KAMALIA: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on 14 September that Pakistan has been in close contact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the global lender has shown understanding on the ongoing crisis, triggered by the recent floods. During a visit to Kamalia tehsil in Toba Tek Singh, one of the worst-hit areas, the minister said, the government is prioritising and preferring to use domestic resources before seeking additional funds. “The whole world is
Child Rights in Focus
TAXILA: Former federal minister for climate change and noted environmentalist Malik Amin Aslam has warned that Pakistan ranks among the top ten countries most vulnerable to the devastating impacts of climate change, stressing that the crisis is not only environmental but also economic in nature. Speaking to media representatives at his hometown of Hazro on September 10, he highlighted that nearly 40 percent of Pakistan’s economy is dependent on agriculture and irrigation systems, both
ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Nutrition International reached more than 100,000 adolescent girls with Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS), complemented with nutrition education and quarterly conditional cash transfer (CCT) to their parents. The aim of the pilot project – ‘Effectiveness of Adolescent Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer’ – was to address anaemia among adolescent girls aged 13-19. According to report, the pilot project implemented in six districts, achieved coverage of supplements,
KHYBER: A seemingly perpetual inaction by the education department and district administration over allocation and distribution of leftover prefabricated classrooms to schools without proper building or fully damaged ones has been causing immense hardships to students in different parts of Khyber tribal district, particularly in upper Bara. Sources in education department told this scribe that after reconstruction of more than 50 percent of militancy-affected schools in Bara with the financial assistance of China, about
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice approved reforms in criminal and family laws on September 12, with a strong focus on access to justice and the protection of vulnerable groups. In its session held at Parliament House and presided over by Senator Farooq Hamid Naek, the committee passed the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was moved by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, raising the minimum value of diyat from 30,663
LAHORE: After affecting more 4 million people in Punjab, heavy monsoon rains and floods may lead to water, food and vector-borne diseases as the reports of overwhelming burden of the patients in most hospitals have started surfacing. There are reports that diarrheal outbreaks during the floods may leave dire consequences, followed by dengue. As per the figures so far, 158,000 flood affected people are suffering from various diseases, including diarrhea and skin, eye, and chest-related ailments. Quoting the
Pakistan’s child protection gaps exposed as adoption scandals reveal unregistered orphanages, weak enforcement, and risks of children becoming paper orphans. The arrest of Dr Mubina Cassum Aboatwala, chairperson of the NGO HOPE, has once again brought into sharp focus the weaknesses of Pakistan’s child protection system. On 6 August 2025, a judicial magistrate in Karachi ordered her into remand custody after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) alleged that the organisation had been involved in trafficking
MANSEHRA: The Peshawar High Court’s Abbottabad Circuit Bench on September 11 set aside the life imprisonment sentence of a cleric who was accused of sexually assaulting a seminary student in the Perhana area of Mansehra district in 2019. “The lower court had convicted the cleric in 2024, but the Abbottabad circuit bench overturned that verdict,” Advocate Noman Khan Swati told reporters. The two-member bench, comprising Justice Sadiq Ali and Justice Syed Mudassar Amir, announced
PESHAWAR: In a major step towards healthcare reform, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to outsource the management of 24 underperforming hospitals across 18 districts to the private sector. The initiative, announced by Special Advisor on Health Ihtesham Ali, aims to improve service delivery while maintaining free treatment under government protocols. Speaking to the media, Ihtisham Ali clarified that the hospitals being outsourced fall under Category B, C, and D levels and have consistently
A horrific triple murder took place on September 11 in Bhittaiabad, within the jurisdiction of the Malir Cantonment police station where three women were killed with a sharp weapon. According to police, a minor girl, her maternal uncle — who is believed to be the suspect — and a female neighbour were also injured in the incident and taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment. The deceased were identified as Tania, Aashi and
For the first time in Pakistan, the Sindh government has launched an AI-based online training programme for teachers, designed to support educators in adopting faster, more effective and modern teaching practices. To formalise this initiative, the school education & literacy department, Unicef and Khan Academy Pakistan (KAP) signed an MoU at a ceremony, where Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah was the chief guest. The six-month pilot project will train 3,500 teachers from the
KARACHI: A man accused of molesting dozens of young girls was arrested on September 11, from Karachi’s neighbourhood, Qayyumabad in the remit of Defence Police Station. The area residents thrashed the man namely Shabbir Ahmed and handed him over to police. They claimed that the accused sexually assaulted young girls of the neighbourhood. District South Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mahzoor Ali said accused Shabbir Ahmed belongs to Abbottabad and has been living in