‘Why no noise over rain chaos in Lahore?’

As downpours wreaked havoc in Punjab on Thursday, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab compared it to Karachi, which had faced a similar situation in the aftermath of recent rain spells.

While rain in Karachi gave the opposition a chance to indulge in political point scoring, when it rained in Lahore, neither did the courts take notice nor did the federal government step forward to offer its services for drainage, said Wahab while addressing a press conference on Friday.

"We were blamed for the [aftermath of] rain in Karachi, even though Sindh cabinet ministers, including the chief minister (CM), were out on the ground, but when rain left houses and hospitals flooded in Lahore… neither was [Punjab CM Usman] Buzdar seen [in the field], nor did the prime minister take any notice," he remarked.

Wahab further questioned the Centre's silence on the situation in Lahore, given that it had expressed concern over the state of Karachi following multiple spells of monsoon rains.

"No one is saying that Lahore has been destroyed, even when [Punjab's] ministers and [political] leaders seem to have disappeared [into thin air]," he pointed out. "Send us [the Sindh government] to Lahore, as we believe in serving people."

Wahab called for intervention by federal agencies to salvage Lahore.

Responding to a question on making Keamari a new district, he said the formation of a new district did not amount to splitting Karachi. "West district, [from which the new district has been carved out] has been Karachi's most populated district," he justified.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2020.