Category: 1. Pakistan

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed contempt petitions filed by PTI leaders Shibli Faraz and Kanwal Shauzab over the non-removal of their names from the travel ban list.

Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the case, but with no representation appearing on behalf of the petitioners despite being called twice, the court dismissed the pleas for non-prosecution.

Earlier, both leaders had moved contempt petitions alleging that authorities had failed to comply with a previous court order directing the removal of their names from the no-fly list.

SHER SHAH, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say nearly 300,000 people have been evacuated in the past 48 hours from flood-hit areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province following the latest flood alerts by India, officials said Wednesday.

The evacuations bring the total number of people displaced since last month to 1.3 million.

Floodwaters have submerged dozens of villages in Punjab’s Muzaffargarh district, after earlier inundating Narowal and Sialkot, both near the border with India.

Authorities are also struggling to divert overflowing rivers onto farmlands to protect major cities, as part of one of the largest rescue and relief operations in the history of Punjab, which straddles eastern Pakistan and northwestern India.

Thousand of rescuers using boats are taking part in the relief and rescue operations, while the military has also been deployed to transport people and animals from inundated villages, said Arfan Ali Kathia, director-general of Punjab’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

A new flood alert was shared with Pakistan by neighboring India through diplomatic channels early Wednesday, Kathia said. It was the second such alert in 24 hours following heavy rains and water releases from dams in India.

Kathia said the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers are all in high flood following torrential rains and upstream discharges.

Rescuers are also using drones to find people stranded on rooftops in the flood-hit areas. Kathia said more than 3.3 million people across 33,000 villages in the province have been affected so far. Damages are still being assessed and all those who lost homes and crops would be compensated by the Punjab government, he said.

Landslides and flooding have killed at least 29 people in India’s Punjab state, home to more than 30 million people.

Tent villages are being set up and food and other essential items are being supplied to the flood-affected people, he said, though many survivors complained about a lack of government aid.

There are about 40,000 people in the relief camps, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. It remains unclear where the rest are sheltering.

Noor Mohammad, a 54-year-old farmer in Sher Shah village near Muzaffargarh district, said he hasn’t received any help.

“Frustrated over this dayslong situation, I sent my family members to stay with relatives in the nearby area,” he said, standing on higher ground overlooking his flooded village.

Malik Ramzan, another displaced resident, said he chose to stay near his inundated home rather than enter a relief camp. “There are no livable facilities in the camps,” he said. “Food isn’t delivered on time, and we are treated like beggars,” he said.

However, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited flood-hit areas in Muzaffargarh on Wednesday, meeting with displaced families at relief camps. Her visit came just hours after India issued the latest cross-border flood alert.

Last week’s flooding mainly hit districts in Kasur, Bahawalpur and Narowal, where the deluge also submerged the shrine of Guru Nanak, located near the Indian border. However, authorities said the shrine is being reopened for pilgrims after water receded and the building was cleaned and restored.

Pakistan began mass evacuations last month after India released water from overflowing dams into low-lying border regions.

The latest floods are the worst since 2022 when climate-induced flooding killed nearly 1,700 people in Pakistan.

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Associated Press writers Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, contributed to this story.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday expressed sorrow over devastating floods in northern Pakistan that have killed hundreds and displaced millions.

“The Secretary-General is profoundly saddened by the recent floods in northern Pakistan, which have reportedly claimed more than 400 lives,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

The disaster, caused by a “severe monsoon exacerbated by climate change,” has affected some 1.5 million people, leaving hundreds of thousands in need of humanitarian aid, according to the statement.

It further noted that “more than 3,000 homes, over 400 schools, and some 40 health facilities have been damaged.”

The UN chief commended Pakistan’s response efforts, adding that he “commends Pakistani authorities for relocating more than one million people in Punjab.”

He also “expresses his solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan, extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, and wishes a swift recovery to those who have been injured.”

The statement said the UN and its partners are “working closely with Pakistani authorities to rapidly assess the humanitarian impact of the floods, identify needs, and address gaps in the response.”

It added that “the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has released $600,000 from the Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund to support relief and recovery efforts, and discussions are underway with the Government on a response plan.”

A total of 605 terrorist incidents were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the first eight months of the year, claiming 138 civilian lives and leaving 352 injured, according to a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) report highlighting a surge in militancy.

The report stated that 79 police personnel embraced martyrdom, while 130 sustained injuries in attacks and encounters. Out of 351 suspects named, 32 were killed in operations and five arrested.

August witnessed a sharp escalation with 129 incidents, resulting in 17 civilian deaths and injuries to 51 others.

Security forces also lost 13 police officials, while 46 were wounded in confrontations with militants.

Bannu was the worst-hit district in August with 42 incidents, followed by North Waziristan (15), South Waziristan (14), Dir (11), and Dera Ismail Khan and Kurram (8 each).

The CTD confirmed that eight terrorists were killed in encounters during the month.

Pakistan on Wednesday dispatched 105 tonnes of humanitarian relief to Afghanistan following a telephone call between Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The consignment includes food, medicines, tents, blankets and bubble mats to support victims of the recent earthquakes, according to the government.

“We extend our deepest condolences and prayers for the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured,” Dar said in a statement, adding that “Pakistan stands in solidarity with the brotherly people of Afghanistan in this difficult time.”

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake hit the Afghanistan on Sunday, leaving residents huddled in the open air for fear of powerful aftershocks and desperately trying to pull people from under flattened buildings.

The earthquake killed more than 1,400 people and injured over 3,300, Taliban authorities said, making it one of the deadliest in decades to hit the impoverished country. The vast majority of the casualties were in Kunar province, with a dozen dead and hundreds hurt in nearby Nangarhar and Laghman provinces.

In Kunar’s Nurgal district, victims remained trapped under the rubble and were difficult to rescue, local official Ijaz Ulhaq Yaad told AFP on Wednesday.

“There are some villages which have still not received aid,” he said. Landslides caused by the earthquake stymied access to already isolated villages. The non-governmental group Save the Children said one of their aid teams “had to walk for 20 kilometres (12 miles) to reach villages cut off by rock falls, carrying medical equipment on their backs with the help of community members”.

The World Health Organization warned the number of casualties from the earthquake was expected to rise, “as many remain trapped in destroyed buildings”.

In two days, the Taliban government’s defence ministry said it organised 155 helicopter flights to evacuate some 2,000 injured and their relatives to regional hospitals.

In the Mazar Dara village of Kunar, a small mobile clinic was deployed to provide emergency care to the injured, but no tents were set up to shelter survivors, an AFP correspondent said.

On Tuesday, a defence ministry commission said it had instructed “the relevant institutions to take measures in all areas to normalise the lives of the earthquake victims”, without providing further details on the plans to do so.

Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said a camp had been set up in Khas Kunar district to coordinate emergency aid, while two other centres were opened near the epicentre “to oversee the transfer of the injured, the burial of the dead, and the rescue of survivors”.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of thousands of people could be affected by the disaster. Multiple countries have pledged assistance but NGOs and the UN have voiced alarm that funding shortfalls after massive aid cuts threaten the response in one of the poorest countries in the world.

WASHINGTON: The Pakistani American community has launched a campaign to support victims of the 2025 floods, briefing US lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday about the scale of the disaster and urging international engagement.

The US-based Muslim Charity Helping Hand for Relief and Development (HHRD), largely run by Pakistani Americans, spent the day on Capitol Hill, highlighting the urgent need for food, clean water, medical assistance, and long-term rehabilitation for millions of people affected by the floods.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, described the floods as “an unprecedented disaster that has set back economic growth, and continues to cause devastation across the country”.

Warning that next year’s monsoon could arrive earlier and bring even greater devastation, he called Pakistan “a frontline state” in the fight against climate change.

“Governments will do what they can, but all should come forward and help. The world must form a collective strategy to deal with recurring disasters,” he said.

Pakistani Americans highlight urgent need for food, clean water, medical aid and rehabilitation for millions hit by floods

The HHRD also announced dedicating an initial $5 million for relief and rehabilitation work and pledged to expand its efforts. The Pakistani community is holding fundraising events across the United States and Canada to supplement the relief efforts.

HHRD officials told lawmakers that the floods have directly affected more than five million people, with over 20 million at risk, underscoring the urgency of global support. Since late June, torrential rains and flash floods have battered Pakistan, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The floods have killed 881 people, injured more than 1,100, destroyed 11,000 homes, and damaged 250 bridges and 415 miles of roads. Some 1.2 million hectares have been submerged, including 853,000 hectares of cropland.

A UN report, released on Wednesday, warned that “the situation remains highly fluid, with reservoirs at full capacity and heavy rainfall forecast in early September, cautioning that new surges along the Chenab and other rivers could impact downstream districts in South Punjab”.

HHRD officials said their teams have been providing mobile clinics, water filtration systems, search-and-rescue operations, cooked meals, hygiene kits, mosquito nets, milk, and “Smile Boxes” for children. By early September, their relief teams had reached over 62,000 people across 13 districts, including Lahore, Sialkot, Swat, Neelum Valley, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Officials emphasised that this initial $5m is a starting point and that the organisation intends to expand its reach in the coming weeks and months.

Ambassador Sheikh also highlighted the proactive spirit of Pakistanis, noting that citizens often take initiative in disaster response without waiting for government intervention.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2025