Rehabilitation to start after damage assessment in flood-hit areas: Kaira.

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Qamar Zaman Kaira on Wednesday said full-fledged rehabilitation efforts would be initiated after complete damage assessment which was underway.

In a joint news conference, Qamar Zaman Kaira and Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said the unprecedented torrential rains had swept away all the mud houses in Sindh and Balochistan where damage assessment was not possible due to inundation and no access to affected districts.

Kaira said there was unmatched downpour season in Sindh as 1,700 millimeters (mm) rainfall was recorded in Badin and almost 1300-1500mn in its majority areas whereas the weather pattern was similar in other affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He said that monsoon rains in GB's backward areas increased water flows in rivers across the country which resulted in high flood in Sindh province due to its geographical terrain.

The water from all regions including the neighbouring Balochistan entered into Sindh that wreaked havoc, he said, adding, "accessing people is difficult in the prevailing situation." Despite government's earnest efforts, the damage assessment was not possible due to complete destruction of bridges and road infrastructure damages.

"We will do rescue and relief first then will focus on rehabilitation," he said lashing out at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTl) leadership for hurling blatant criticism on government's donation collections.

He accused the PTI leadership of tainting the minds of donors to by spreading misinformation about misappropriations in the disbursement procedures. "There have been no major donations rather only few from UAE, Turkey and China have been received. However, Imran Khan preempted to destroy foreign relief efforts through his orchestrated narrative."

He said that this was an attack on Pakistan, adding, "PTI should have enmity with its opponents but not with the country."

He lambasted the PTI leadership and critics for accusing the government to...