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ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week announced that his government would launch a national campaign against construction around rivers, water courses and streams, state-run media reported, as the death toll from deadly floods and rains since Jun. 26 surged to 788. 

Environmental experts have warned that riverbed mining, unregulated logging and construction in natural flood channels weaken ecosystems, block drainage routes, and intensify the impact of heavy rains. In July, Pakistan’s mountainous northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, which is home to over 13,000 glaciers, banned the construction of new hotels around lakes. 

Deadly rains and floods have swept several parts of Pakistan, including its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, killing at least 788 persons in total since Jun. 26. KP has reported the highest number of deaths, 469, followed by Punjab with 165, Sindh with 54, GB with 45, Balochistan with 24 and Azad Kashmir with 23 casualties while Islamabad has reported eight deaths. 

“A national campaign will be launched to stop construction around rivers, streams and natural water courses,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office on Saturday. 

The Pakistani premier ordered the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and district administrations to continue rescue operations in the affected areas of Ghizer in GB, where a glacial lake outburst triggered a flood this week.

“The prime minister directed all concerned authorities to be fully prepared for relief operations in the lower parts of the country in view of the flood situation in the coming days,” the statement said. 

Pakistani authorities have warned that monsoon showers, expected to last until Sept. 10, can trigger floods on the scale of those witnessed by the country in 2010. 

Unusually heavy rains and the melting of glaciers in June 2022 triggered flash floods that at one point inundated one-third of the country, killed over 1,700 people and inflicted losses of over $30 billion, as per government estimates. 

Despite contributing less than 1% to global greenhouse gas emissions, Pakistan is among the world’s most vulnerable nations to climate change.

Rains have wreaked havoc in several parts of the country, especially KP, since Aug. 15 where at least 406 people have been killed and 247 have been injured in rain-related incidents. 

As per the Provincial Disaster Management Authority’s (PDMA) KP, these 406 casualties include 305 men, 55 women 46 children while the injured include 179 men, 38 women and 30 children.

In the northwestern Dera Ismail Khan city, eight people were killed and 48 injured on Saturday night due to roof collapses caused by heavy rainfall, the PDMA said in its latest report. 

In a separate alert, the PDMA Punjab warned that heavy monsoon rainfall is expected in most districts of Punjab over the next 24 hours, adding that the eighth monsoon spell will continue until Aug. 27.

“Storm warnings have been issued for upper Punjab districts including Murree, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, and Chakwal,” PDMA Punjab wrote.

ISLAMABAD: Authorities in the federal capital have decided to close hiking trails for the public today, Sunday, amid a heavy-rainfall warning to ensure the safety of citizens, the district magistrate’s office said in a notification.

The decision touches a cherished weekend hiking culture in a city built at the foot of the Margalla Hills, part of the Himalayan range.

Last month, Saidpur Village on the Margallas witnessed hill torrents after about 150 millimeters of rain, sweeping away vehicles. Since then, authorities have been shutting nearby trails during heavy-rain alerts, as the routes are prone to sudden flooding.

“In view of the heavy to very heavy rainfall forecast for the next 72 hours by the Pakistan Meteorological Department, keeping in view the safety of citizens, including hikers/visitors to the Margalla Hills, it is hereby notified that Trail 2, Trail 3, Trail 4, Trail 5, and Trail behind Saidpur Village shall remain closed on 24th August 2025 for the general public in the Federal Capital,” said the official notification circulated Saturday night.

The warning comes as the nationwide monsoon death toll has reached 788 since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Islamabad has recorded eight rain-related fatalities over the same period.

Pakistani authorities have forecast fresh rains and potential flooding across multiple regions until Aug. 30, with the NDMA warning that torrential rains could trigger flash floods in streams across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) — where deaths have already climbed to 469 — as well as urban flooding in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Peshawar, Nowshera and Mardan.

Landslides are also possible in KP, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galiyat and Azad Kashmir.

Annual monsoons are vital for agriculture and water supplies but in recent years have unleashed destructive flooding and landslides.

The latest downpours, intensifying since Aug. 15 in districts such as Swat, Shangla, Buner and Swabi, killed hundreds across KP and revived fears of a repeat of the catastrophic 2022 floods that submerged a third of Pakistan and caused $30 billion in damage.