ISLAMABAD: A provincial minister has warned of a severe drought in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province due to a prolonged dry spell.
Sarfraz Bugti, the Minister for Home, Tribal Affairs and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in the Balochistan cabinet, told Express Tribune newspaper in a report published yesterday that his province has been facing a severe drought due to little rain-falls and snow-falls this winter season.
Most of the deputy commissioners have informed the PDMA in their reports about the drought in their respective districts. Another senior official of the PDMA said the National Weather Forecasting Centre of the Pakistan Meteorological Department has also endorsed these reports.
Bugti said his department has already started preparations to handle the situation, though he refused to share details of the preparations.
“We have informed Chief Minister Abdul Malik about the possible repercussions of the drought. The PDMA has also issued emergency warnings to all provincial departments, including agriculture, irrigation and food, regarding arrangements to tackle the situation,” he added.
An official of the provincial agriculture department, who has received the said warning, said that the drought has severely affected the rain-fed districts of Balochistan.
Wheat growers in three districts, namely Nasirabad, Jafarabad and Jhal Magsi, where more than 1,000 square miles of farmland is canal irrigated, are already facing a lack of fertiliser that has been restricted by the law enforcement agencies.
PM to visit Bahrain next month
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Bahrain on an official visit for two days from January 7, official sources said here yesterday.
Pakistan and Bahrain will ink six agreements for cooperation in economic field during Sharif’s visit. Bahrain Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Qadir Ibrahim has termed the upcoming visit significant for the ties of two brotherly countries.
Agencies
