4 September 2022
By Jamaima Afridi
NOWSHERA: A female civil servant from the tribal district of South Waziristan has become an overnight national hero on social media for bravely evacuating residents amid recent floods in Nowshera.
Qurat-ul-Ain Wazir, the additional deputy commissioner for planning for finance and revenue in Nowshera, was seen in videos knocking on doors in houses at high risk of being inundated with the incoming wave of floodwater from the northern areas of the province. Wielding a stick, she is seen urging people to vacate their houses and relocate to safer areas.
Social media users were quick to hail her brave action to evacuate citizens in the devastating floods in the district, calling her a superwoman. It was due to her timely action and bravery that the damages to life and property remained minimum as compared to other flood-hit districts in the province.
Miss Wazir, the name she is known in the district, also made loudspeaker announcements in mosques to warn people of the danger faced by floods.
“We went in the field and requested people to evacuate their houses which faced certain risk of inundation in the floods,” Wazir said while talking with Voicepk.net in an exclusive interview in her office.
“The district administration had made announcements in the mosques and engaged with local religious leaders and local government officials about the threat of inundation,” she explained. However, people in villages ignored the evacuation warnings and chose to remain in their houses, she said. “Villagers were refusing to leave their houses which caused a lot of problems,” she added.
“We had just five hours to evacuate hundreds of people living in low-lying and riverbed areas so we decided to use force for shifting to safer areas,” she said while referring to the stick seen in her hand in the viral videos on social media. “There was not a single instance of injury and fatality amid the floods in Nowshera,” she revealed.
Nowadays, Wazir is focusing her attention on the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims in her district. “I visit flood relief camps and oversee the distribution of relief items,” she said. The civil servant also regularly inspects arrangments made for flood victims in the camps and orders quick redressal of complaints made there.
Wazir is a resident of Wana town in South Waziristan which was formerly part of the federally-administered tribal areas. Responding to the praise heaped on her on the media, Wazir said, “You can best serve your country only by doing your best in your job.”