LAHORE: All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA) on 16th January protested outside the Civil Secretariat against the government decision to cut salaries, pension, and gratuity and leave encashment. Protests were held in other major cities of Punjab as well. The interim Punjab government had issued notifications for these cuts, prompting AGEGA activists to demand that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz revoke them. During the interim government’s period, a crackdown on protests led to the detention
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: Anemia, a debilitating condition affecting millions of children, adolescent girls, and women in Pakistan, is silently draining the nation’s economy. With annual losses estimated at $2.5 billion for children alone and an additional $595 million for adolescent girls and women, the total economic toll from anemia exceeds $3 billion, according to Nutrition International’s recent Cost of Inaction (COI) report. Despite some improvements, anemia remains a severe public health challenge. Among children aged 6-59 months, 53pc
ISLAMABAD: The country reported a polio case on 16th January, marking the second consecutive day of new cases and bringing the tally for 2024 to 73. An official at the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed the detection of the 73rd wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case from Thatta. “This is the first polio case from Thatta for 2024. Since the sample was collected in December last
A speeding heavy vehicle claimed the life of a six-year-old girl in Karachi on 16-January-2025, bringing the total number of fatalities in heavy vehicle accidents to six since the start of the year. According to reports, the girl, identified as Tania, daughter of Usman, was struck by a dumper truck near Usmania Restaurant on the Super Highway, within the jurisdiction of the Gadap City police station. The accident occurred as Tania was crossing the
Police have registered a case and started a search after the abduction of two children in the Garden West area. Five-year-old Aalian and six-year-old Ali went missing from Garden West on 14-January-2025 while playing outside their homes. Their parents have registered a case at the Garden police station. The FIR No 12/25 was registered on the complaint of Aalian’s mother Zainab, wife of Younis. She informed the police that she worked at a gym
Police remain clueless about the whereabouts of a seven-year-old boy, Sarim, who has been missing since January 7. Despite investigations into his disappearance, there has been no significant breakthrough in locating him. However, there have been developments in the case as the boy’s mother received a ransom demand via WhatsApp from an international number. Sarim was allegedly abducted in North Karachi Sector 5 within the limits of the Bilal Colony police station. A case
CHITRAL: The Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) organised a workshop here on 15th January, highlighting the integration of education for sustainable development and climate change education into national frameworks. The event, titled “Empowering Change: A Workshop on Systems Thinking for Climate Change and Environmental Education,” was part of the Climate Action Fellowship, 2024, which brings into action the teachers in public sector schools into the arena of climate change to bolster
LAHORE: In a significant move to prioritise and address children’s rights, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan has announced the formation of the first-ever Parliamentary Caucus for Child Rights in the provincial assembly. The initiative aims to establish a collaborative platform to address pressing issues related to children’s welfare and rights across the province. The caucus will be led by MPA Sarah Ahmad, who has been appointed as the convener of the committee,
KASUR: An eight-year-old boy was burnt alive at a brick kiln on 16th January in the limits of Mandi Usmanwala police station. According to police, Ayan, whose parents worked at the brick kiln, was roasting potatoes at one of the points at the kiln, when he suddenly fell into the fire. As a result, he suffered critical burns. He was being rushed to hospital when he succumbed to his burns. Police handed over the
ISLAMABAD: The 72nd case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) for 2024 has been confirmed by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health. Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) officials 15-January-2025 reported that the latest victim is a young girl from Dera Ismail Khan in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with symptoms of the disease emerging on December 31. Dera Ismail Khan has emerged as a polio hotspot, reporting 11 cases throughout
ISLAMABAD: A day after concerns were shown by lawmakers on the floor of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training on 14th January decided to provide an additional budget of Rs40 million to the Directorate General of Special Education, which deals with the education of special children. The directorate has been facing financial issues since it was transferred from the Ministry of Human Rights to the Ministry of Education in
LARKANA: A special secretary of education department on 15th January began probe into reports of open sale in the town’s markets of textbooks published by Sindh Textbook Board for free distribution in government schools. Special Secretary (admin, coordination & law) Syed Imdad Ali Shah, who was appointed by secretary of education as inquiry officer to look into reports of textbooks’ sale in Larkana and other districts of the province, not only visited the textbooks’