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A30 world news
Dialuna 5 September 2022

Pakistani officials: Swelling lake could cause more flooding

make a cut on the Bagh-e- on climate change, includ- said.
Yousuf side to avert any un- ing U.N. Secretary-General
controllable flow of water,” Antonio Guterres, who last The authority said relief and
he said. week called on the world to rescue operations continued
stop “sleepwalking” through Sunday with troops and vol-
Sharjil Inam Memon, infor- the deadly crisis. He will visit unteers using helicopters and
mation minister for Sindh Pakistan on Sept. 9 to tour boats to get people stranded
province, explained that the flood-hit areas and meet with out of flooded areas to relief
cut was made to protect the officials. camps where they were being
nearby city of Sehwan and provided shelter, food and
the town of Bhan Saeedabad, In its latest report, Pakistan’s health care.
with a combined population National Disaster Manage-
of half a million people. The ment Authority put the death Scores of relief camps have
diverted waters instead will toll since mid-June — when been set up in government
affect villages in the region, monsoon rains started weeks buildings servicing tens of
with a sum population of earlier this year — at 1,290 as thousands of people while
150,000. more fatalities were reported thousands more have taken
(AP) — More flooding is Pakistan and one of the larg- from flood affected areas of shelter on roadsides on high-
expected in southern Pak- est in Asia. The Pakistani military said in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa er ground.
istan, where Lake Man- a statement Sunday that army and Baluchistan provinces.
char swelled from unprec- Fariduddin Mustafa, admin- engineers were engaged in The report said 453 children Hira Ikram, a physician at a
edented monsoon rains istrator for the Jamshoro enforcing the banks of Lake were among the dead. camp established by Britain’s
that began in mid-June, district, said Sunday that of- Manchar. Islamic Mission in Sukkur
officials warned on Sun- ficials made a cut into the Prime Minister Shahbaz charity said medical profes-
day. The deluge has so far lake’s embankment to allow The development comes a Sharif, who is visiting flood- sionals are seeing scabies,
killed nearly 1,300 people. excess water to escape and ul- day after Pakistan appealed affected areas and relief gastrointestinal infections
timately flow into the Indus. again to the international camps daily, tweeted Sunday and fever as more common
Meteorologists predicted Still, the water continues to community for aid to victims that as Pakistan is battling occurrences at the camp.
more rain in the region in the rise, he said. of the unprecedented flood- its worst climate-change-in-
coming days and authorities ing from monsoon rains that duced calamity and that chil- Alkidmat Foundation, a wel-
urged villagers in the Jam- Parts of Dadu district have al- have left nearly 1,300 people dren were among those most fare organization, said its
shoro and Dadu districts of ready been flooded, officials dead and millions homeless adversely affected. volunteers were using boats
Sindh province near the lake said. around the country. Planes to deliver ready-to-eat meals
to evacuate. The rising waters from multiple countries have “With over 400 (children) and other help for residents
reached dangerous levels and ″After we assessed water lev- been bringing supplies to the dead they make up one third as well as animal feed on a
posed a threat to a protective els reached (a) dangerous lev- impoverished country across of overall death toll. Now small island in the Indus.
dyke and embankment, they el ... and there was fear that a humanitarian air bridge. they are at even greater risk of The group was also distribut-
said. The lake, located west the embankment of the lake Multiple officials and experts water borne diseases, UNI- ing food and items needed by
of the Indus River, is the larg- might be caved in at any time, have blamed the unusual CEF and other global agen- those left homeless and living
est natural freshwater lake in the administration decided to monsoon rains and flooding cies should help,” Shahbaz by the roadside.

Zimbabwe government harasses opposition with arrests, jail

(AP) — Opposition politicians crime, say his lawyers. ists, journalists, church leaders, trade
languishing in prison. Journalists Few of Zimbabwe’s poor believe the union members and student leaders
and government critics harassed Most recently Sikhala was arrested recent introduction of gold coins as — have been arrested and appear in
and arrested. Public meetings in June with more than two dozen legal tender will improve their day- court on various charges that legal ex-
banned. other activists of the opposition Citi- to-day hardships. perts say are harassment.
zens Coalition for Change, known
Zimbabwe’s general election is sever- as the CCC, and accused of fanning The CCC party, launched in January Mnangagwa’s strategy to stay in pow-
al months away but many opposition violence after skirmishes with ruling and led by Nelson Chamisa, 44, has er appears to be to use the police, mil-
figures say they are already battling party supporters. Repeated attempts attracted considerable attention and itary, and security forces to keep the
intense government repression simi- to get bail for him and the others have followers. In response, police in Ha- opposition in turmoil until elections
lar to the iron-fisted rule of Robert failed. rare and other cities have been ban- are held next year, say analysts.
Mugabe, the former president who ning the party’s meetings, as well as
died in 2019. “The reason they have not been giv- gatherings of civic organizations and “The current environment has wor-
en bail is because they (prosecutors) church groups perceived as govern- rying indicators of the possibility of
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s know they will not get convicted. ment critics. yet another violent and contested
government is responding with force The idea is to make them serve,” said electoral period,” noted the Zimba-
to opposition to his rule, stoked by lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa. Dozens of people — including op- bwe Human Rights NGO Forum in
worsening economic conditions in- position supporters, political activ- a statement in August.
cluding inflation at more than 250% “They know they don’t have the evi-
and the emergence of a popular new dence to prove the cases,” said Mtet-
party. wa, saying the government’s legal tac-
tics are “lawfare” to weaken political
Among those suffering from the opponents.
government’s dragnet is opposition
member of parliament Job Sikhala, Criticism of Mnangagwa’s govern-
who has been detained in the harsh ment has been stoked by Zimbabwe’s
Chikurubi prison near the capital, inflation, currently estimated to be
Harare, for close to three months on one of the world’s highest and rising
accusations of inciting violence. numbers of people pushed into in-
formal trade such as street vending.
The fiery 50-year-old Sikhala has More than two-thirds of Zimbabwe-
been arrested more than 65 times ans eke out a living in the informal
in his two-decade political career sector, one of the highest rates in the
but has never been convicted of any world, according to the IMF.