Pak politician diverted floodwaters to Christian village to save his property?

LAHORE - The Punjab government has called an inquiry report over a news story published in an Italian newspaper alleging that a Pakistani politician had ordered the diversion of floodwaters into a Christian village, killing at least 15 people.

The Punjab government called this report after receiving a circular issued by the Interior Ministry, which stated that Jamshed Dasti, a local politician of Muzaffargarh, had ordered for floodwaters to be diverted into Khokharabad, in an attempt to save his personal property, the Daily Times reported.

Due to this act, the Christian locality was completely flooded, causing damage to crops and leaving 337 homeless.

The foreign media reported that the Khokharabad inhabitants were unable to escape before their village was swept away, as they were not notified about the diversion.

One of the village leaders, Taj Masih, said, “Our village was flooded on purpose. Dasti, just to save his own land, preferred to leave 377 people without homes or harvest, our only source of livelihood. Now we have nothing.”

However, local authorities are denying responsibility for the decision to erect the dam in the area. (ANI)