LAHORE: The participants in a seminar at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on 19th September highlighted an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities during the last year. Launched at the seminar, the HRCP’s report, Streets of Fear: Freedom of Religion or Belief in 2024/25, documents a deeply troubling year for religious freedom and minority rights in Pakistan. The report points out an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities, including targeted killings of
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on 18th August admitted for regular hearing a petition challenging the Punjab government’s decision to extend summer vacations in schools until August 31. The petition was filed by a seventh-grade student arguing that the government’s decision was “arbitrary and unlawful” and violated students’ fundamental right to education under Article 25-A of the Constitution. LHC Justice Jawad Hassan heard the petition. Advocate Hafiz Waqar Ahmed Awan, representing
KARACHI: At least seven people were killed in Karachi on Tuesday after heavy monsoon rains battered the city, flooding neighbourhoods, paralysing traffic and knocking out power, prompting the mayor to enforce a rain emergency. Dark clouds covered the city by afternoon, followed by heavy showers with strong winds in areas such as Surjani Town, Federal B Area, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Qayyumabad, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Malir, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Nazimabad, and New Karachi. Rainwater quickly inundated major roads and residential streets,
BADIN: In the aftermath of the devastating 2024 floods that swept away homes and halted education across Badin, Government Girls Primary School (GGPS) Chanri has emerged as a symbol of resilience. The GGPS Chanri, once ill-equipped to handle repeated disasters, has been transformed into a safe space for learning and shelter through UK support under the BRAVE (Building Resilience and Addressing Vulnerability in Emergencies) programme. The 2024 floods were not the first to batter
Lahore: With river levels rising to dangerous highs and major dams nearing full capacity, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned that the coming weeks could bring further devastation. Issuing an emergency alert, the authority noted that areas of Punjab have been inundated by its seventh monsoon wave, submerging villages and farmland in Kasur, Bahawalnagar and Narowal. Floodwaters breached protective embankments, destroying crops and forcing mass evacuations. Rescue workers deployed boats to ferry
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has released an official report detailing the damage caused by recent cloudbursts and flash floods across the Hazara region. According to the report, seven schools, comprising four primary, two middle, and one high school, have been completely destroyed in Abbottabad, Mansehra, and Battagram, while 638 schools have sustained partial damage. In Abbottabad, a female student tragically lost her life, and two individuals, including a teacher
SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Armed men shot and injured two men before abducting the principal of a private educational institution in Wana, Lower South Waziristan, on 18th August. According to DSP Imranullah, the armed assailants intercepted principal Rahmatullah Wazir outside the school, forced him into a car and took him away. Sources confirmed that two bystanders were injured when the abductors opened fire during the incident. The injured men were shifted to the district headquarters hospital
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on 17th August remanded a woman in police custody in a case pertaining to the killing of her two minor children. The investigating officer (IO) of the case brought Adeeba, 37, before the duty judicial magistrate (South) and sought her physical custody for 14 days. According to the IO, the court was informed that the complainant, Ghufran Khalid, had lodged an FIR stating that on Aug 14, at around 2:30pm, he
PESHAWAR: Education has emerged as the worst-affected sector as the recent devastating rains and flash floods have completely destroyed 61 government schools while 414 others have been damaged in the affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Of the total destroyed schools, 52 are government primary schools, seven middle and two high schools, according to official data. Officials in education department told Dawn that the damage to buildings of schools would surge as more reports of destroyed schools were in pipeline.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) has confirmed two new polio cases in Pakistan — one each from Lower Kohistan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Badin district in Sindh. The latest infections were reported in a six-year-old girl from Union Council Pattan, Lower Kohistan, and a 21-month-old girl from Union Council Matli-2, Badin. With these detections, the country’s total number of polio cases in 2025 has
The death toll from relentless monsoon rains and flash floods in parts of Pakistan has climbed to 660 with reports of casualties and widespread destruction emerging from all provinces and regions. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) registered the highest fatalities at 392, followed by Punjab with 164, Gilgit Baltistan (GB) with 32, Sindh with 29, Balochistan with 20, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with 15, and Islamabad Capital Territory with 8, according to the National Disaster
All government and private schools in the cold, mountainous regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have been closed for a week after cloudbursts, heavy rains, and flash floods caused significant loss of life and property across the province, with 341 people killed so far, officials said on Monday. Education Minister Faisal Khan Tarakai confirmed the closure while sharing the official notification on X. “Educational institutions in the cold mountainous areas will remain closed from August 19 to