Category: 1. Pakistan

KARACHI  –  Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah on Friday convened an emergent meeting with all the Commissioners and Deputy Commissioner of the province regarding rains and increasing level of water in the River Indus. The Chief Secretary was apprised of the rains and Indus river in detail. Asif Hyder Shah directed all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to be alert on the predicted weather situation. He directed to set up Control Rooms in all districts of the province. He also directed the Sindh Irrigation Department to speed up work on the patching and repair of embankments.

In view of the rains in Balochistan, he directed the DCs of Dadu and Jamshoro to take special measures to control the situation. Shah said that low-lying areas of the Sindh province were affected due to the rains in Balochistan and DCs must make preparation to this effect. PDMA was directed to ensure immediate response to rains and flood situations.

The Chief Secretary said that more rains were recorded in Karachi and Hyderabad Divisions.

The Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a severe weather alert, forecasting heavy rainfall and potential flooding across various regions of Pakistan from August 23 to 30.

The NDMA’s National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) reports that three rain-bearing systems are expected to enter the country during this period, significantly increasing the risk of widespread downpours and flooding in vulnerable areas.

From August 23 to 25, torrential rains and strong winds are anticipated in Islamabad, Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, with urban flooding likely in low-lying areas and landslides expected in hilly terrains.

Northeastern Punjab districts, including Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Khushab, Sargodha, Sialkot, Gujrat, Hafizabad and Mandi Bahauddin are forecast to experience heavy rainfall.

Urban flooding is also a concern in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Narowal, Talagang and Chakwal.

In southern Punjab, hill torrents may swell in Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan and Rajanpur due to anticipated heavy water flow.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is expected to face intense rainfall from August 23 to 27, raising the risk of flash floods in streams and landslides in mountainous regions.

Areas such as Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, Battagram, Abbottabad, Malakand, Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Mardan, Tank, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Dera Ismail Khan are particularly at risk.

In Azad Kashmir, rainfall may lead to landslides and flooding in Muzaffarabad, Rawalkot, Bagh, Haveli, Kotli, Mirpur and Bhimber.

Gilgit-Baltistan is also likely to experience heavy rains from August 23 to 27, resulting in flooding and landslides that could disrupt road connectivity.

From August 27 to 30, coastal districts in Sindh, including Karachi, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin and Tharparkar, are expected to receive significant rainfall.

Interior Sindh, encompassing Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Nawabshah, Dadu, Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Khashmore and Shaheed Benazirabad, is also forecasted to see widespread rainfall.

In Balochistan, heavy rains and strong winds are likely to hit Lasbela, Khuzdar, Awaran, Kalat, Gwadar, Turbat, Kech, Panjgur, with intermittent showers expected in Quetta and surrounding areas.

Flooding is feared in several regions due to anticipated heavy water flow.

As reservoirs approach full capacity, river flows are expected to rise significantly, with the Indus River potentially reaching 500,000 cusecs at Taunsa, Guddu, and Kalabagh.

The NDMA is actively monitoring the situation and coordinating relief operations, urging the public to remain vigilant and adopt safety measures.

Authorities have advised tourists to avoid travel to northern areas due to the heightened risk of heavy rainfall and landslides.

LAHORE: Wapda Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Saeed (r) has directed the Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project team, the consultants and the contractors to finalize an accelerated plan to complete the project as per the timelines. The chairman also asked the contractor to speed up quarry development and filling of the main dam.

He was addressing the team during his visit to Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project on Friday, being constructed across River Swat in Mohmand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Underlining the importance of project’s on time completion, the Chairman urged upon the contractors to expedite construction activities by deploying additional resources.

During the visit, the Chairman reviewed in detail the construction progress on various work fronts, which included spillway, powerhouse, main dam, diversion tunnels inlet, upstream coffer dam and power tunnel. The Chairman was briefed about the site-wise progress, timelines and completion schedule of the remaining works.

He was apprised that construction activities on more than a dozen sites are continuing side by side. River diversion system of the project successfully passed the recent flood peaks in River Swat during the current high-flow season.

Filling of main dam has also started in May this year following excavation of the right and left abutments and dam pit. After completion of the main dam, electricity generation from the project is scheduled in December 2027.

The Chairman was accompanied by Member (Finance) Naveed Asghar Chaudhry, Member (Water) Syed Ali Akhtar Shah and Member (Power) Muhammad Arfan Miana. GM/PD Mohmand Dam Engr Asim Rauf Khan and representatives of the consultants and contractors were also present on the occasion.

It is important to note that Mohmand Dam is the 5th tallest concrete-face-rock-fill dam in the world. Being a multipurpose project, it will store 1.29 MAF water to irrigate 18,237 acres of new land in Mohmand and Charsadda districts besides supplementing irrigation supplies to 160,000 acres of existing land.

Mohmand Dam will also significantly contribute in controlling flood damages in downstream areas including Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera. With an installed capacity of 800 MW, Mohmand Dam will produce 2.86 billion units of clean, green and affordable electricity every year. It will also provide 300 million gallons water per day to Peshawar for urban use.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025

ISLAMABAD:

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Friday praised the media’s role in countering Indian narratives during the conflict, describing the period as “extraordinary circumstances”.

Addressing a meeting of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) in Islamabad, Tarar commended journalists for delivering Pakistan’s message to the world against India’s far larger media machine.

“Right from the beginning, it was a war of narratives,” he noted. “The enemy had greater resources, international interest, lobbying and PR firms. International media outlets had employees of Indian origin because of their greater population.”

Tarar stressed that Pakistan’s strength lay not in numbers or resources but in “having the truth.” “The truth cannot hide or be countered,” he said. “While the prime minister asked for an inquiry into the Pahalgam attack at Kakul, India was levelling allegations without evidence.”

The minister highlighted a “synergy” between the armed forces and the information ministry during wartime, crediting the ministry’s “state-of-the-art data centre” as crucial in fighting the war of narratives.

He thanked the Inter-Services Public Relations for their coordination. “This war was fought by everyone together, with your help and your content. The way things were written and disseminated was a team effort.”

He said the united effort boosted Pakistan’s image globally. “Across the world, people have greater respect for Pakistan and take us seriously,” he said. “There was this false glorification of ‘rising India’, how it was this big economy and rising power in South Asia. That same Modi has to give fake medals in countries whose names we have never heard of.”

He added that while Pakistan spread factual information, “they (India) were spreading as many lies”.

He argued that Indian media had been “terribly exposed,” while Pakistan’s media became an extension of its diplomatic efforts and a spokesperson for its foreign policy.

Quipping about India’s failed designs, Tarar said the Pakistan Navy was ready for any Indian engagement. “When the enemy found they could not destroy Karachi port, they destroyed ports in Multan and Lahore instead,” he said, alluding to the Indian media’s widely ridiculed reports about ports in cities where none exist.

Responding to Indian media claims that Pakistani journalism was “adrift,” Tarar said: “I’d like to say to that person that they should be ashamed of the lies and propaganda and how they are being mocked globally.”

The information minister hailed the CPNE as a “wartime cabinet”, adding that its role in narrative-building and “standing shoulder to shoulder in defence of the country” would be remembered as part of Pakistan’s collective effort during the conflict.

ISLAMABAD:

A subcommittee of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) headed by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail failed to evolve criteria for selecting judges for constitutional benches (CBs) as most members held the view that the Constitution does not empower it to do so.

The five-member committee held a meeting on Thursday, August 21. Other members included Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Awan, Senator Farooq H Naek (from treasury benches), Senator Ali Zafar (from opposition benches), and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) representative Ahsan Bhoon.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi had earlier formed two committees led by Justice Mandokhail to prepare draft rules for the annual judicial performance evaluation of high court judges, as well as criteria for selection of judges for the CBs.

According to sources, during the Thursday meeting committee members deliberated about the proposed rules for evolving criteria for the selection of CB judges.

They said three members — AGP Awan, PBC’s Bhoon and Senator Naek — opposed the framing of rules citing constitutional prohibition.

Senator Ali Zafar dissented with the majority opinion. He was of the view that the rules must be framed to regulate the discretion of the JCP members. Despite lengthy discussion, majority members were not convinced about the framing of rules. Later, the matter was referred to the JCP again.

Lawyers are divided on framing of rules.

A senior lawyer argued that rules must be framed in light of several Supreme Court judgments. However, the government is expected to secure a majority in the JCP to oppose the move for framing criteria to select judges for constitutional benches.

Since the enactment of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, judges for the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court’s constitutional benches have been appointed without a structured selection process.

There is a perception that the government has been successful in excluding senior judges who may question the government in any high-profile case from the CBs.

The government has been fully satisfied with the performance of the Supreme Court’s CB, which upheld the trial of civilians in military courts, approved the transfer of judges from different high courts to the Islamabad High Court, and overturned the SC ruling that had granted PTI reserved seats after the 2024 general elections.

Lawyers have also raised questions about the wisdom and logic behind the nomination of a particular set of judges to the CBs, pointing out that judges perceived as critical of the present regime are often excluded.

Advocate Rida Hosain expressed surprise that a judge elevated only a few days ago could be nominated to a CB, while several senior Supreme Court judges with extensive constitutional expertise were not. In the absence of clear criteria, she noted, such nominations appear arbitrary.

She said the government’s interpretation of the Constitution is both self-serving and wrong. “There is nothing in the 26th Amendment which stops the framing of rules for nominating judges to the CBs.

In fact, the government’s position endorses the case against the 26th Amendment. The government believes that there should be absolute discretion in nominating judges, effectively allowing judges to be nominated for entirely political reasons that have nothing to do with competence.”

Rida stated that the government will have to justify the nominations that have been made so far.

“Why was Justice Ali Baqir Najafi nominated to the CB the same week he took oath in the Supreme Court? Why has Justice Aminuddin Khan been nominated the head of the CB? Why are senior judges with significant constitutional experience being excluded? The government members of the JCP have no answer to these questions, and therefore do not want to frame criteria,” she said.

The lawyer said framing objective criteria would require transparency and fairness. In the post-26th amendment judicial era, she said, the executive is not interested in transparency or fairness as it seeks to control the judiciary.

Soon after the passage of the 26th Constitutional Amendment, SC senior puisne judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had called for establishing clear guidelines for nominating and determining the number of judges on the CBs.

“The commission has already nominated and determined a number of judges of the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court for the CBs in the absence of any mechanism or criteria in place,” Justice Shah wrote in a nine-page letter to the JCP secretary in December last year.

“Therefore, there has been no logic or reason backing the nomination and determination of the number of judges for the CBs.” He said nominations under Articles 191A and 202A of the Constitution cannot be made in a vacuum, and that the JCP must first establish objective criteria through the proposed rules.

Justice Shah suggested that such criteria could include the number of reported constitutional judgments authored by a judge, including dissents or additional notes, while serving on larger benches that heard significant constitutional cases

No rules have been framed for regulating CBs practice and procedure.

Article 191A (6) says that notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution but subject to law, the judges nominated under clause (1) may make rules regulating the practice and procedure of the CBs.

This provision reflects that CB judges will frame rules regarding the regulation of the benches.

However, Justice Aminuddin Khan said the word “may” has been used in that provision, which shows that rules framing is not mandatory.

According to the Supreme Court’s November 20, 2024 press statement, the SC registrar was tasked to prepare draft rules regulating the practice and procedures of the CBs in consultation with Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, with the final draft to be reviewed by the committee for approval.

It is learnt that one SC judge had contended that new rules should be approved by the CB judges.

OF late, there has been a rash of seminars, media discussions and loaded commentaries on the idea of increasing the number of provinces in Pakistan.

Some entities have proposed converting the existing 32 administrative divisions into provinces while another recommendation is to go back to the original 12 administrative divisions that existed in erstwhile West Pakistan at the time of independence.

The sweeping conclusion of these proposals is that practically all our governance problems will be resolved once we create more provinces. Although different political parties had been advocating for the creation of new provinces for various reasons in the past, the current proposals apparently seek a greater number of provinces to facilitate the devolution of authority and achieve administrative efficiency.

If the idea of these proposals is to generate a fresh national debate to see if a consensus can be developed on the question, there should be no quarrel with the intention, but the debate needs to be organic and not stoked or moulded by vested interests. The consensus-building process should not be hurried; an important but contentious question like the creation of new provinces should be debated and scrutinised on the basis of facts and figures, both inside parliament and outside.

Since the question of carving out new provinces from existing ones is a highly emotive one, there is a risk that the debate could result in outbursts. It is, therefore, important that the debate does not take place in a vacuum and a carefully prepared document, framing the key issues, forms the basis of the issue.

The timing of the debate is questionable. As we deal with the resurgence of terrorism, an ailing economy, which is just about showing signs of improvement and an explosive geopolitical situation, one wonders if the creation of new provinces should really be on our agenda.

The impetus for the debate may not be organic. There have been times in the past when strong and sometimes violent movements for separate provinces in south Punjab, the non-Pashto-speaking Hazara division and Sindh’s urban areas were active at different times, but at present there doesn’t seem to be such an active movement, probably because there are more critical issues which need to be tackled first.

Is creating new provinces the best way to achieve better governance?

In the ongoing discourse, India’s example of increasing its states from the original 17 provinces to the current 28 states is also cited. One should keep three points in mind, while comparing our situation to India’s. First, the impetus for the creation of new states in India came from fierce and, and at times violent, movements particularly in the south, which demanded states on the basis of language. These movements led to the formation of Linguistic Provinces Commission (Dhar Commission) in 1948.

The demand for language-based states had gained so much momentum by 1952 that an activist demanding a Telugu state died after a fast-unto death. This tragic incident provoked agitation across the country, with many linguistic groups demanding separate states. In today’s Pakistan, no such violent movement exists, although the demand for separate provinces for Sindh’s Urdu-speaking people, Seraiki speakers in various provinces and KP’s Hindko-speaking population has been raised from time to time. While Urdu is the national language, separate provinces already exist which are inhabited by the majority of speakers of regional languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto and Balochi.

The second distinction is that India is not a classic federal state. It is a ‘union’ which has certain characteristics of a federation. The change in the boundaries of the Indian states is therefore much simpler than is the case in Pakistan, which is a constitutionally declared federation. Altering provincial boundaries requires a two-third majority in the concerned provinces, before a constitutional amendment can be moved in the two Houses of Parliament, where again a two-third majority is needed in each to separately pass the constitutional amendment.

The third distinctive feature of the Indian quest for new provinces is important to note by the proponents of new provinces in Pakistan. India formed a States Reorganisation Commission in 1953 which worked on reorganisation proposals for 21 months and presented its report in 1955. The States Reorganisation Act was subsequently passed in 1956, incorporating most of the recommendations made by SRC. This act led to the creation of 14 states and three union territories. Subsequently, 14 additional states were gradually created from 1956 to the present.

In the context of today’s Pakistan, the real question is whether creating new provinces is really the most cost-effective and practical way to achieve the objective of better governance and devolution of powers. Apparently, the answer is in the negative.

Assuming that 12 provinces are to be created, each new province will come with a huge price tag as taxpayers will have to pay for eight new provincial assemblies, governors, chief ministers, cabinets, high courts, public service commissions, civil secretariats, to name a few, along with the necessary physical infrastructure, etc. Such extravagance is not acceptable in any case but in the present economic scenario it would be almost criminal. Securing a two-third majority in the assemblies will be next to impossible.

There is a much simpler option available for achieving the objective of devolution and administrative efficiency — making the local governments effective, while underwriting their continuity and funding through a constitutional amendment as India did 45 years after the passage of its constitution.

Large provinces are not so much an issue as the lack of devolution of powers to the local level. The UK is a unitary state but an empowered local government there has helped provide good governance and the decentralisation of powers. The way forward for devolution in Pakistan is, therefore, empowered local governments and not the tedious route of creating new provinces.

The writer is the president of Pakistan-based think tank, Pildat.
president@pildat.org
X: @ABMPildat

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2025

ISLAMABAD: Managing Director (MD) of Pakistan Housing Authority Foundation (PHAF), Muhammad Shahid Hussain, has underscored the crucial role of communities in ensuring the success of plantation campaigns, particularly under the Prime Minister’s initiative “Aik Beti Aik Shajar,” launched by the Ministry of Climate Change.

Talking to APP, he described the initiative as a “commendable step” by the Prime Minister, adding that PHAF had been independently carrying out plantation drives in its housing projects but was now aligned with the Ministry of Climate Change for broader impact.

“We are grateful to the Ministry of Climate Change for facilitating us in initiating this campaign in our housing societies,” he said.

MD informed that plantation activities were already underway at PHAF projects in Sectors I-16 and I-12. He added that PHAF plans to formally request the Ministry of Climate Change to focus on large housing communities such as I-16, which consists of 1,586 apartments and offers a wide scope for plantation drives.

Highlighting the environmental importance of tree plantation, Hussain said: “The more trees we plant, the better we can prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate deterioration. Recent floods have shown us the devastating impact of soil erosion, which can be reduced through sustained plantation and community participation.”

He noted that apart from government support, many residents of PHAF housing societies, including bureaucrats and professionals, were also taking self-help initiatives by planting fruit-bearing and mosquito-repellent plants.

“PHAF strongly encourages such community involvement,” he added.

Hussain further told that every PHAF project undergoes environmental and geological assessments before launch, and no scheme was initiated without the approval of the relevant authorities. “Environmental impact is a top priority for us. Plantation is not just a formality but a necessity for the environment, the soil, and the future of our country,” he remarked.

He urged citizens to actively contribute to plantation efforts, stressing that deforestation could only be curbed through collective community action.

In a conversation with APP, Deputy Director of Environment at PHAF, Rizwana Kousar, underlined the vital role of plantation in protecting the environment, improving air quality, and mitigating natural disasters.

She said trees were indispensable for maintaining the natural ecosystem, regulating temperatures, and enhancing the aesthetic value of housing societies.

“One tree can provide cooling equal to 11 air conditioners while producing fresh, clean air. Forests are truly the jewelry and beauty of this universe,” she remarked.

Highlighting the role of trees in disaster mitigation, Kousar noted that roots help stabilize soil, maintain groundwater levels, and protect the environment during natural calamities.

She shared that the PHAF, in collaboration with relevant departments, plans to integrate tree plantation drives into its routine activities.

“Every housing society will prioritize environmental sustainability under this initiative, which reflects the government’s strong commitment to conservation in line with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination,” she added.