'Store It In Container': Pak Minister’s Bizarre Solution For Floods, Calls It ‘A Form of Blessing’

Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday came up with a bizarre solution to tackle floods in the country's northern parts by suggesting that people store the floodwater and take it to their homes.

As Pakistan reels from the most catastrophic flooding in decades, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has come up with a bizarre prescription to counter the deluge. Instead of focusing on urgent disaster relief, Asif suggested that citizens should “store floodwater” and carry it to their homes, calling it a “form of blessing.” Speaking to a local television channel, Asif said, “Now this water, someone should store it. The people who are sitting blocking the road should take it to their homes and store all this water there. They should put it somewhere, in some container. This water, this water — we should give it the form of a blessing by storing it. For this, big dams should also be built, which may take 8–10 years to complete.”

The remarks, which have left many bewildered, come as torrential monsoon rains continue to ravage Punjab province, what officials describe as the worst flood in the region’s history.

According to ARY News, cited by ANI, flooding and heavy downpours have already killed 33 people, devastated 2,200 villages, and displaced over 700,000 residents in Punjab alone. Senior minister Maryam Aurangzeb at a recent press briefing, stressed, “This is the biggest flood in the history of the Punjab. The flood has affected two million people. It’s the first time that the three rivers — Sutlej, Chenab, and Ravi — have carried such high levels of water.”

Punjab, home to nearly 150 million people and serving as Pakistan’s agricultural heartland, has been plunged into chaos. Fields of wheat and other vital crops lie submerged, reigniting fears of food insecurity. The scars of the 2022 floods, which annihilated vast farmlands and prompted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s grim warnings of food shortages, remain fresh in public memory.

The National Weather Center revealed that Punjab has endured 26.5% more monsoon rainfall between July 1 and August 27 compared to last year. Nationwide, the devastation has been staggering — Pakistan’s disaster management authority reported that since June 26, rain-related tragedies have claimed 849 lives and left 1,130 injured.

Torrential rains and surging floods have inundated vast areas of farmland and destroyed ready-to-harvest crops across Pakistan, raising concerns of a food crisis and rising inflation, Dawn reported. The UN and local farmers issued warnings on Monday over the scale of the damage.