Police say Arshad Sharif was shot after his car failed to stop at a roadblock near Nairobi
Kenya’s national police service has said it regretted the killing of a Pakistani journalist who had been living in hiding in the country and was shot dead in Nairobi in an incident it described as a case of mistaken identity.
Officers opened fire on Arshad Sharif, 50, and a friend on Sunday after they allegedly drove through a security roadblock outside the Kenyan capital.
Continue reading...Election commission rules he misled officials about gifts received from foreign leaders while in office
The former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has been disqualified from running for political office for five years, after the country’s election commission ruled that he misled officials about gifts he received from foreign leaders while in power.
The decision announced on Friday is another twist in political wrangling that began even before Khan’s ejection in April, and is one of several legal battles being fought by the former international cricket star and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Continue reading...US president questioned country’s nuclear weapons safety protocols sparking outrage in Islamabad
Pakistan on Saturday summoned the US ambassador for an explanation after President Joe Biden described the south Asian country as “one of the most dangerous nations in the world” and questioned its nuclear weapons safety protocols.
Biden made the apparently off-the-cuff remark late on Thursday while talking about US foreign policy during a private Democratic party fundraiser in California, but the White House later published a transcript of his comments, which provoked outrage in Pakistan.
Continue reading...A heatwave that began in March led to the country receiving almost triple its average rainfall from June to August
Traditionally, the Asian monsoon is a time to celebrate. But after devastating floods in Pakistan, people in the country may feel differently. At their greatest extent in September, floods covered one-third of Pakistan’s surface. About 15% of the population have been displaced or otherwise affected, and an estimated 1,700 have died.
This year’s monsoon was the wettest on record. The numbers are mind-boggling. Between June and August, Pakistan received almost triple its average rainfall. The province of Sindh received more than eight times the usual amount. However, the situation is far more complicated than just extreme downpours.
Continue reading...Shehbaz Sharif says he wants ‘climate justice’ from rich polluting countries after monsoons put a third of his country under water
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, has said Pakistan should not be forced to go out with a “begging bowl” to rich polluting nations after the floods that have devastated the country and said he would be seeking “climate justice” from the international community.
Speaking from his home in Lahore, Sharif warned that Pakistan is facing an unprecedented crisis of health, food security and internal displacement after the “apocalyptic” monsoons which put a third of Pakistan’s regions under water. Some areas were hit by 1.7m of rainfall, the highest on record.
Continue reading...Exclusive: As economic turmoil continues, Shehbaz Sharif accuses predecessor of leaving the country in ruins
Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has accused the former premier Imran Khan of being the “the biggest liar on the face of the earth” and injecting poison into society to “dangerously polarise the electorate” after he was toppled from power earlier this year.
Speaking in his first interview from Pakistan since he took over as prime minister in April, Sharif, 70, spoke unsparingly of the “damage” that Khan, the former cricket superstar who ruled Pakistan from 2018, had done to the country in both domestic and foreign affairs.
Continue reading...High court accepts Khan’s apology in ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics
A Pakistani court has accepted an apology tendered by the former prime minister Imran Khan and dropped a contempt of court case against him, his defence lawyer said, a ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics.
The Islamabad high court had deferred Khan’s indictment over the contempt case after he apologised to the court in person late last month.
Continue reading...Activists say that the company’s own audits have been ineffective and workers receive inadequate safety protections
Workers and activists have been campaigning to push Levi’s, one of the world’s largest clothing brands, to sign on to an international accord for workers’ health and safety in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed five garment clothing factories, collapsed, killing 1,134 people and injuring approximately 2,500, in the deadliest disaster in the garment industry’s history.
Continue reading...Study says climate crisis likely to have significantly increased rainfall and made future floods more likely
The intense rainfall that has caused devastating floods across Pakistan was made worse by global heating, which has also made future floods more likely, scientists have found.
Climate change could have increased the most intense rainfall over a short period in the worst affected areas by about 50%, according to a study by an international team of climate scientists.
Continue reading...A third of the country is under water and a UN fund says almost 650,000 women in affected areas need maternity services
Crying, vomiting and eight months pregnant, the young woman walked in labour pains for an hour in search of an ambulance.
When Naseeba Ameerullah, 23, eventually found one, she had to beg the driver to take her. Pakistan’s floods had left the roads damaged and gridlocked, making what is usually a two-hour journey to the provincial capital of Quetta a punishing, 12-hour drive.
Continue reading...Heavy rain compounds decades-long environmental catastrophe at country’s largest freshwater lake
Maula Bakhsh Mala’s village was submerged by Lake Manchar for the third time last week. “What bad luck we have,” said the 68-year-old fisher. “When there is no water in the lake, we are starving. When there is plenty of water, we are drowning.”
Late last month, after weeks of heavy rain and flooding, Pakistan declared a state of emergency. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has described the rain as a “monsoon on steroids”. Earlier this month, satellite images showed one-third of the country has experienced severe flooding.
Continue reading...Army working to protect electricity station that serves millions of residents in Sindh province, with more rain forecast this week
Authorities in Pakistan are scrambling to protect a vital power station supplying electricity to millions of people against a growing threat of flooding, officials said.
Floods from record monsoon rains and glacial melt in the mountainous north have affected 33 million people and killed almost 1,400, washing away homes, roads, railways, livestock and crops, in damage estimated at $30bn.
Continue reading...António Guterres calls for ‘massive financial support’ in wake of disaster that has killed at least 1,391 people
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, has visited several areas of Pakistan ravaged by floods, as he rounded off a two-day trip aimed at raising awareness of the disaster.
Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in the country’s northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed at least 1,391 people, sweeping away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock and crops.
Continue reading...Countries most responsible for climate crisis must ‘end war with nature’, says António Guterres
The UN secretary-general, António Guterres, has said the world owes impoverished Pakistan “massive” help in recovering from the summer’s devastating floods because the country bears less blame than many others for the climate crisis.
Months of heavy monsoon rains and flooding have killed 1,391 people and affected 33 million while half a million people have become homeless. Planeloads of aid from the United States, the United Arab Emirates and other countries have begun arriving, but Guterres said there is more to be done to help a country which contributes less than 1% of global emissions.
Continue reading...Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, grandson of Pakistan’s hanged reforming prime minister, saw devastation and desperation after recent floods
A Pakistani artist whose work centres on the Indus River delta, its wildlife and the climate crisis has told of his return to his home village and seeing the devastation its swollen waters had brought.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who is named after his grandfather, the former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, said he met people fearful for what the future may bring and heard the sound of houses collapsing into the water.
Continue reading...Curator of site says several walls built nearly 5,000 years ago have collapsed and repairs are under way
In flood-stricken Pakistan, where an unprecedented monsoon season has killed hundreds of people, the rains now threaten a famed archaeological site dating back 4,500 years.
The ruins of Mohenjo-daro, located in southern Sindh province near the Indus River, and a Unesco world heritage site, are considered among the best preserved urban settlements in south Asia. They were discovered in 1922, and mystery still surrounds the disappearance of its civilisation, which coincided with those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Continue reading...Lake Manchar on verge of causing more flooding, says local official, as third of country already underwater
Pakistan’s biggest lake is on the verge of bursting its banks after attempts by authorities to drain it in a controlled way failed, a senior local official has warned.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid a catastrophe, officials breached Lake Manchar on Sunday, a move they acknowledged could displace up to 100,000 people from their homes but would also save densely populated areas from floods.
Continue reading...Up to 100,000 people will be displaced from homes by Lake Manchar after waters reached dangerous levels
Authorities in flood-hit Pakistan have breached the country’s largest freshwater lake, displacing up to 100,000 people from their homes but saving more densely populated areas from gathering flood water, a minister said.
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains have brought floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290, including 453 children. The inundation, blamed on climate breakdown, is still spreading.
Continue reading...Sherry Rehman, the country’s climate change minister, insists rich polluters must pay their due as country is hit by devastating floods
Rich polluting countries which are predominantly to blame for the “dystopian” climate breakdown have broken their promises to reduce emissions and help developing countries adapt to global heating, according to Pakistan’s minister for climate change, who said reparations were long overdue.
Close to 1,300 people are dead and a third of Pakistan is under floodwater after weeks of unprecedented monsoon rains battered the country – which only weeks earlier had been suffering serious drought.
Continue reading...Unprecedented flooding in the country during monsoon season has left at least 1,265 people dead
Pakistan has appealed to the international community for an “immense humanitarian response” to unprecedented flooding that has left at least 1,265 people dead.
According to initial government estimates, the rain and flooding have caused $10bn (£8.7bn) in damage.
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