ISLAMABAD: On October 9, Health officials warned that Karachi has surpassed southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as Pakistan’s most potent source of exported poliovirus, urging parents to protect their children from lifelong paralysis by participating in the imminent vaccination drive. “Karachi is the most potent exporter of poliovirus in the country and a trouble spot, even more than southern KP, from where 16 out of 18 cases were reported,” said the Prime Minister’s Focal Person for
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: A polio worker was killed in a suspected targeted attack on the Superhighway on October 9. Site Superhighway Industrial Area SHO Wilayat Shah told Dawn that Rehmanullah, 30, was on his way to Surjani Town on a motorcycle when unknown suspect(s) opened fire near Jamia-tur Rasheed. He sustained critical bullet wounds and was taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. The motive could not be ascertained immediately, he said,
QUETTA/GWADAR: The Balochistan government has declared a water emergency in Gwadar and suspended all taxes related to water supply to resolve the issue of serious water shortage the coastal district. A decision to this effect was taken after a massive protest demonstration was staged by residents of Gwadar. The water crisis has been growing with each passing day in Gwadar due to what the people say lethargy of elected representatives and officials concerned who
SARGODHA: A woman was arrested from a school for allegedly trying to kidnap two students and spraying poisonous gas on the children and teachers present in the school. According to the complaint filed by Sheikhanwala Primary School, in Bhakkar’s Darya Khan tehsil, headmistress Sundas Zahra alleged that a woman, later identified as Azra Manzoor, entered the school and asked the teacher to handover two children, Meenal and Farheen. However, she claimed that on the
ISLAMABAD: Secretary of the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Nadeem Mahbub asked the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) to share its software system with all the provincial Boards and to arrange training sessions for teachers to strengthen assessment practices and capacity at the provincial level. He issued directions during a meeting of the FBISE called to review the examination reforms and restructuring initiatives undertaken by the board. The secretary
ISLAMABAD: Climate shocks, soaring food prices, and chronic underinvestment in nutrition and health have pushed Pakistan deeper into a hunger crisis, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2025 warns, placing the country among those still facing “serious” levels of hunger despite more than two decades of national and global pledges to end malnutrition. Ranked 106th out of 123 countries, Pakistan’s GHI score at 26.0, slightly worse than 25.4 in 2016, shows that the country has
KARACHI: Sindh faces a mounting women’s health crisis, with an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 abortions taking place annually — many of them unsafe, unregulated, and life-threatening. This alarming figure, combined with widespread malnutrition and anemia, is placing countless women at risk, medical experts warn. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Dr Mehwish Mubarak Ali, Deputy Director (Clinics Section) of the Sindh Population Welfare Department, revealed the gravity of the situation. “In terms of blood loss, a
FAISALABAD: Two minor boys were allegedly sexually assaulted in separate incidents in the city on October 9, as the number of sexual assaults against women and children has reached 538 across Faisalabad’s five town divisions, involving approximately 800 accused. The breakdown shows 115 cases in Sadr Division, 126 in Iqbal Division, 120 in Jaranwala Division, 125 in Madina Town Division, and 52 in Lyalpur Town Division. As per the police reports, one case was
JARANWALA: A husband and wife, Shahbaz and Nadia Shahbaz, have arrested for allegedly torturing 16-year-old domestic worker, Mah Rukh Fatima, in Faisalabad. Police arrest the couple, and a case has been registered against them. According to the police report, Sana, a resident of Jaranwala, stated in the FIR registered at the Women Police Station that she had employed her 16-year-old daughter, Mah Rukh Fatima, as a domestic helper at the house of Shahbaz on
HYDERABAD: Ghotki police booked eight suspects and arrested two in connection with the murder of 34-year-old journalist Tufail Haiderani Rind and his eight-year-old niece Reena, daughter of Jameel Ahmed Haiderani Rind. The two were shot dead on October 8, allegedly over a land dispute within the Gaddani caste. Rind, who served as general secretary of the Nasrullah Gadhani Press Club, was ambushed while taking children to school. The complainant accused police of ignoring repeated
ISLAMABAD: The UNHCR on October 8 expressed concern over the government’s decision to de-notify 16 refugee villages and forcibly return Afghans, including refugees, to Afghanistan. The federal government recently de-notified these 16 refugee villages in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. In August, the government asked Afghan refugees to leave the country as part of its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP). As many of the refugees have lived in these villages for decades and established livelihoods, forcing
ISLAMABAD: Food insecurity remains widespread in Pakistan as only 19.5pc of households can always afford desired meals, while 30pc sometimes go without three meals a day. These are the findings from the Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS) 2024, the country’s only long-term, nationally representative household survey tracking economic and social change for more than two decades, conducted by the country’s renowned think-tank Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and unveiled at a seminar titled