SEHWAN SHARIF: The 758th Urs celebrations of Sufi saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar formally opened in Sehwan Sharif today.
Sindh Aukaf Minister Abdul Haseeb has opened the Urs being attended by thousands of devotees, who gathered here from every corner of the country.
Special arrangements have been put in place by the provincial government to facilitate the pilgrims.
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COLOMBO: Rivals India and Sri Lanka blasted the featherbed wicket that proved a bowlers? graveyard after the second Test ended in a high-scoring draw
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PESHAWAR: Rescue workers and troops in northwest Pakistan struggled Saturday to reach thousands of people affected by the country’’s worst floods in living memory, as the death toll rose to 800.
Hundreds of homes and vast swathes of farmland were destroyed in the northwest and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), with the main highway to China reportedly cut and communities isolated as monsoon rains caused flash floods and landslides.
The United Nations said almost a million people had been affected by the flooding, and at least 45 bridges destroyed around Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Television footage and photos shot from helicopters showed people clinging to the walls and roof tops of damaged houses as gushing waters rampaged through inundated villages.
Carrying their belongings and with children on their shoulders, some even walked barefoot through the water to seek safety.
“This is the worst ever flood in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the country’’s history,” provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said.
“The death toll in floods and rain-related incidents has risen up to 800 across the province,” he said.
Another 150 people were missing in the northwestern province, where many impoverished families live in remote mountain villages.
More than one million people have been affected, the minister said, adding that more than 3,700 houses had been swept away by floods and that the number of homeless people was rising.
Peshawar and the districts of Swat and Shangla were cut off from the rest of country as roads and highways were submerged, he said.
Police said five people were drowned when their boat capsized near the northwestern town of Nowshehra on Saturday.
Hundreds of people were seen arriving in Peshawar, many of them without any belongings.
Muqaddir Khan, 25, who arrived with nine other family members, said in a suburb of Peshawar that he had lost everything in flood.
“I laboured hard in Saudi Arabia for three years and set up a small shop which was swept away by flood in minutes. I have lost everything,” Khan said.
Razia Bibi, 48, said she and her family spent the night awake as water kept rising.
“My house is now gone under water and I could escape with a few belongings,” Bibi said.
Authorities are using school buildings in Peshawar to shelter those affected by the floods.
The army said it had sent boats and helicopters to rescue stranded people and its engineers were trying to open roads and divert water from key routes.
The flooding capped a week of tragedy for Pakistan, after an airliner crashed into hills near Islamabad Wednesday, killing 152 people on board.
Pakistan’’s weather bureau said an “unprecedented” 312 millimetres (12 inches) of rain had fallen in 36 hours in the northwest but predicted only scattered showers during coming days.
Provincial relief commissioner Shakil Qadir said the worst-hit area was Malakand, where 102 people died and 16,000 were marooned because bridges had collapsed and road links been cut.
Qadir said that around 2,800 holidaymakers were stranded in the Swat valley.
Efforts were being made to airlift the holidaymakers to safety in helicopters, he said.
The Karakoram Highway, which links Pakistan to China, was closed as rains washed away a bridge in Shangla district, also cutting off Gilgit-Baltistan from other parts of the country, media reports said.
Northwest Pakistan has been hardest hit but monsoon rains have also killed 25 people in the southwestern province of Balochistan over the past few days, a senior officer of the disaster management authority, Ataullah Khan, said.
Flash floods had affected eight districts, he said, adding that around 275,000 people had been affected and more than 15,000 houses destroyed.
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SYDNEY: Cricket Australia said on Friday it would not renominate former Australian prime minister John Howard to take over the leadership of the sport
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Karachi
The Sindh High Court on Friday dismissed the appeal of an ex-police head constable against death sentence awarded to him for raping and
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No matching words are available in my vocabulary to re-narrate the Margalla passenger plane tragedy. For sure, it is a big human tragedy.
Every
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NOTTINGHAM: Right-arm fast-medium pacer Mohammad Asif became the 15th Pakistani bowler to take 100 Test wickets today after claiming the wicket of Alistair Cook in his 20th Test.
Mohammad Asif, who started his career in Jan 2005 against Australia in Sydney, was born on December 20, 1982, in Sheikhupura, Punjab.
He has played for Pakistan, Asia XI, Delhi Daredevils, Khan Research Labs, Lahore Division, Leicestershire, National Bank of Pakistan, Sheikhupura Cricket Association, Sialkot Cricket Association.
Muhammad Asif believes his bowling has improved by leaps and bounds ever since he since he made his international comeback after serving a 12-month suspension for a positive dope test.
The pacer finished with 5 for 77 including a spell of 4 for 12 runs on the second day of the first Test against England at Nottingham leaving him just one wicket short of the 100 mark in Test matches.
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NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan were bowled out for 182 in reply to England’’s first innings 354, a deficit of 172, on the third day of the first Test at Trent Bridge here on Saturday.
Umar Gul was a Test-best 65 not out after last man Mohammad Asif was run out by Eoin Morgan’’s direct hit from cover for nought. James Anderson, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday, took five wickets for 54 runs in overcast conditions ideally suited to his swing bowling.
England lose the wicket of captain Andrew Strauss in at the start of second innings after Pakistan are dismissed for 182 following Umar Gul’’s unbeaten 65.
Earlier, Pakistan began the day?s play needed nine runs to avoid follow-on. Umer Gul while playing aggressively not only averted follow-on but also completed his maiden test half century. He was remained unbeaten at 65 runs.
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Pakistan News
Karachi
Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Abdul Razzak on Friday reserved an order regarding its jurisdiction to re-open proceeding
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LAHORE
The Lahore Development Authority, which made tall claims to enforce its commercialization policy across the board, has failed to do the
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