ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has contacted Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and discussed post-rain situation in Sindh, especially in Karachi and offered support to get out of rain disaster, confirmed Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar.

Asad Umar in his tweet said PM Khan talked with CM Sindh after rain disaster in the province and added that federation and its institutions will extend every possible support to the provincial government in relief activities in the rain-hit areas.

We will provide every help to Sindh on war-footing in this situation.

It was reported earlier on Thursday that the ongoing monsoon spell has broken all records of the downpour in Karachi available with the met department since 1932.

ISLAMABAD : National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has submitted new proposed rules to the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC), laying down the role of the accountability watchdog’s chairman in making appointments, arrests, approval of references and other functions.

The fresh rules were framed under section 34 of the NAB law and gave chairman NAB the authority to appoint director generals and directors in the institution.

The chairman NAB will issue guidelines for the arrest of a person accused of corrupt practices and it would be mandatory for all officials to follow them.The chairman would give a final nod for any reference against the accused and only he would have the authority to decide on it and issue guidelines for the reference.

The reference would be filed a month later after approval from the chairman.

Under the proposed rules, the chairman would have the authority to hire officials on BPS-19 and above grades while Director General Human Resource would made appointments on vacant posts between BPS-16 to BPS-18. Director Human Resource would made appointments on BPS-1 to BPS-15 posts.

The fresh proposed rules also lay down guidelines for arrests, reference, voluntary return of the amount and plea bargain.

Complaint and its verification, inquiry and investigation process is also defined under new proposed rules.

It added that complaint received to the NAB headquarters would be sent to the concerned NAB office and would be presented before the regional board within one month of after being received.

The regional board would be bound to verify the complaint within eight weeks and would convert it into an inquiry after receiving credible information on it.

Arrests could be made during the inquiry process if required and the NAB officials would be bound to complete the inquiry process within a month and could get an extension of one month in the period if needed.

The chairman NAB could further extend the period by three weeks.

The investigation officer would also be bound to maintain a diary of the investigation process, the new proposed rules submitted to the Supreme Court read.

KARACHI : While expressing concerns over torrential rains in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that the federal government will not leave the people of Karachi alone in this difficult situation.

As per details, PM Imran Khan telephoned Sindh Governor Imran Ismail and expressed concern over the recent rains in the metropolis that has disturbed the normal life.

The premier ordered Imran Ismail to speed up relief efforts in rain-hit areas of the city and moved stranded people to safety. He also directed to provide food to people affected by torrential rains.“Federal government will not leave people of Karachi alone,” said PM Imran and added that he was fully aware of the problems being faced by people of Karachi and monitoring the situation.

Later, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, in a Tweet, has said Prime Minister Imran Khan is monitoring the situation that has arisen in Karachi due to the torrential rains.

“Briefed PM Imran Khan over Sindh rain situation, Karachi needs special attention. This is unusual and abnormal rain situation which requires an emergency response. PM is monitoring the situation and assured to take any action required,” tweeted Ismail.

It is pertinent to mention here that heavy monsoon rains battered large swathes of the metropolis on Thursday, inundating major roads and low-lying areas and causing severe traffic jams on several major arteries of the city.

Commuters waded through knee-deep waters, chest-deep in some areas, as vehicles were submerged with torrential rains adding to traffic woes. Power outages were also witnessed in many areas as K-Electric’s feeders tripped, suspending power supply.

Knee-deep rainwater also gathered at Saddar, M.A. Jinnah Road and Tibet Centre, Sohrab Goth, Shara-e-Faisal, Malir and Landhi, Safoora Chowrangi, NIPA Chowrangi, Hassan Square and People’s Chowrangi.

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Imran Ismail has said Prime Minister Imran Khan is monitoring the situation that has arisen in Karachi due to the torrential rains and has assured “to take any action required”.

“Briefed PM Imran Khan over Sindh rain situation, Karachi needs special attention. This is unusual and abnormal rain situation which requires emergency response. PM is monitoring the situation and assured to take any action required,” tweeted Ismail.

The sixth spell of rain which began earlier this week has been wreaking havoc in the metropolis with low-lying areas completed flooded and roads no longer viable for traffic.

Despite MET Office’s prediction of the monsoon rain system weakening in the city, however, persistent rain in Karachi since morning has turned the city upside down.

In its new weather alert, the MET office redacted its earlier rain prediction that heavy showers in the city could last until 4pm, saying that now it would last till 11pm.

The MET Office said that the weakened system had merged with another system coming in from Balochistan hence it gained in intensity and resulted in heavy rain pelting the city.

According to weather experts, Karachi has been sandwiched between the systems generating rainy clouds, with humidity from the sea exacerbating the situation.

The dark clouds hovering above the city that are causing the showers are at a height of 35,000-40,000ft. Normally, such clouds are at a height of 2000-3000ft.

Experts said that the high altitude of the clouds was the reason for the intensity of the rain.

KARACHI : The flight schedule was disrupted at Jinnah International Airport Karachi due to rough weather and heavy rainfall.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced the suspension of a number of its flights on Thursday due to torrential rains in the port city.

A Lahore-bound private airline flight-522 and Islamabad bound PK-368 flight have been delayed, said the CAA spokesperson.Moreover, Karachi to Faisalabad flight PK-540 and Lahore-bound Pakistan International Airline (PIA)flight PK-304 have also been delayed.

It is pertinent to mention here that heavy monsoon rains battered large swathes of the metropolis on Thursday, inundating major roads and low-lying areas and causing severe traffic jams on several major arteries of the city.

Commuters waded through knee-deep waters, chest-deep in som areas, as vehicles were submerged with torrential rains adding to traffic woes. Power outages were also witnessed in many areas as K-Electric’s feeders tripped, suspending power supply.

Many areas, including North Karachi, North Nazimabad, Hyderi, Power House Chowrangi, Manzoor Colony, Sakhi Hassan, Nagan Chowrangi, and KDA Chowrang completely submerged, while several underpasses were closed to all sorts of traffic after rainwater accumulated there.

The Korangi Causeway has also been closed because of overflowing Malir River, due to which traffic was diverted towards Sadiq Bridge, causing severe traffic jams in the area.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued a final warning to the provincial election commission to submit a schedule for the local bodies election.

During the hearing today, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told the court that it will conduct the local bodies elections in the province within 120 days of the completion of the outgoing local bodies’ tenure.

The division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar asked the ECP’s counsel when the local bodies elections will be held.

Mohammad Javed Khan, the provincial election commissioner and ECP law officer Abdullah Hanjra said the current local bodies term would expire on August 30 and within 120 days, the election commission would conduct the local government elections.

The bench said that despite several orders by the court, the ECP had failed to file its reply. The High Court then directed the ECP to file its comments by September 8.

Petitioner Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi had submitted that Article 140-A of the Constitution made it incumbent to hold the local bodies elections in the provinces. He had said that the local bodies in Sindh had completed their four-year tenure, but despite the completion of the tenure, the provincial government and the ECP were not taking steps to hold their elections.

He had further stated in his appeal that notifications to announce the elected representatives of the current local bodies were issued by the ECP on December 3, 2015, December 26, 2015, and January 1, 2016, and according to them, the local bodies have completed their tenure and the elected representatives were now illegally holding their offices.

Naqvi alleged that the government was using delaying tactics for holding the local bodies elections to usurp Rs78 billion funds of Karachi and was not writing a letter to the ECP in this regard.