PESHAWAR: At least three people, including a school principal and Rescue 1122 official, were injured on Tuesday when unknown assailants targeted a private school with “back-to-back quadcopter attacks” in North Waziristan’s Mir Ali, local sources said. For months, banned militant organisations in the region have been using improvised munitions like quadcopters to drop explosives, targeting security forces and civilians. According to local sources, the incident took place in Khasokhel village, where “explosives were dropped from the
Child Rights in Focus
MANSEHRA: The district administration has sealed around a dozen private schools and colleges for holding classes despite the issuance of the winter vacation notification by the government due to the current cold wave across Hazara division. “We cannot allow private educational institutions to play with the health of students in such harsh winter conditions, so several of them have been sealed for violating winter break orders,” Assistant Commissioner (Central) Sana Fatima told reporters on
BAHAWALPUR: A woman was mauled to death while a minor seminary boy suffered serious wounds by a pack of dogs in two separate incidents in Vehari and Lodhran districts, respectively. According to Mailsi police of district Lodhran, Naziran Mai (60), a resident of Basti Nealanwali in the suburbs of Dakotal town, had gone to hospital to meet her ailing daughter. On her way back to her house, she was attacked by a pack of
KARACHI: The Sindh government has introduced a uniform examination standard for all boards in the province. Under the new framework, exams for key subjects like English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology will now be conducted based on a unified syllabus. Provincial Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah hailed this move as a historic reform in the education system. He emphasised that the new policy would enhance transparency, reduce disparities between examination boards, and
RAWALPINDI: A newborn baby, declared dead by Holy Family Hospital and handed over to parents with an official death certificate, remained alive for over 12 hours on and off a ventilator before passing away. Punjab Healthcare Commission has taken notice and launched an inquiry, while the hospital termed the incident Lazarus syndrome. According to details, premature twins — a boy and a girl — were born to Rubina at Izzat Shah Hospital in Lala
• Becomes available free of charge for nine-year-old girls at EPI centres • Other provinces expected to follow suit KARACHI: In an effort to protect young girls from cervical cancer, the Sindh Health Department, in line with a decision by the Federal Directorate of Immunisation, has included the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine in the province’s routine immunisation programme. Other provinces are also expected to roll out similar initiatives in the coming months. According to
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a ruling has censured the capital police for grossly exceeding their lawful authority, declaring an arrest carried out without due legal process as “kidnapping” and ordering disciplinary as well as penal action against the officials involved. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued a detailed 16-page written judgement while dismissing the police case registered against Mohammad Waqas, Aleem Sohail, his wife Sana Sohail and Arham Waqas. The court also
MUZAFFARABAD: A joint team of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Punjab police on December 31 recovered the bodies of three minor children from a village in Bhimber district, nearly two weeks after they were allegedly murdered and buried by their mother and her paramour, police said. DSP Bhimber Rashid Habib Masoodi told Dawn by telephone that the case came to light after the children’s father, Rizwan Iqbal, lodged an FIR at the
ISLAMABAD: Federal Education Minister Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has launched FDE quality education and innovation roadmap for Islamabad schools and colleges. According to a press release issued by education ministry on Wednesday, Secretary Education Nadeem Mahbub, Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), Director General Syed Junaid Akhlaq and senior officials from the FDE and the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) were also present at the launching ceremony. The FDE is regulatory body of over 430 schools
LAHORE: The heart surgeries of 9,269 children have been performed completely free of cost in hospitals across the province under the Chief Minister’s Children’s Heart Surgery Programme. Provincial Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique said this while addressing a meeting on December 30 to review the initiative for improving cardiac facilities for children in Punjab. The meeting was chaired by Adviser to chief minister on the Children Heart Surgery Programme and Punjab Institute of Cardiology
RAWALPINDI: With the close of 2025, a record and alarming increase has been witnessed in meetings between divorced parents and their separated children at the family facilitation centre of the Rawalpindi Judicial Complex. The rise, which continued throughout the year on a monthly basis, is primarily attributed to the growing divorce rate. Previously, meetings with separated children were allowed once a week on a designated day with the permission of a family judge. However,
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says that as Pakistan enters 2026 as the world’s fifth most populous country, with a population exceeding 225 million, high population growth and fertility rates, persistent gender inequality, and rising climate vulnerability, the urgency of addressing population dynamics has intensified. These realities underscore the need to view population not as a burden but as a strategic driver of sustainable and inclusive development, UNFPA Pakistan said in a