ISLAMABAD: Climate shocks, soaring food prices, and chronic underinvestment in nutrition and health have pushed Pakistan deeper into a hunger crisis, the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2025 warns, placing the country among those still facing “serious” levels of hunger despite more than two decades of national and global pledges to end malnutrition. Ranked 106th out of 123 countries, Pakistan’s GHI score at 26.0, slightly worse than 25.4 in 2016, shows that the country has
Child Rights in Focus
KARACHI: Sindh faces a mounting women’s health crisis, with an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 abortions taking place annually — many of them unsafe, unregulated, and life-threatening. This alarming figure, combined with widespread malnutrition and anemia, is placing countless women at risk, medical experts warn. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Dr Mehwish Mubarak Ali, Deputy Director (Clinics Section) of the Sindh Population Welfare Department, revealed the gravity of the situation. “In terms of blood loss, a
FAISALABAD: Two minor boys were allegedly sexually assaulted in separate incidents in the city on October 9, as the number of sexual assaults against women and children has reached 538 across Faisalabad’s five town divisions, involving approximately 800 accused. The breakdown shows 115 cases in Sadr Division, 126 in Iqbal Division, 120 in Jaranwala Division, 125 in Madina Town Division, and 52 in Lyalpur Town Division. As per the police reports, one case was
JARANWALA: A husband and wife, Shahbaz and Nadia Shahbaz, have arrested for allegedly torturing 16-year-old domestic worker, Mah Rukh Fatima, in Faisalabad. Police arrest the couple, and a case has been registered against them. According to the police report, Sana, a resident of Jaranwala, stated in the FIR registered at the Women Police Station that she had employed her 16-year-old daughter, Mah Rukh Fatima, as a domestic helper at the house of Shahbaz on
HYDERABAD: Ghotki police booked eight suspects and arrested two in connection with the murder of 34-year-old journalist Tufail Haiderani Rind and his eight-year-old niece Reena, daughter of Jameel Ahmed Haiderani Rind. The two were shot dead on October 8, allegedly over a land dispute within the Gaddani caste. Rind, who served as general secretary of the Nasrullah Gadhani Press Club, was ambushed while taking children to school. The complainant accused police of ignoring repeated
The National Commission on the Rights of Child (NCRC) highlights that education is a fundamental right, yet 26.2 million children in Pakistan remain out of school. The policy brief identifies key barriers such as poverty, gender inequality, poor infrastructure, and lack of inclusivity, offering actionable policy and practice recommendations to ensure access to quality education for all. It calls for stronger legislation, increased funding, and cross-sectoral collaboration to uphold every child’s right to learn.
ISLAMABAD: The UNHCR on October 8 expressed concern over the government’s decision to de-notify 16 refugee villages and forcibly return Afghans, including refugees, to Afghanistan. The federal government recently de-notified these 16 refugee villages in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. In August, the government asked Afghan refugees to leave the country as part of its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP). As many of the refugees have lived in these villages for decades and established livelihoods, forcing
ISLAMABAD: Food insecurity remains widespread in Pakistan as only 19.5pc of households can always afford desired meals, while 30pc sometimes go without three meals a day. These are the findings from the Pakistan Panel Household Survey (PPHS) 2024, the country’s only long-term, nationally representative household survey tracking economic and social change for more than two decades, conducted by the country’s renowned think-tank Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and unveiled at a seminar titled
A man was arrested on Wednesday on charges of allegedly sexually assaulting his teenage daughter in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bisham area of Shangla district, officials said. “The victim reached the police station on October 8,” Bisham Station House Officer (SHO) Afzal Khan told Dawn.com. “A first information report (FIR) was lodged, and the suspect has been arrested.” According to the FIR, the victim’s mother was divorced by her husband, who later married another woman from
KHYBER: The lone higher secondary school in Paindi Cheena area of Landi Kotal tehsil was shut down forcibly by students and locals in protest against the shortage of teaching staff and other related facilities. Sources in the region said that out of the total 28 sanctioned posts for teachers, 19 had been laying vacant for the last several months despite repeated reminders by both students and their parents. They said that students and locals
GUJRAT: A 15-year-old son of a local trader was kidnapped allegedly by a prayer leader (Pesh Imam) in Dhakki gate locality in A-division police precincts. Reports said trader Muhammad Sultan lodged a complaint with the local police alleging that his son Hassan Sultan had gone to meet Qari Waleed, a prayer leader in a nearby mosque of his street, after the suspect called him on Oct 5. He said when his son did not
TOBA TEK SINGH: Faisalabad Civil Lines police arrested a trader for allegedly subjecting a minor female house help to brutal torture and shaving her head on October 8. As per the police, the complainant, Ashfaq, of Ghulam Muhammadabad locality, stated that his daughter Zohra Bibi (13) was employed as a maid in the house of a trader, Habib Salim. He alleged that Habib and his wife Sadaf would often subject Zohra to brutal torture