GWADAR: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has formed a committee to assess the damage caused by recent heavy rains and floods in Gwadar district.

The committee will submit its reports to the CM in 20 days.

Balochistan Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir Khan will head the committee, which also includes the MNA and MPA from Gwadar, the chairmen of the district council and municipal committee, the Makran commissioner and the Gwadar deputy commissioner.

Mr Bugti, who arrived in Gwadar on Sunday on the directives of the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, visited various rain-affected areas and directed the official to complete the dewatering process in 24 hours and provide maximum relief to the affected population.

He met the flood-affected families and distributed relief goods.

Calls restoring peace in Balochistan ‘biggest challenge’

Mir Zahoor Buledi, Haq Do Tehreek leader Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, MPA Ali Madad Jattak, Senator Kauda Babar, Mir Ubaidullah Gorgage and other leaders were also present on the occasion.

Talking to the media after visiting flood-affected areas, the chief minister said hundreds of houses were damaged due to torrential rains and floods.

He said the provincial government would not leave the affected people alone at such a critical time and would provide all possible help to them.

Pakistan Army, PDMA, local administration and other institutions have taken immediate measures by utilising all their resources to help the displaced population, CM Bugti claimed.

The chief minister added that the provincial government was making all-out efforts and mobilised its resources to rehabilitate the flood-affected people.

“Measures are being taken on an emergency basis to drain out rainwater from and restore normal life in the flood-hit areas,” Mr Bugti told reporters.

The chief minister also presided over a high-level meeting and reviewed the overall situation created due to heavy rains and flooding.

The officials briefed the meeting about the measures taken so far. The chief minister directed the local administration to continue the rescue and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

Makran Division Commissioner Saeed Ahmed Umrani, Kech Deputy Commissioner Aurangzeb Badini and other officials told the meeting that Gwadar received around 187mm of rainfall.

They said that the affected families, including women and children, were immediately shifted to safe places and were provided all necessary assistance, including food items.

Bugti visits Quaid’s mausoleum

The chief minister also arrived in Karachi on Sunday and offered fateha at Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum.

While talking to the media, he said improving law and order and restoring peace in his province would be the biggest challenge.

“Law and order and peace is a real challenge for me and my party in Balochistan,” he said, adding his party’s leader, Mr Bhutto-Zardari, was also concerned about peace in Balochistan and wanted stability there.

The chief minister also announced a “general pardon” for armed groups and appealed to them to become part of the mainstream to claim their rights.

He criticised JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for levelling allegations of electoral rigging in Balochistan. “I strongly condemn such allegations,” he said.

He said the JUI-F chief and his party hardly managed to win seven to eight seats from Balochistan in the past.

“In these elections, he [Mr Rehman] has even lost his hometown seat in D.I.Khan. It’s not about rigging but performance,” he said, adding that JUI-F losses “all across Pakistan” were due to its performance, not alone in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024