PESHAWAR/Lahore  –  Torrential monsoon rains, strong winds and flash floods caused widespread destruction across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, claiming seven lives and injuring 19 others, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Thursday. The latest PDMA report of KP stated that the deceased include two men, four children and one woman, while the injured comprise seven men, one woman and 11 children.

The severe weather also damaged 38 houses across the province. Of these, 36 sustained partial damage, while two were completely destroyed. The extreme weather conditions also inflicted heavy losses on solar panel installations at various houses and gas stations. The affected districts include Khyber, Lower Dir, Upper Dir, Mardan, Shangla, Charsadda,  Bajaur and Lower Chitral. Heavy rains, flash floods and lightning strikes caused casualties and widespread damage in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with two children killed and more than 15 female students injured, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

The PDMA said two children lost their lives and three others were injured after lightning struck in the Zakha Khel area of Bara in Khyber district. The injured were provided immediate medical treatment. In a separate incident, lightning struck a women’s madrassa in Lower Dir, injuring more than 15 students. Around 250 students were present at the seminary at the time of the incident. The injured were shifted to Wari Hospital for treatment.

According to the PDMA, torrential rains and flash floods in Lower Chitral damaged 27 houses, two mosques, two shops and a bridge. Four vehicles and several motorcycles were also affected by flood waters. In Upper Chitral, flooding damaged a house in the Yarkhun and Mastuj areas. The district administration and relief agencies have provided emergency assistance to the affected families.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and nine others sustained injuries in various rain and wind related incidents across the Punjab province during the last 24 hours. According to a spokesperson for Rescue 1122, the fatalities occurred near Naya Pump in Attock,where a wall collapsed due to strong winds and heavy downpour,leaving two people dead and three others injured. 

In a separate incident in the Para Shaheen Bagh area of Attock,three more individuals were injured when the roof of a house caved in due to the severe weather conditions.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rain-windstorms and thundershowers in Kashmir, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northeastern Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday. While hot and dry weather is expected to prevail over the rest of the country. The Met Office warned that heavy rainfall during Thursday night could trigger landslides in vulnerable areas of upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat and Kashmir, besides causing flash flooding in local streams and nullahs.  Flash floods may also occur in hill torrents of Dera Ghazi Khan and local nullahs in northeastern Balochistan. It said heavy rains could lead to urban and flash flooding in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujranwala, Lahore and Faisalabad during the forecast period.

 The PMD further cautioned that windstorms and lightning could damage vulnerable structures, including solar panels, electricity poles and billboards.

In Islamabad, hot weather is expected during the day, while rain accompanied by gusty winds and thunderstorms is likely during the morning and night hours.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, rain-windstorms and thundershowers are expected in Dir, Swat, Kohistan, Shangla, Chitral, Battagram, Buner, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Malakand, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Peshawar, Hangu, Kurram and Waziristan, while other districts are likely to remain hot and dry. In Punjab, rain is expected in Rawalpindi, Murree, Galliyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Wazirabad, Khushab, Lahore, Okara, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Sialkot and Narowal. Rain-windstorms may also occur in Bhakkar, Layyah, Mianwali and Dera Ghazi Khan during the evening and night, while the remaining districts are expected to experience hot and dry weather. 

Sindh is likely to remain very hot and humid, although partly cloudy conditions are expected along coastal areas. Rain with gusty winds and thunderstorms may occur in Shahdadkot, Dadu, Sukkur and Jacobabad during the evening and night.

 Most districts of Balochistan are expected to remain very hot and dry. However, rain-windstorms and thundershowers are likely in Zhob, Sherani, Naseerabad, Sibi, Musakhel, Barkhan and Khuzdar during the evening and night.

Partly cloudy weather with rain-windstorms and thundershowers is expected in Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, with isolated heavy rainfall also likely in Kashmir.

During the last 24 hours, rain-windstorms and thundershowers, including isolated heavy falls, occurred in Punjab, Islamabad, Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northeastern Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, while hot and humid weather prevailed over the rest of the country.

Murree received the highest rainfall of 72 millimetres, followed by Islamabad Airport 48mm, Golra 39mm and Lahore’s Nishtar Town 38mm.

The highest maximum temperature recorded in the country on Thursday was 46 degrees Celsius in Dalbandin, followed by Nokkundi at 45C, while Sibbi and Dadu recorded 44C each.

ISLAMABAD   –  The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that the President’s constitutional power to remit or reduce a convict’s sentence is final and irrevocable, holding that any subsequent enhancement of that sentence must be supported by a clear and explicit legal basis.  In this regard, the SC dismissed an appeal seeking its directions to convert the life imprisonment of a convict Tahreen Ilyas into the death penalty, noting that the convict had already completed his sentence and been released.

 During the hearing, the Superintendent of Jail, Zhob, Balochistan, appeared before the court via video link. The bench questioned him about the report stating that the convict had served 14 years in prison before being granted remission of the remaining sentence under a presidential general remission. The court asked under which law a 14-year period had been treated as sufficient for a life convict.  The bench observed that, to its knowledge, Supreme Court precedents require a life convict to undergo at least 17 years of imprisonment. However, since the convict had already been released, the court said the legal question would be examined in another appropriate case.

 The court also questioned how a second punishment could be imposed under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code after the original sentence had already been executed.

 It observed that the trial court had convicted the accused for murder, the sentence had been implemented, and any attempt to enhance the punishment now required a strong legal justification.  The bench further remarked that the Constitution empowers the President to remit or reduce sentences and that this constitutional authority had already been exercised in the present case. It observed that if the law were to permit enhancement of a sentence after such remission, it would require a constitutional amendment, adding in a light-hearted remark that constitutional amendments are not exactly difficult these days.

The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the appeal seeking to enhance Tahreen Ilyas’s sentence from life imprisonment to death.

ISLAMABAD   –   Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reaffirmed his commitment to utilizing all available resources for the welfare and prosperity of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The prime minister expressed these views during a meeting with Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Engr Amir Muqam, who called on him at the PM House. Minister for Public Affairs Unit Rana Mubashir Iqbal, Minister of State for Power Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Talha Barki also attended the meeting. During the meeting, they discussed the overall political situation in the country.

PESHAWAR   –  Rescue teams have so far recovered six bodies after a tourist boat capsized at Saifullah Lake in scenic Kalam area of Swat district, rescue officials confirmed on Thursday. The official said that the boat overturned while carrying tourists on the lake, claiming the lives of seven people. Rescue teams launched an operation immediately after the incident.

 Authorities said the bodies of six victims have been recovered, while search operation was still underway to locate a  17-year-old girl who remained missing. Rescue officials were continuing efforts at the scene and further details were awaited.