ISLAMABAD: The Awami Workers Party (AWP) has called for mobilisation of public resources and urgent media coverage of the devastation caused by ongoing monsoon-related flooding in various parts of the country.

“Despite the scale of the destruction being equivalent to the floods of 2010, the AWP has criticised the corporate media and ruling classes for continuing to prioritise palace intrigues and power games due to which lives continue to be lost and precious time and resources squandered that should be dedicated to flood relief,” says a press release issued by the AWP.

AWP President Yousuf Mustikhan and General Secretary Bakhshal Thalho said official figures understated the actual scale of the disaster; thousands have lost their lives while millions have been displaced from their homes and livelihood losses were far beyond any meaningful estimate.

They said impacts of the destruction would not be restricted to the short-term as entire agricultural and livestock-rearing districts were inundated with water which would force hundreds of thousands of people to migrate to already saturate urban centres.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2022