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Karachi Heatwave
Karachi has seen worst natural catastrophe in its history as over a thousand people died of heatstroke in three days due to intense heatwave amid prolonged power cuts and water shortage in the month of Ramzan.
Large number of patients and dead from across Sindh flooded the private and government hospitals which were not prepared to face any such situation. Morgues, after hospitals, ran out of space due to influx of body bags while refrigeration stopped working properly because of too many bodies. Hospitals in the city called in student doctors to work extra shifts and appealed for basic items like sheets and stretchers. Media reports quoted public hospitals as saying that citizens dropped off carloads of iced water and other supplies and had an overwhelming response to appeal for cold water and stretchers. The number of patients slowly declined as the temperature dropped down
With the situation gone out of control of provincial government, the military came to the rescue and set up emergency centers for the victims as hospitals failed to accommodate a staggering number of incoming patients. Political parties also set up tents offering iced water and rehydration salts have on street corners.
The situation put extreme pressure on Sindh government as opposition blame it for blackouts and poor public services that have added to the woe. Angry lawmakers blamed each other in parliament for the crisis. Provincial and federal government blamed each other for the failure in providing relief to the citizens.
MQM in Trouble
Latest documentary report by BBC on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members getting funds and military training from India has landed the party into another trouble.
Taking action on the report, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered a thorough investigation into the matter since the claims made in the report were very sensitive to the security of the country. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also met British High Commissioner in Islamabad Philip Barton to seek his country’s help in ‘gaining access to the BBC report, the facts and the investigation’.
The BBC report had claimed that MQM members have confessed with British authorities in formal recorded interviews to having received Indian funding. The documentary released on Wednesday claimed that hundreds of MQM members received military training at camps in India over the past 10 years. According to BBC report, when asked the Indian High Commission in London, they described the claims as ‘completely baseless’. Meanwhile MQM also denied the claims in report and termed it ‘another table story’ against the party
Earlier in April, former SSP Rao Anwar had also said that he had arrested two MQM members who confessed that they had been trained in India by its intelligence agency RAW.
Pak- Afghan Security Situation
In the latest surge of terror attacks, Taliban this week attacked the parliament and taken over the control of another district in north. The insurgents launched a countrywide offensive in April, stepping up attacks on government and foreign targets.
In the latest attack, a Taliban suicide bomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan parliament on Monday as lawmakers met to consider a new defence minister. In counter attack Afghan security forces killed the six attackers after a gun battle lasting nearly two hours. All lawmakers remained unharmed while a woman was killed while around 30 civilians got injured.
Meanwhile a district in the northern province of Kunduz fell to the Taliban on Monday. The Taliban captured Dasht-e-Archi district a day after hundreds of militants fought their way to the centre of the adjacent district of Chardara.
Pakistan strongly condemned attack on Afghan Parliament in Kabul. Foreign Office Spokesman Qazi Khalilullah commended the role of Afghan security forces in countering the act of terrorism. He also said that Pakistan and Afghanistan are united in fight for eradication of terrorism.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif held a meeting at the PM House to review military operation against Taliban. In the meeting both the leaders decided that operation against criminals and terrorists would continue unhindered across the country.
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