Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari came under blistering attack from social media users after she commented on the recent torrential rains in Karachi on Tuesday.
Karachi was hit by torrential downpours last week that caused urban flooding in the city. The flooding halted life and celebrations during the Eid-ul-Adha vacations triggering intense reactions and frustration from citizens. Houses of people were flooded and many areas reported power failure for long hours. Deaths have also been reported in the city in rain-related accidents.
Videos of heavy flooding in the residential areas, with commercial areas partially submerged in the water, floated on the internet. The abysmal condition of the city affronted the citizens who expected better management from the provincial government this year despite repeated warnings of the Pakistan Meteorological Department of heavy rains in the city.
Karachi after today's rain and after 30 years of "Remarkable Development" by Peoples Party. pic.twitter.com/Gvmv2XgpHu
— Zahid Farooq Malik (@zfmalik) July 12, 2022
Hamein maro. Please maro. 😊 https://t.co/29vtCHd8OU
— Talha Kareem (@talhakareem11) July 12, 2022
Stop trivializing the suffering of karachites who die from electrocution or lose their makeshift homes every year. This is not a one time occurrence. It's getting worse while your rich ass tweets it off. https://t.co/2wZ6l8saSN
— Maham (@maham_shamail) July 13, 2022
Princess has woken up to tell us about the climate change problem https://t.co/gFRQsvYaEH
— Rida (@Hussain111Rida) July 12, 2022
https://twitter.com/UrghAtEryting/status/1546885027845513216?s=20&t=14L-foR2A0WVgQlTz7xTEQ
Sewage water overflowing on the roads combined with wastage of sacrificial animals have created a stench in the city making it difficult to breathe.
Read more: NEPRA approves price hike for Karachi amid intense load shedding
The provincial government was admonished for flooding in the city. Citizens blamed the government for the lack of adequate planning to deal with the expected torrential rains in the city. Questions were raised about the incompetence and absence of long-term planning by the provincial government to enable the city to receive high amounts of rainfall without disrupting the life.
Bhuttos are the worst thing ever happened to this city, province and country. https://t.co/s2suQnJS9m
— Ahad (@abdulahadjawaid) July 12, 2022
Amid the social media frenzy, Bakhtawar Bhutto came to the rescue of the PPP-led Sindh government. In her tweet, she blamed the urban flooding in Karachi on the climate change in the city.
Commenting on the pictures of flooding in Germany she said, “Most developed cities (across the world!) have flooded over the years due to #ClimateChange resulting in unprecedented rain.”
Bakhtawar further added, “#Karachi is no exception & just broke its record (more accurate to say floods). #PPP Sindh gov was on-site 24/7 (rain needs to stop before clearing).”
“They did prep in advance as much as humanly possible by clearing 100s of drains last month – the rest is purposefully misleading & ignorant politics. #KP drowned yet not in headlines. Also #Baluchistan. Compare where their CMs & ministers were in the last 24 hours vs #Karachi” added Bakhtawar Bhutto.
She received flak for blaming the urban flooding in Karachi on climate change while not addressing the defective planning of the Sindh government to prepare for the torrential rains despite being in power since 2008.
A user recalled that Bakhtawar Bhutto has been using the pretext of Climate Change and flooding in Karachi since 2012. He shared the screenshots of her tweets.
Since then, she has been sharing pictures of the areas of the city cleared from rainwater.