres had been activated.

Mr Saeed said no loss of life had been reported due to high floods in Nullah Leh.

The meteorological department recorded 152 millimetre (mm) rain in Rawalpindi, and forecast heavy rain during the next 36 hours.

Meanwhile, the continuing rain exposed the tall claims of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the City District Government Rawalpindi that they had cleared the hurdles in Nullah Leh and other drains to ensure smooth flow of water.

The sewerage system in Rawalpindi’s central parts and the area adjacent to Nullah Leh collapsed and rainwater mixed with sewage entered houses and shops.

The rain also caused extensive damage to roads, some of which had been recarpeted only recently. Some structures were also damaged due to rain, like the old bridge near Ganjmandi.

Nadeem Colony, Javed Colony, Muslim Colony, Dhoke Ratta, Ganjmandi, Jamia Masjid Road, Bani Chowk, Sadiqabad, Satellite Town, Commercial Market, College Road, Bohar Bazaar, Naya Mohallah, Iqbal Road, Purana Qila, Raja Bazaar, Kohati Bazaar, Mochi Bazaar, Mohanpura, Nanakpura, Arjun Nagar, Amarpura, Service Road, Khyaban Sir-i-Syed and 7th Road were covered with up to four feet water.

People had a tough time draining out water from their homes and shops, whereas authorities suspended power supply in low-lying areas fearing fatal incidents.

LAHORE: The Pakistan People’s Party membership campaign has yet to take off in most districts, especially in Punjab, despite its formal launch across the country six months ago.

Sources blame it on a lack of interest among the officer-bearers at most districts in Punjab and elsewhere.

In Punjab the campaign is yet to be launched in many districts, including Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Multan (hometown of the prime minister), Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bhakkar and Khanewal.

PPP chairman Bilawal Zardari Bhutto had launched the campaign in February last with a pledge to muster support while covering every nook and corner of the country.

It was primarily meant to make new members and issue them Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs), a possible condition for casting vote in the next general election.

Many in the party believe the main flaw in the membership campaign is absence of deadline.

Although some party elders had earlier proposed that the process should be completed much before the local election, the call was not heeded by those who mattered.
 
“The leadership is eyeing 2013 general election and that’s why is in no hurry to get it (membership campaign) completed in a short time,” a PPP leader said.

He said the membership drive got its desired results in Sindh while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan it was going on at a snail’s pace.

The party co-chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari had appointed his assistant political secretary Fauzia Habib to oversee the campaign. PPP’s Yasmin Rehman, Azma Bokhari, Shabina Riaz Sheikh and Shakila Rashid are monitoring the drive in Punjab.

Ms Habib has yet to collect the results of the drive from any province.

PPP Punjab acting president Samiullah Khan said the membership drive had failed to pick up steam in a dozen or so districts in Punjab because of by-polls. “The office-bearers at these districts could not concentrate on the drive because of by-polls,” he told Dawn.

He said Ms Habib had called the meeting of the presidents and general secretaries of these districts in the first week of August in Lahore to review the campaign.

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday approved re-establishment of Islamabad High Court (IHC) that was closed down last year by the Supreme Court.

The president accorded his assent to Islamabad High Court Bill, 2010, during a signing ceremony at the Presidency.

Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan, Attorney General of Pakistan Justice (retired) Maulvi Anwarul Haq and Law Secretary Mohammad Masood Chishti were also present on the occasion.

The Supreme Court had declared the IHC illegal last year, saying it had been established under the Provisional Constitutional Order imposed by former president Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007.

The new bill of the IHC was passed by the National Assembly on May 10 and the Senate on May 13 with amendment.

The bill was again passed by the National Assembly on June 30 without any amendment in terms of clause (2) of Article 70 of the Constitution.

Mr Awan termed the approval of the bill a landmark in the constitutional and legal history of the country. He said the establishment of the IHC would reduce the number of pending cases and people would get quick justice.

The government had ordered revival of the IHC in light of the 18th Amendment.

Law Minister Babar Awan said the high court would start functioning after appointment of judges. “The chief justice and judges of the high court would be appointed from all units of the federation,” he had said.

Law ministry sources said former IHC judges were expected to be reappointed. Staffers of the high court are likely to be reinstated to their previous posts from the surplus pool following revival of the court.

In its July 31, 2009 judgment, the apex court had struck down the order of establishment of the IHC and revert the judicial system to the status of November 2, 2007.

All judges who were part of the judiciary on November 2, 2007, had been ordered to return to their original courts while those not part of it were ordered to cease as judges.

The Supreme Court, under Justice Hameed Dogar, had decided in favour of the establishment of IHC. But its creation was delayed because of a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court after its establishment was challenged.

WASHINGTON: Only one in five Pakistanis view their president, Asif Ali Zardari, favorably while the country’s army chief gets a more positive rating, according to a new opinion poll released on Thursday.

The US-based Pew Research Center said of about 2,000 adults interviewed in Pakistan in April, only 20 per cent saw Zardari positively, down from 64 per cent in a poll two years ago. The margin of error was plus or minus three percentage points.

The poll also looked at Pakistanis views of the United States, with most of these findings released last month. It showed just 17 per cent of Pakistanis had a favorable view of America despite massive efforts by the Obama administration to improve ties with its ally.

The United States has given billions in aid to Islamabad to secure its help in fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The poll of Pakistanis’ views of their own officials showed that in contrast to Zardari’s ratings, Pakistan’s Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani had a 61 per cent favorability score.

Ninety-four percent of Pakistanis said the military had a good impact on their country.

Zardari’s prime rival, ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, had a 71 per cent favorability rating, according to the poll, which also said few Pakistanis were happy with the overall state of their nation and 78 per cent saw the economic situation as bad.

However, there was also less concern that extremists could take control of their country and respondents did not feel as threatened by al Qaeda and the Taliban as in previous years.

Last year, 73 per cent rated the Taliban a serious threat compared with 54 percent now and 38 percent saw al Qaeda as a serious problem versus 61 percent a year ago.

However, the Taliban and al Qaeda remained unpopular among Pakistanis with 65 per cent viewing the Taliban negatively and 53 per cent feeling that way about Al Qaeda.

Pakistanis had mixed views about the extremist group Lashka-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai. Only 35 per cent of respondents had an unfavorable view of LeT.

Pakistanis also had serious concerns about longtime rival India, with 53 per cent of respondents seeing its neighbor as the biggest threat to Pakistan.

The poll results released last month showed US President Barack Obama’s favorability rating among Pakistanis was just eight per cent.

The US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan was also widely opposed by Pakistanis with nearly two-thirds — 65 per cent — wanting U.S. and NATO troops to leave as soon as possible.

LAHORE: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the statements made by British Prime Minister David Cameron about Pakistan are surprising.

He said that an official reponse will be sought from the British High Commission about the statement made.

Speaking to the media at Lahore airport, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the defence agreement made between the United Kingdom and India will not have an effect on Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan will take care of its defence interests by itself.

“We have took move forward in a realistic and practical manner,” he said.

On a question about the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 2014, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that it would all depend upon the capacity of the Afghan government to manage the situation by themselves.

About the issue of the Wikileak intelligence reports, he said that the information about Pakistan in it is nothing new.

He said that the issued to be looked into is whether the source of information is itself credible. -DawnNews