A MIX of natural calamities, terrorism and bureaucratic ineptitude has resulted in difficulties for students in KP’s Khyber tribal district. In fact, the situation in Khyber reminds us of the disruptions in education that tens of thousands of school-age children face across Pakistan because of floods and militancy. As reported, some prefabricated schools in Khyber, which were built to replace educational facilities damaged by militants, are lying unused, mainly because of bottlenecks created by
Child Rights in Focus
ISLAMABAD: Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka is set to indict accused Omar Hayat in the murder case of teenage TikToker Sana Yousaf on Sept 20. During Saturday’s hearing, police presented the accused in court. The judge handed over copies of the challan to him and announced the date for his formal indictment. The case was registered at Sumbal Police Station. Earlier, the prime suspect had recorded a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Criminal
RAHIM YAR KHAN: The district administration has opted for a unique approach to compensate a child who lost his family during the recent floods. According to details, Muhammad Rehan was saved by rescuers when the boat carrying him, along with his mother and sister, capsized during evacuations in Mouza Noorwala in Liaquatpur tehsil on Sept 8. However, Rehan’s only remaining immediate family, his mother Rafia Bibi and sister Ruqaiya Bibi, could not survive the
RAWALPINDI: With divorce rates climbing in Rawalpindi, the number of estranged children meeting their separated parents and relatives has risen sharply, creating pressure on the child meeting facility at the Judicial Complex. Where once such meetings occurred two to three times a week, they are now held daily. Each family judge sets aside specific “meeting days” for parents engaged in divorce proceedings. The Family Meeting Centre in charge said that between 38 and 70
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
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