Nawaz urges affluent, lawmakers to help flood victims

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has called upon people belonging to all walks of life including wealthy individuals and party lawmakers to come forward and help the flood victims.

“People are in difficulty as many parts of the country are submerged in rain water..crops on thousands of acres have been destroyed,” he said in a video address from London on Sunday.

“Certainly this is a natural disaster but this is also a time for soul searching and repentance as this might be a result of our deeds,” the PML-N chief added.

Nawaz, who has been living in London since 2019 on medical grounds, appealed all people including ruling PML-N lawmakers and wealthy individuals to use all resources at their disposal to help the flood victims.

“I will also request all PML-N MNAs and MPAs to cancel your all political and other engagements and put your all energies into helping the flood victims,” he remarked.

He also appreciated his brother, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying he was entirely focusing on relief efforts and making all-out efforts to help the distressed people.

The former premier said her daughter and party senior leader Nawaz Maryam Nawaz was also set to visit the flood affected area “where she will review the relief efforts and inquire after the well-being of the victims”.

Also read: PM announces Rs10bn grant for flood-hit Balochistan

Floods continued to devastate the country on Sunday, particularly the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan leaving at least 119 people dead and more than 70 injured in the past 24 hours.

Floods have claimed over 1,030 lives, with 74 deaths reported in Sindh, 31 in K-P, six in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), four in Balochistan, and one in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

According to the data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 32 children, 56 men and nine women are among those who died in the flood after the rains, while the number of victims has reached 5.77 million.

Over the past 24 hours, nearly 0.95 million houses and 0.72 million livestock were flooded while 0.27 million houses were destroyed and 3,116 kilometres of highways and 149 bridges were washed away.

According to sources, 0.49 million people in Sindh, 0.45 million in Punjab, and 0.36 million in Balochistan have been affected by floods.