Prime Minister’s aide Ikhtiyar Wali has expressed grave concern, warning that the death toll in Dir district alone may cross 1,000 as the flood disaster continues to unfold in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Ikhtiyar Wali said he had recently visited the flood-affected areas and personally witnessed the human tragedy and large-scale devastation. He noted that only the deaths of those whose bodies were brought to hospitals have been officially reported, while many casualties remain unrecorded.
According to him, 300 bodies have so far been shifted to hospitals, while more than 1,000 people are still missing, and mass burials are taking place in several areas. He warned that the death toll in Dir district alone could surpass one thousand.
Highlighting the devastation in Buner’s Chagharzi and Bashoni areas, he said entire villages have been wiped out, houses along riverbanks have been swept away, and no trace remains of many homes. He added that some of the boulders carried by the floodwaters were larger than trucks, destroying everything in their path.
Ikhtiyar Wali recalled that he had also witnessed the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 floods, but the current disaster left him deeply shaken. He stated that apart from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which deployed heavy machinery to clear blocked roads, no significant presence of the provincial government was observed. Without NDMA’s efforts, he said, many main roads would still be closed.
English Tags: Dir district, Ikhtiyar Wali, flood victims, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, NDMA, mass burials
