Saving flooded homes
SLUM dwellers in Karachi have stopped the demolition of thousands of homes by mapping flood risks from clogged drains, offering a feasible solution to other informal settlements facing climate change impacts, urban experts said.
After heavy rains flooded much of Karachi last year, authorities said some settlements would be removed to allow drains to be widened, with hundreds of homes in Manzoor Colony earmarked for demolition.
Residents, who insisted the flooding was caused by drains blocked with rubbish and sludge, teamed up with non-profit organisations to map the drainage network. About 12 million live in informal settlements in Karachi.
THOUSANDS of supporters of a Pakistan extremist party clashed with police for a second day on Tuesday (13), demanding the release of their leader who was arrested after calling for the French ambassador to be kicked out of the country.
Police said an officer died after being wounded in clashes in Lahore, the country’s second biggest city, while the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) said three of its supporters were killed.
Police have not commented on the reported TLP deaths.
Protesters spilled into the streets in anger at Monday’s (12) arrest of TLP leader Saad Rizvi, with major intersections also blocked in the capital, Islamabad. He was taken into custody hours after calling for a march next week on the capital to again demand the expulsion of the ambassador over
France’s support for a magazine’s right to republish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad – an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.
An agreement with the government was revised earlier this year to extend the deadline for a parliament resolution to expel the French envoy until April 20 when the group had plans to hold countrywide rallies.
Police arrested Rizvi ahead of the demonstrations. “We are out on the streets because the government didn’t honour the agreement,” said the group’s spokesman, Ejaz Ashrafi.
Rizvi is the son of a firebrand cleric and previous head of the TLP, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who died in November after leading massive anti-France demonstrations across Pakistan.
Video showed some protesters beating and dragging police and pedestrians, which government adviser Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi condemned. He said the law would take its course against those responsible.
Health officials in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, appealed to protesters not to disrupt critical oxygen supplies for Covid-19 patients. Punjab pandemic pointman Asad Aslam said several hospitals had faced oxygen shortages on Monday night, but the situation had stabilised after roads were cleared by authorities.
“Please do not block roads for ambulances and for visitors to the hospitals. Some ambulances are carrying oxygen cylinders, which are extremely essential for Covid patients,” leading Punjab health official Yasmin Rashid said, after calling Monday night’s disruption a “crisis”.
Pakistan is in the grip of a third wave of the coronavirus shortage of vaccines.
The TLP are known for days-long road protests which brought large swathes of the country to a standstill over the years. The French embassy in Islamabad and Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not comment. (Agencies) deadly with a