ISLAMABAD: Members of the National Assembly on Thursday lashed out at the local administrations in the provinces and the disaster management institutions over their alleged failure in dealing with the recent devastated floods in the country and demanded a role in the ongoing relief operations in the affected areas.

Taking part in the general debate on the floods situation in Sindh and Balochistan, the lawmakers sitting on the opposition as well as the treasury benches criticised the performance of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and its provincial chapters and some of them even called for disbanding these institutions.

During the debate, the members once again expressed displeasure over the constant absence of the ministers from the house which was visibly lacking quorum.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi was the only cabinet member who remained present for most of the time. However, when Deputy Speaker Zahid Durrani adjourned the sitting till Friday morning (today) only two lawmakers were sitting in the 342-member lower house of parliament.

A number of lawmakers took the government to task for its rhetoric that the country had faced the worst floods due to the changes in the climatic conditions and declared it a “man-made tragedy”. They were of the view that at least they could have reduced the losses had the departments and officials concerned responded timely.

Ghous Bux Mahar of the opposition Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), who had disrupted the assembly proceedings on Wednesday by pointing out lack of quorum, once again threatened to do it, but said he was not doing it as some of the members wanted to speak.

Mr Mahar said the ministries had been distributed among all the parties in the ruling coalition and now these ministers were not ready to come out of their offices and visit the flood-hit areas.

Mr Mahar accused the country’s major political parties of not abandoning politicking at a time when the country had been hit by one of the worst floods of the history. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took the pain and visited the flood-hit areas of Sindh but did not meet the opposition representatives.

“It seems that Sindh and Balochistan are not part of Pakistan. Do not further divide the country which has already been divided,” he added.

Another GDA member Saira Bano said they were speaking to the empty chairs only to get “likes” on their speeches which would be uploaded on Facebook and Twitter. She particularly lashed out at the PPP-led Sindh government and challenged that not a single model tent village was present in the province.

She said the recent rains had actually exposed the past 14-year performance of those at the helm of the affairs in Sindh.

Mir Mohammad Khan Jamali, a dissident of the formerly ruling PTI, alleged that the local administration had set up artificial relief camps during the visits of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the flood-affected areas in Balochistan and these camps were wound up soon after his departure from the area.

Mr Jamali said bureaucrats did not give importance to the elected representatives and his area deputy commissioner in Balochistan’s Jafferabad constituency did not even respond to his telephone calls or WhatsApp messages.

Another PTI dissident Nuzhat Pathan alleged that the officials of tehsil administrations in Sindh had become blackmailers.

PPP MNA Shahida Rehmani suggested that instead of the NDMA, a parliamentary committee headed by the speaker should be constituted for carrying out relief activities in the flood-hit areas.

Sabir Qaimkhani of MQM-Pakistan said that there was no coordination at all among various institutions and the local administrations in Sindh were nowhere when the floods hit the province.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022