AsiaNet-Pakistan Premier Editorial Content and Press Release Distribution Service
Islamabad: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has conveyed the government’s unwavering commitment to intensifying the rescue and relief efforts in flood-impacted regions. He addressed media personnel alongside Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry and Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik today.
According to Radio Pakistan, Attaullah Tarar stated that the government is managing this national crisis through a unified national response, with all relevant departments, including the Armed Forces of Pakistan, working in complete coordination. The Minister revealed that twenty-five thousand individuals displaced by floods from torrential rains have been relocated to safer areas. He added that seventy percent of the electricity infrastructure, severely damaged by flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been restored, with Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Leghari actively overseeing the restoration efforts.
The Minister emphasized that the electricity supply to main hospitals in the affected regions is being ensured. He acknowledged the significant human and property losses due to urban flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan. As per the Prime Minister’s directives, relevant ministers are present in the affected areas, supervising rescue and relief operations.
Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, provided an overview of the relief activities, noting that bodies of missing individuals trapped under rubble have been retrieved. He mentioned that the Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, is personally focusing on rescue and relief activities. The NDMA has dispatched two convoys carrying relief goods to Swabi, Buner, Malakand, and Buner, with another convoy scheduled for Shangla.
The Director General Inter-Services Public Relations, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, reiterated that all Pakistan Army units were mobilized at the onset of the Monsoon, under instructions from the Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, to support the relief efforts. Eight units of infantry and FC are deployed to assist the victims. Two Engineering Battalions are working to restore damaged roads and bridges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.
He highlighted the mobilization of army aviation to airlift stranded individuals and distribute cooked meals and rations among those affected by the floods. The Pakistan Army rescue teams have evacuated over six thousand people and provided medical treatment to 6,304 patients in the flood-hit areas.
Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry further detailed that 585 tonnes of ration have been allocated for flood-affected populations from Army reserves, as directed by the Chief of Army Staff. In Buner, Swat, and Shangla, two battalions each have been deployed, with Frontier Corps wings active in Bajaur and a company in Swabi. The DG ISPR noted that logistical support has been reinforced with 2,500 tonnes of ready-to-eat ration available, and an additional 5,000 tonnes stockpiled at the Nowshera base for swift deployment.
Infrastructure restoration efforts are ongoing, with ninety damaged roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Nine roads have been fully restored, and partial repairs completed at eighty-six sites. Forty percent of restoration work on the main bridge linking Timergara and Bajaur is completed. The Karakoram Highway, previously blocked at eight points, has been fully cleared.
The Engineering Brigade in Gilgit-Baltistan has repaired multiple bridges and is working to reopen roads in Shangla and Buner. The Signals Unit, in coordination with Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited, has restored 16 BTS towers to facilitate emergency communications.
Three Army medical units are operating nine medical camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, providing treatment to over six thousand three hundred patients. Urban search and rescue teams are active in Buner, supported by two medical battalions. Medical teams from Combined Military Hospital and Military Hospital are deployed in Buner, Shangla, and Swat to provide continuous care, with an Engineering Brigade stationed in Kanju, Swat to assist relief operations.