KARACHI: A sessions court declined a bail plea of a teacher in a case pertaining to raping a 13-year-old boy on the roof of an academy located in District Central. The suspect had filed an application before Additional District and Session Judge (Central) Mirza Tauseef Ahmed and sought post-arrest bail in the case. After hearing the complainant’s counsel Abida Bibi and the defence side, the court rejected the plea and observed that there are
Child Rights in Focus
OVER the past two decades, Pakistan has faced several HIV eruptions and the ignominy of ranking second among nations with the sharpest rise in HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region. Sadly, not even the scale of the crisis has spurred the government into action. The Sindh health minister has been told about the “extremely alarming” HIV spread, which includes 3,995 registered HIV positive children in the province and over 600,000 fake doctors; 40pc operate
LAHORE: Muslim scholars and researchers from six countries call for setting 18 years as the minimum age for marriage of girls for what they say building a strong Ummah. The scholars from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, and Yemen were brought together at a consultation on ‘Marriage age legislations and Muslim family laws’ jointly organised by the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW), the Women Development Department (WDD), Punjab government and Potohar
ISLAMABAD: The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its global partners have called upon governments to recognise public health as the most powerful driver behind climate action since, according to a new report, “continued overreliance on fossil fuels” and failure to “adapt to a heating world” are already having a devastating toll on human health. The report, titled “Countdown on Health and Climate Change” and prepared by the journal Lancet, said 12 of the 20 key
LAKKI MARWAT: Office-bearers of teachers’ bodies have hailed the Peshawar High Court’s decision to stop outsourcing of government-run schools and colleges, saying that the historic court judgment would protect the province’ education system from going into the hands of the private sector. Talking to a group of journalists in Bannu on October 29, Gul Rauf Khan, former senior vice-president of the all teachers association and other leaders, said that it was the prime responsibility
The world treats defence as an existential priority – and rightly so, because lapses in readiness can trigger cascading crises. Climate change now carries the same gravity for vulnerable regions like Pakistan and whole of South Asia. It shuts factories during heatwaves, collapses bridges in flood season, pushes food and energy prices higher and strains public order. It is a traditional security threat because it erodes the very systems that keep a country stable
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on October 28 issued notices to the provincial government, the health department and other relevant authorities to submit replies in a petition regarding the spread of dengue and chikungunya and the lack of preventive measures. During the hearing, Justice Ijaz Anwar remarked that dengue cases had significantly increased this year and directed the government to inform the court about the steps taken to control the situation. The case
LAHORE: A nine-year-old domestic worker was allegedly subjected to brutal physical violence by her employer in Lahore’s Ghaziabad area, leaving her injured and with a broken tooth. Police said the victim, identified as Muqaddas, had been working at the home of a woman named Naheed in Tajpura. The assault allegedly occurred after the child returned to work following a day’s absence without permission. Enraged, Naheed reportedly beat her severely, causing facial injuries and knocking
RAWALPINDI: The efficiency of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) staff took a harsh turn when a school van, found with an expired annual token, was impounded along with the students inside the vehicle at the Old GTS bus stand in Rawalpindi. Students of grade five and six from a government school were forced to sit inside the van for an hour under the blazing sun. Even citizens’ pleas for mercy were ignored by the
RAWALPINDI: A private school teacher in the Sadiqabad area allegedly broke a student’s arm for not bringing a book to class. Police registered a case and arrested the teacher. According to the police, three children of the complainant study at the same private school. The victim, Ahmad Raza, a ninth-grade student, was given two guidebooks by his teacher. Ahmad managed to find one from the market but could not find the other, which was
KARACHI: Expressing serious concern over growing numbers of measles’ cases these days, especially in Karachi, health experts at an event held on Tuesday urged parents to get their children protected against the highly contagious and potentially fatal viral infection — which has claimed at least 57 lives this year so far, while affecting over 4,200 (confirmed cases) others in 73 outbreaks across the province. They were speaking at a media briefing jointly organised by Directorate
RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (RBISE) has finalised arrangements for Intermediate Second Annual Examinations 2025 starting from October 29 (today) in 39 examination centres. According to RBISE spokesman Arslan Cheema, various teams have been formed to maintain transparency and discipline during the examinations. He said that the lists of examination staff have been sent to the Special Branch, while all security agencies are on alert. He said that total 39 examination