RAWALPINDI: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on the evening of August 31 launched a report highlighting the necessity to enforce Article 9A of the Constitution to provide citizens with their right to clean air, safe drinking water, waste management, disaster preparedness and access to environmental justice. The Constitution guarantees the fundamental right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment under Article 9A. Yet this vital right has remained absent from public debate, even
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI: The City Traffic (CTP) Rawalpindi has chalked out a plan to maintain traffic flow by deploying additional police personnel on busy highways and outside schools and colleges in view of the resumption of educational activities in the district. According to a spokesperson for the CTP, as part of the plan, extra personnel and forklifts will also be deployed to curb illegal parking. He said CTO Rawalpindi Farhan Aslam had issued directives to provide
Antibiotics are among humanity’s most remarkable discoveries, emerging unexpectedly over the past century. The credit for this groundbreaking development goes to the Scottish physician and microbiologist, Alexander Fleming, who was studying fungi in 1928 when he inadvertently discovered what we now know as antibiotics. Following the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic, a continuous cycle of antibiotic discoveries began, which is still ongoing. One might ask what antibiotics are. Antibiotics are powerful medicines used
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, under the Good Governance Roadmap, has unveiled a set of reforms aimed at transforming the healthcare system in the province. The reforms are directed at strengthening primary and secondary care, workforce development, digitization, and institutional restructuring. The Health Department announced that the roadmap, endorsed at the chief secretary’s office, would ensure equitable, efficient, and accountable service delivery across more than 2,500 health facilities, catering to a population of over
MANSEHRA: An eleven-year-old boy, a primary school student, succumbed to dengue fever in Oghi tehsil, raising the death toll from the mosquito-borne virus to two. The family of Mohammad Saad told reporters in Oghi that he was shifted to a nearby health facility with dengue symptoms but couldn’t survive, triggering fear among locals. A man had also died of dengue fever in Oghi earlier this month. “A large number of patients with dengue symptoms
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is set to launch its first-ever national HPV vaccination campaign from September 15 to 27. This historic initiative aims to prevent cervical cancer—the second most common cancer among women in the country. The campaign will target around 13 million girls, aged 9 to 14, across Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A single-dose vaccine will be administered, which provides lifelong protection. The DOPASI Foundation, in partnership with FDI and with
LAHORE: Public and private schools across Punjab are set to reopen on Monday (1st Sep), following the annual summer vacation. However, in areas affected by flooding or where schools are being used as relief camps, local authorities may delay reopening to ensure safety. Following the recent notification from the School Education Department (SED) Punjab, Deputy Commissioners across the province have been authorised to announce school closures in areas affected by flooding. Acting on this
Policymakers in Pakistan appear to be in a deep slumber, unmoved by one of the most pressing human rights crises festering within the country. A new study launched last week by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), titled ‘Unveiling Exploitation and Abuse in the Brick Kilns of Punjab’, lays bare the harrowing reality of bonded labour. It details how thousands of workers, including entire families, remain trapped in modern-day slavery. Yet the state’s
LAKKI MARWAT: The building of a government girls primary school was blown up with explosives in the Wanda Zahidgul area of Lakki Marwat district on the night of August 30. A police official said that the school was located in the trans-river belt in the limits of Dadiwala police station. He said that the explosive device planted by terrorists went off with a big bang, partially damaging the building. “No casualties occurred as a
PESHAWAR: Heart specialists at the public-sector Peshawar Institute of Cardiology have saved the lives of 14 children, including two Afghans, through the first-ever modern Fontan and Rastelli surgeries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Riffat Anjum, spokesperson for the PIC, told Dawn that the complex lifesaving Fontan and Rastelli surgeries were performed in collaboration with the Pakistan Children’s Heart Foundation and a team of paediatric surgeons from Vietnam. “The surgeries were carried out during a five-day specialised
While students and staff suffer, officials say Rs100m plan drawn up for reconstruction KARACHI: More than a week after a fireworks warehouse explosion on MA Jinnah Road, repair and restoration work at the adjoining Government Girls Secondary School Jacob Lines No 1 has yet to begin, leaving over 1,000 students deprived of classes. Teachers and staff, who continue to report daily, say academic activities remain suspended as they struggle with cleaning and minor repairs
KARACHI: A man was arrested for allegedly raping his 18-year-old niece after drugging her and six other family members, including children, by serving them a sedative-laced drink at a family gathering on Friday night. According to police, the incident took place after the suspect, identified as Amir Shaikh, visited his sister’s home and offered the family drinks and sweets, which rendered them unconscious. The family members were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, where