LAHORE: The main road and rail link bet­ween Lahore and Karachi was disrupted this morning [Aug 18] when all attempts to arrest a deteriorating situation around Panjnad headworks failed and flood water overflowed on the National Highway and the main railway line after crossing two irrigation channels.

A spokesman of the Pakistan Western Railway told newsmen tonight that the railway line between Lodhran and Khanpur had been flooded or breached at innumerable places and all traffic had been suspended between Lahore and Karachi.

[Meanwhile,] Pir Pagaro, President of the United Democratic Front and the President of the Combined Muslim League, has issued the following Press statement: “I strongly condemn the arrest of the prominent NAP leaders of Baluchistan. Political leaders of the stature of Mir Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and Sardar Khair Bakhsh Marri have been charged with all sorts of things. Besides being an example of the worst sort of victimisation of political leaders in the opposition, it proves that the Government of Mr Z.A. Bhutto is determined to destroy even the minor traces of democracy in the country.”

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2023

Opinion

Editorial

Tax amendments
Updated 20 Dec, 2024

Tax amendments

Bureaucracy gimmicks have not produced results, will not do so in the future.
Cricket breakthrough
20 Dec, 2024

Cricket breakthrough

IT had been made clear to Pakistan that a Champions Trophy without India was not even a distant possibility, even if...
Troubled waters
20 Dec, 2024

Troubled waters

LURCHING from one crisis to the next, the Pakistani state has been consistent in failing its vulnerable citizens....
Madressah oversight
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Madressah oversight

Bill should be reconsidered and Directorate General of Religious Education, formed to oversee seminaries, should not be rolled back.
Kurram’s misery
Updated 19 Dec, 2024

Kurram’s misery

The state must recognise that allowing such hardship to continue undermines its basic duty to protect citizens’ well-being.
Hiking gas rates
19 Dec, 2024

Hiking gas rates

IMPLEMENTATION of a new Ogra recommendation to increase the gas prices by an average 8.7pc or Rs142.45 per mmBtu in...