QUETTA: Taking strict notice of misinformation on social media regarding the breach of a dam near Quetta, Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo has ordered an inquiry to identify the source of the news that panicked citizens late Saturday night.

Upon the chief minister’s orders, the Home and Tribal Affairs Department has constituted a fact-finding committee headed by a Quetta police DIG. Other members of the committee include Levies director operations and additional home secretary.

The committee will fix responsibility, ascertain reasons and identify those responsible for the dissemination of false information from certain control rooms. It will submit the report within seven day.

Unverified reports about a breach in Wali Tangi Dam started making rounds late Saturday night which panicked the citizens who started fleeing their homes. The news first broke in a few social media groups from where it spread like a wildfire.

Thousands of people, including women and children, abandoned their houses within hours in Nawan Killi, Zarghoon Town, Bashirabad, Chashma Achozai, Airport and other areas on the peripheries and fled towards the city centre to take refuge.

As people started fleeing, traffic in the capital went into a disarray as miles-long queues of cars coming from Nawan Killi area clogged the roads.

Quetta Deputy Commissioner Shaihak Baloch clarified later on Saturday that the news was false and the dam was intact.

The dam had overflowed and its spillways were opened to discharge excess water but there was no threat of a breach, he had said.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2022