Rich being shielded from Pakistan floods?

ISLAMABAD - As ordinary Pakistanis continue to battle floods which have claimed at least 1,600 lives, there have been allegations that flood waters are being diverted to less privileged areas and canals are being breached at the behest of power groups.

Residents in Dera Ghazi Khan and its peripheral areas have alleged that the Taunsa barrage was breached against the advice of experts to save the agricultural lands and settlements of the powerful Khar clan in the area.

However, Punjab province’s irrigation secretary Rab Nawaz has denied the allegation and said the breaching option was not available after the remodelling of the Taunsa barrage a few years ago.

Media reports had earlier referred to a clash between Federal Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Minister Khurshid Shah and security forces because he was hampering efforts to breach the Ali Wahan canal. He was reportedly trying to save his own constituency.

Neither the Sindh government nor security forces have denied the incident.

Flood waters entered Jacobabad district in interior Sindh late Friday night which caused panic among residents and they started fleeing towards the highway between Sindh and Balochistan.

This caused confusion on the border between the two provinces as the authorities on neither side were ready to handle the situation.

In another development, Federal Sports Minister Ijaz Jakhrani, belonging to Jacobabad, allegedly went to the Jamali bypass near Dera Allah Yar with his men in the wee hours of Saturday and tried to create a breach there in an apparent bid to divert flood waters towards Balochistan instead of interior Sindh.

The minister and his men, however, fled when the district administration and enraged locals reached the spot. The minister was not available for comment despite repeated efforts.

The absence of elected representatives from their flood-ravaged constituencies has caused resentment among the masses, particularly when relief efforts have been meagre as compared to the huge demand.

Floods since late July have left more than 20 million people displaced and the government has appealed for $460 million in assistance from other countries to be able to cope with relief efforts.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman Lt. Gen. (retd) Nadeem Ahmad, in a television interview, said all available resources within the country had been channelized for flood relief and the country was now looking towards foreign friends and donors to provide some much-needed assistance.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at great_wall165@yahoo.co.uk)

–Indo-Asian News Service

Awais