Rain may spoil Pakistan Day parade

Islamabad: With the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecasting rainfall in Islamabad on March 23, there are fears that the precipitation will spoil the Shakarparian Pakistan Day parade plans.

The day, which commemorates the passing of the March 23, 1940, resolution for the formation of a separate homeland for Muslims in India, is highlighted every year by a celebratory military parade, daring manoeuvres by air force fighter jets, and parachute jumping by paratroopers in an open space between Zero Point and Faizabad interchanges.

According to the PMD, rain coupled with thunderstorm is expected to fall in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Lahore, Gilgit and Muzaffarabad on March 23 morning hours.

It forecast rainfall coupled with thunderstorm from Sunday (March 21) to Tuesday (March 23). The PMD said a strong westerly wave was likely to enter the country on Saturday night, will grip upper and central parts on Sunday and may persist until Tuesday.

Under the influence of that weather system, rain and wind and thunderstorms will fall in Quetta, Zhob, Ziarat, Chaman, Qila Saifullah, Sibbi, Barkhan, Kalat, Khuzdar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Jaccobabad, Sukkar and Larkana from Saturday evening/night to Monday.

Isolated rain-thunderstorm is also expected in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Islamabad, Potohar region, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Hafizabad, Narowal, Lahore and Kasur on Wednesday. The weathermen warned that heavy rainfall could trigger landslides in the vulnerable areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday and Tuesday.