Category: 1. Pakistan

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QUETTA: The Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education has officially announced the Matric Annual Examination results for 2025, ARY News reported.

Chairman of the Board, Muhammad Ishaq, made the formal announcement on Tuesday. Aftab Alam, a student from Balochistan Residential College, secured the first position with an impressive score of 1,051 marks. Muhammad Hashir clinched the second position with 1,043 marks, while Muhammad Tufail and Saqib Ali jointly secured the third position, each scoring 1,038 marks.

A total of 148,114 students participated in the Matric Annual Examination, with 100,870 candidates successfully passing, according to Chairman Muhammad Ishaq. The overall pass percentage for the examination stood at 68.10%.

In a separate development, earlier, the process of verifying matric and inter certificates in Sindh was shifted online, according to a notification issued by the Inter Boards Coordination Commission (IBCC).

Read more: Matric, inter exams rescheduled

As per details, under the new directive, all sealed envelopes containing certificates submitted for verification will no longer be accepted.

Instead, verification will be conducted exclusively through an online system.

The IBCC has instructed that all educational boards in Sindh must be linked with its platform to ensure seamless verification.

Currently, the system is being implemented in the Karachi Matric Board, Sukkur Education Board, and Ziauddin Board.

The remaining boards in Sindh have been urged to upload and digitize their academic records promptly to be integrated into the online verification mechanism.

As people continue to be evacuated from nearby structures following a deadly building collapse in Karachi’s congested Lyari neighbourhood that left 27 people dead, Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon said on Wednesday it would not be possible for the government to provide housing to all residents living in dilapidated buildings.

The five-storey building on Fida Husain Shaikha Road in Lea Market collapsed on Friday morning, with the rescue operations concluding on Sunday. The building had already been declared uninhabitable by authorities due to its dilapidated structure, with the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) saying it had issued multiple prior notices to residents to vacate the structure since 2023.

Speaking to GeoNews, Memon said that there were 740 dilapidated buildings across Sindh, out of which 51 were in “extremely dangerous” condition, out of which 11 buildings had been vacated.

“Orders have been issued to vacate the others in the next 48 hours for residents’ safety,” Memon said.

“However, it won’t be possible for the government to provide housing to all residents living in dilapidated buildings,” the minister said, adding that there was no such law obligating the government to do so.

“Nonetheless, the government in the past had provided temporary shelters to flood victims and Covid-19 patients for quarantine,” he added.

“Whatever space is available with the government, we will provide that for housing to the most deserving residents who have no other option available [for housing].”

Memon’s comments come a day after the Sindh government announced the suspension of SBCA Director General Ishaque Khuhro over the building collapse.

According to Local Government (LG) Minister Saeed Ghani, other SBCA officials who were suspended included the director, deputy director and building inspectors assigned to Lyari. He also noted that the Sindh government has announced Rs1 million in compensation to the families of the 27 deceased people.

Major opposition parties — the PTI, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Jamaat-i-Islami — have condemned the PPP’s Sindh government, the SBCA and other authorities, accusing them of “criminal negligence” that led to the disaster.

They not only demanded compensation and alternative residences for the affected families but also called for the registration of manslaughter cases against the officials responsible for the tragedy.

Previous deadly building collapses

In April, a 10-year-old girl died when a three-storey building in Bhains Colony suddenly collapsed, while a man and a woman were pulled alive from the debris.

In October 2023, five people were killed and four others injured when an under-construction building collapsed in Shah Faisal Colony.

The city witnessed two such incidents within 72 hours in September 2020, claiming the lives of at least three people and injuring over a dozen.

Lyari also faced a similar incident in June 2020, when 22 people were killed after a five-storey residential building housing about 40 apartments collapsed.

A building collapse in Karachi’s Gulbahar area in March 2020 killed 27 people. A similar 2011 incident in Lyari’s Musa Lane neighbourhood took 33 lives.

Four people were killed and two others were injured after a fire broke out in a house located in Peshawar’s Kochi Bazar on Tuesday morning, rescue officials said.

Spokesperson for Rescue 1122 Bilal Ahmed Faizi said in a statement, “Six people were rescued from the fire in critical condition and taken to the hospital.

“However, four of them succumbed to their injuries. They have been identified as Rafiq, Shehnaz, Riaz and his wife.”

Faizi added that the firefighters and ambulances reached the site of the incident soon after receiving information and started rescue operations.

“The firefighters initially rescued three people trapped in a house adjacent to a market and transported them to the hospital for medical assistance,” Faizi detailed in the statement.

During the rescue efforts, two firefighters fainted due to the blazing flames. They were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital for treatment, where their condition became stable, he said.

Six fire vehicles and 40 personnel participated in the firefighting efforts, the rescue official continued.

“Firefighters faced extreme difficulty as the house was located in a congested area with narrow alleyways. After hectic efforts, the rescue official confirmed that the flames had been brought under control and the cooling process was underway.”

Fire incidents usually occur due to a combination of human negligence, faulty infrastructure, poor safety standards, and environmental factors. Peshawar has faced frequent residential and commercial fires and periodic industrial infernos.

In October 2024, a fire at a tissue paper factory in the Hayatabad area was doused after more than 26 hours in an operation involving 130 fighters and 31 fire tenders.

The rescue team said the fire erupted as a huge quantity of polythene was stashed inside the factory, which melted due to the fire, and the blaze was difficult to douse.

In June 2024, a fire broke out in the Nauthia Phattak area of Peshawar, destroying at least 80 shops mostly selling used goods and injuring three people.

The officials said the fire erupted at one of the makeshift structures before engulfing the adjacent shops, which mostly dealt in secondhand clothes, shoes and curtains, and a power transformer.

Rescue 1122 workers and firefighters from Peshawar, Nowshera, Khyber and Charsadda districts controlled the fire in six hours with around 80,000 litres of water and foam.

Around 110 personnel took part in the operation. Rescue officials said the wooden cabins caught fire due to strong winds and fire engulfed three markets before being brought under control.

LAHORE  –  Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan on Monday defended his constitutional obligation to act on disqualification requests filed under Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, while at the same time express-ing strong personal opposition to these controversial clauses.

Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Assembly, the speaker said he was not in favour of expelling any member from the House; however, he was legally bound to decide within 27 days on the requests submitted against 26 opposition lawmakers, or else forward them to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

“It is my constitutional duty to decide on petitions filed against members over alleged oath violations under Articles 62 and 63. The precedent comes from the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Panama case by Jus-tice Asif Saeed Khosa,” he explained. “I am personally the biggest opponent of Articles 62 and 63, and I do not support disqualifying anyone from the Assembly. But if I don’t act, these petitions will automatically be sent to the Chief Election Commissioner in thirty days.”

Ahmad Khan stated that he believes in the supremacy of the Constitution and has always strived to run the Assembly according to the rules and regulations. He emphasized that despite being one of the strongest critics of Articles 62 and 63, it is his constitutional duty to implement them in light of the Supreme Court’s rulings.

The speaker said that the opposition had been given every possible democratic space in the past—from chairing standing committees to leading the Public Accounts Committee—but unfortunately, the opposition turned the Assembly into a forum for constant disruption.

He noted that the opposition is portraying disorder as a political right, but there is no such provision in the Constitution. Parliament is meant for legislation, not protest. If there is disruption during the Order of the Day, proceedings will move forward as per the law.

He further said that the Leader of the Opposition, after consulting constitutional expert Salman Akram Raja, claimed that the Speaker does not have the authority to send a reference. However, the judgment by Jus-tice Asif Saeed Khosa in the Panama Papers case clearly establishes that if members violate their oath, the Speaker must either make a decision or refer the matter to the Election Commission.

Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan categorically stated that he does not believe in the politics of disqualifying anyone, as practiced by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. However, if anyone violates constitutional boundaries or undermines the discipline of the House against party decisions, he will not hesitate to take action.

He made it clear that he holds no grudge against any party or leader but is committed to upholding the sanctity of the House. Any member who violates their constitutional oath will inevitably face action.

The speaker further stated that such actions in the past have laid the foundation for undermining democra-cy in Pakistan. “I do not politicize disqualification,” he said, “but if a reference is received under Article 63(2) of the Constitution, it must be decided accordingly.”

The speaker expressed hope that the government and opposition will engage in meaningful dialogue in the coming days to improve the atmosphere of the House, so that the Punjab Assembly can truly serve as the representative forum of the 120 million people of the province. He formally invited the Opposition to sit with him to discuss the issue of disqualification as over two weeks were left to decide on the matter.  

The speaker also urged the opposition to abandon disruptive tactics, warning that relying on allegations of victimisation against their leaders to justify protests was counterproductive.

“All political parties in Pakistan have faced tough times at one point or another. The best way to resolve grievances is through dialogue—not by disrupting parliamentary proceedings,” he said. “I would be pleased to see the government and opposition use the Punjab Assembly in the best interests of its 120 million peo-ple.”