A PROJECTION that Pakistan’s population could reach 400m by 2040 should not be treated as another dramatic number to be quoted at ceremonies and forgotten by the next budget. It is a warning about the size of the state’s future obligations. Every additional child will need vaccination, nutrition, schooling, safe water, transport and, eventually, work. Yet the present system already fails millions on each count. The issue, therefore, is not that families are having
Child Rights in Focus
PARENTS want the very best for their children. That is never in question. But wanting the best and knowing what the best is are two different things, and in the early years of a child’s life, the impact of that difference can have consequences that are difficult to undo. In my work with families across Pakistan, I encounter the same hesitation. Structured early learning, particularly before the age of four, is seen as optional.
LAHORE: An alleged chronic drug addict was arrested after reportedly attacking and injuring his wife and three daughters in the Kahna area here on August 2. The police identified the suspect as Irfan and lodged a case against him. According to initial police reports, the suspect, on the day of the incident, asked his wife to arrange some money for him for drugs. When she refused, he allegedly returned with a dagger and injured
TAXILA: The lives and safety of more than 80 children, most of them girls, enrolled at Government Boys Primary School on the outskirts of Taxila are said to be at risk due to excessive excavation around the school by a private housing society, cutting off safe access to the campus and raising fears of a serious accident. A visit by this correspondent to the school in Dhoke Syedo found deep ditches dug around the
MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Department has sought the help of the deputy commissioner and law-enforcement agencies to reopen schools forcibly shut by landowners who had applied for lower-grade posts but were not appointed across the district. “As educational institutions have reopened for the new academic session after summer vacation, candidates who could not be appointed forcibly shut down around 20 schools in Siren and Konsh valleys and other parts of Mansehra, depriving students
KARACHI: International Breastfeeding Week 2026 commenced with an important discussion on the challenges faced by working mothers, especially journalist mothers who are breastfeeding, at a seminar organised by the Karachi Press Club in collaboration with Unicef on Saturday. One’s heart went out to the mothers who shared the challenges they faced or still are facing balancing work with motherhood. Mariam Hassan, young mother of a toddler and an infant, said that her baby girl
BAHAWALNAGAR: The investigative committee, formed after the death of a five-year-old child at the Minchinabad THQ Hospital three days ago, has suspended two junior technicians for negligence under the Peeda Act, while the THQ’s medical superintendent (MS) has also been removed. The family of the child had claimed that on June 30 five-year-old Mohsin, who had been brought to the THQ Hospital for a routine check-up, died as a result of staff negligence after an untrained
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has removed an office objection to a petition challenging the legality of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2026, which sets 18 years as the minimum age for marriage in the country’s most populous province. The office had objected to the plea on the ground that the petitioner had originally challenged the ordinance, whereas it had since been passed by the provincial assembly and enacted into law. Following
LAHORE: Lahore DIG (Investigation) Zeeshan Raza claimed on July 31 that the police have solved the mystery surrounding the deaths of a US national woman and her three children in a house in a private housing society in Lahore. US national Aleena (40) and her three children — Rehan (16), Aresha (11), and Arsal (6) — were found dead from suspected poisoning in their rented house in Valencia Town under mysterious circumstances on July
RAWALPINDI: Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Rawalpindi (BISE) asked the marking officers to check the examination papers with honesty so that hard work of the students does not go in vain. BISE Rawalpindi Chairman Professor Dr Iqbal Mahmood paid a detailed visit to the marking centre for the Intermediate First Annual Examination 2026, established at Government Graduate College GT Road, Jhelum. On this occasion, he closely reviewed the process for examining papers, the
SARGODHA: A minor boy was allegedly gang-raped by five youths, who fled away after committing the heinous crime in Iqbal Colony in the city on July 31. As per police sources, a woman, Anam Firdous, filed a complaint, alleging that five youths entered her house in Iqbal Colony and subjected her eight-year-old son to gang-rape. She said that she was informed by her son about the episode, after the suspects fled away. On the
BAJAUR: Unknown miscreants blew up a government primary school in Lowi Kharkai area of War Mamund tehsil here late on the night of July 29. Officials and locals told Dawn on Thursday that unidentified miscreants entered the Government Primary School for Boys late on Wednesday night and planted explosives inside the building, which went off with a big bang, damaging most of the school structure. “The overnight bombing at the school has created panic