PM Shehbaz likely to visit Turkiye this week

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif is likely to visit Turkiye this week to convey his condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over the deaths caused by the earthquake, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

According to details, the prime minister will express solidarity with the people of Ankara following the devastating earthquake, which has killed over 31,500 citizens.

Sources told ARY News that PM Shehbaz will also meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other officials during the visit. The prime minister would be accompanied by federal ministers.

Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Turkiye, scheduled for February 7, was postponed at the last moment due to the ongoing relief and rescue operations following the devastating earthquake.

It is pertinent to mention here that Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that All Parties Conference (APC) convened by Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on terrorism has been postponed due to the latter’s earthquake-hit Turkiye visit.

“Due to the prime minister’s visit to Turkey, the APC convened on February 9 has been postponed,” she said, adding that a new date will be announced in consultation with the allies.

The earthquake

Rescuers pulled more survivors from the rubble a day earlier, nearly a week after one of the worst earthquakes to hit Turkiye and Syria, as Turkish authorities sought to maintain order across the disaster zone and began legal action over building collapses.

With chances of finding more survivors growing more remote, the toll in both countries from Monday’s earthquake and major aftershocks rose above 33,000 and looked set to keep growing. It was the deadliest quake in Turkiye since 1939.

In a central district of one of the worst hit cities, Antakya in southern Turkey, business owners emptied their shops on Sunday to prevent merchandise from being stolen by looters.

Residents and aid workers who came from other cities cited worsening security conditions, with widespread accounts of businesses and collapsed homes being robbed.

Facing questions over his response to the earthquake as he prepares for a national election that is expected to be the toughest of his two decades in power, President Tayyip Erdogan has said the government will deal firmly with looters.

In Syria, the disaster hit hardest in the rebel-held northwest, leaving homeless yet again many people who had already been displaced several times by a decade-old civil war. The region has received little aid compared to government-held areas.

Relief fund

PM Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the establishment of a relief fund to support victims of the deadly earthquake in Turkiye that has claimed over 3,000 lives.

The confirmed death toll across the two countries has soared above 5,000 after a swarm of strong tremors near the Turkey-Syria border — the largest of which measured at a massive 7.8-magnitude.

In a tweet, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the cabinet will donate one month’s salary to the fund. She further said the premier has appealed to the philanthropists to extend help.