PTI to move Islamabad High Court seeking live-telecast of Imran Khan's telethon tonight
Aug 28, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], August 29 : The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has decided to approach Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the live-telecast of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's international telethon for flood victims, scheduled to be held on Monday night.
Last week, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) had imposed a ban on broadcasting live speeches of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on all satellite TV channels over his controversial remarks against police officials and a woman judge.
Citing sources on Sunday, The Express Tribune reported that PTI will file an application in the IHC today.
Imran will hold an international telethon tonight from 9.30 to 12 pm (local time) to help the flood victims.
According to The Express Tribune, the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will also join him.
In a video message shared on PTI's official Twitter handle, Imran appealed to the people including overseas Pakistanis to participate in the telethon on Monday and donate whatever they can.
Since July, Pakistan has been in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Deadly floods have ravaged the country, affecting 15 per cent of its population.
To date, over 1,000 people have lost their lives, while 1,527 have been injured since June 14 from the rains and floods, according to the official tally.
These figures do not give an accurate picture of how many women have been killed, injured, and displaced. Moreover, coverage of women and girls is missing from mainstream media and social media. This is when women make up around 48.5 per cent of Pakistan's population.
Cumulative data from June 14 from across Pakistan showed that 3,451.5 km of road has been damaged, and 149 bridges have collapsed, 170 shops were destroyed.
Furthermore, a total of 949,858 homes have been partially or fully destroyed. Out of the total, 6,62,446 homes have been partially damaged, and 287,412 have been fully destroyed. While 7,19,558 livestock has also been killed.
Naqvi said that the destruction of infrastructure will impact women more than men, as women spend more time at home, which means with so many homes damaged, thousands of women along with their children are outdoors.
Pakistan is experiencing one of the worst hit natural calamities in years. The floods affected the lives of millions of people after which the Pakistan government declared a "national emergency".
At least 110 districts of Pakistan have been hit by the floods with 72 of those districts declaring calamity hit, National Disaster Management Authorities' estimates showed that more than 33 million of the population have been affected by the floods.
The NDMA shared that Pakistan's 30-year average showed that the country has received 134mm of rain and this year it received 388.7mm of rain. 190.07% more than the average.
On 26 August, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) issued a warning that very high to exceptionally high-level flooding is expected in River Kabul at Nowshera in KP province, as well as in tributaries of the Kabul and Indus rivers until 28 August.