QUETTA: A severe cold wave has descended upon Quetta and vast areas of Balochistan, plunging residents into a dual crisis of freezing temperatures and a near-total absence of natural gas supply. The harsh, dry winds have intensified the cold, triggering a significant spike in illnesses, including throat, ear, and chest infections.
Local reports indicate a 50% increase in cases of cough, typhoid, and chest diseases compared to previous years, exacerbated by an unusually dry winter with scant rainfall. However, citizens seeking relief at government hospitals are met with further despair due to acute shortages of both medicines and doctors, compounding public suffering.
The crisis deepens at home, where the customary winter gas shortages have reached an unprecedented level. “This year it feels like there is no gas at all,” lamented one resident. With geysers and heaters rendered useless, families are being forced to revert to burning wood to heat food and water—a method described sardonically as the “50-year-old formula.”
Frustration is boiling over as complaints to the Sui Southern Gas Company offices fall on deaf ears, reinforcing a public perception that the principle of “might is right” prevails. Despite protests, press statements, and appeals to concerned officers, there has been no meaningful response or relief.
The situation has drawn sharp criticism towards authorities. As Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks of putting the country on a path to progress, citizens in Balochistan question the definition of that progress when they are being pushed back decades in their living conditions. Public circles are issuing desperate appeals for mercy, urging an immediate reconsideration of the crippling gas load-shedding in the province. They warn that without urgent intervention, the human cost of this frozen neglect will continue to rise.
Meanwhile two people have lost their lives in diefferent incidents in Balochistan.
Unknown person have killed a young man on Quetta’s Sabzal road in a firing incident today.
According to the details, some unknown persons shot at the two brothers in the Sabzal Road area of Quetta causing death to one of them, while the other sustained serious injuries.
As soon as the police team was informed, it arrived at the crime scene and shifted the body and the injured person to the hospital immediately.
The assassinated person is identified with the name of Hafeezullah while the injured person’s name is Ehsanullah. The assailants were said to have fled away from the spot. The police handed over the body and the injured person to the family after the necessary treatment.
