Category: 1. Pakistan

The Pakistan Telecommunications Limited (PTCL) announced on Saturday that cuts to submarine internet cables in Saudi waters may impact internet services in the country during peak hours.

In a statement shared on X, the telecom giant said the submarine cable cuts near Saudi capital Jeddah had impacted the partial bandwidth capacity SMW4 (South Asia-Middle East-West Asia) and IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe) networks.

“Internet users in Pakistan may experience some service degradation during peak hours,” the PTCL statement read. “Our international partners are working on priority to resolve the issue while our local teams are actively arranging alternative bandwidth to minimise the impact.”

The Ministry of Information Technology has not issued any statement on the development yet.

This is not the first time that damage to undersea internet cables has affected services in Pakistan.

Internet users across Pakistan complained of slow internet and hindered access to services throughout 2024. On January 3 this year, PTCL said teams were “diligently” working to resolve the matter of disruptions faced by users after a fault in the AAE-1 subsea internet cable connecting Pakistan slowed down the network speed in the country.

On January 16, PTCL announced that internet services were “now fully operational” after the complete restoration of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) undersea internet cable.

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan received emergency supplies from the United States on Saturday as devastating floods battered Punjab, with three major rivers flowing from India surging at multiple points and forecasters warning of fresh torrential rains until Sept. 9.

Home to half of Pakistan’s 240 million people and much of its wheat and rice production, Punjab has been hit hardest by this year’s monsoon as nearly 50 people have died in the current Ravi-Sutlej-Chenab flood spell that started late last month, bringing the seasonal death toll in the province to 231 since June.

Nationwide, the National Disaster Management Authority said 905 people have been killed in rain and flood-related incidents since the monsoon began on June 26.

The government has primarily focused on evacuating people from settlements along the three rivers and breached protective embankments to save major cities, with the army doing rescue and relief work in most areas of the province. However, the Punjab administration announced a satellite-aided survey a day earlier to quantify flood losses before launching a compensation and rehabilitation program for families whose homes and farmland have been destroyed.

“US military aircraft delivered essential supplies at the request of the Pakistan military in response to the devastating floods,” the American embassy in Islamabad said in a social media post, adding that its Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker extended condolences to the people of Pakistan, whose lives have been uprooted by the widespread, catastrophic flooding.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday presided over a review meeting in Islamabad, directing the climate change ministry to present within two weeks a comprehensive plan to shield Pakistan from the adverse effects of monsoon rains and floods and to minimize future losses.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Punjab has warned the 10th monsoon spell would bring widespread heavy rains to the province starting today.

The top PDMA official, Irfan Ali Kathia, said in a statement urban flooding was expected to hit major cities.

He also said that commissioners and deputy commissioners across the province had been ordered to stay on alert, with the health, irrigation, public works, local government and livestock departments all instructed to prepare emergency responses.

RIVERS RISING

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, the Flood Forecasting Division reported a continued surge in river flows, with the Chenab carrying 380,193 cusecs at Chiniot and 412,992 cusecs at Trimmu Headworks near Jhang, both classified as high flood.

Further downstream, Panjnad in southern Punjab recorded 321,721 cusecs.

On the Ravi, flows reached 157,395 cusecs at Balloki Headworks south of Lahore and 101,225 cusecs at Sidhnai in Khanewal, both rated very high.

The Sutlej, swollen by upstream releases from India, was running at 311,673 cusecs at Ganda Singh Wala near Kasur, an extremely high level, and 132,916 cusecs at Sulemanki, further downstream.

Authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said a high flood wave was expected as water level at Panjnad was expected to increase by the end of the day before moving downstream into the Indus.

According to a situation report released Friday by the Sindh administration’s flood monitoring cell, 1,651 villages are likely to be affected and more than 1.6 million people face risk, with 121,769 already displaced.

The province has set up 528 relief camps and established 155 medical camps, where more than 33,000 patients have been treated.

Over 360,000 livestock have been evacuated.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said evacuations were underway in low-lying areas a day earlier, while Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah instructed officials this week to take proactive steps to protect people and livestock, saying no life should be lost in the floods this year.

PUBLISHED
September 06, 2025

ISLAMABAD:

Simultaneous flooding in one western and two eastern rivers has washed away standing cash crops in the agriculture heartland of Pakistan besides impacting lives and shelters of four million people so far in Punjab alone, muddying the nascent economic and price stability.

The disaster is unfolding and the magnitude is still unknown. Pakistan’s food security, which is now treated at par with the national security, is under serious threat. Where the ongoing floods have submerged vast lands in Punjab and are heading towards Sindh, they have also made the country’s macroeconomic outlook murkier.

The 2025 floods comparisons are drawn with the 2022 floods, which had inundated one-third of the country, and fears have taken over about what is going to happen to Pakistan’s nascent economic stability, the relative price stability and the external sector that had just posted its first current account surplus in a couple of decades.

There have always been concerns that the managed recovery on the fiscal and external fronts may not withstand any indigenous, exogenous shocks or a natural calamity. The nascent economic recovery, which began in June last year and has not yet completely rooted in, now faces its first test in the shape of the natural disaster that is inundating Punjab and Sindh.

The fiscal numbers agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June, particularly the sacrosanct primary balance and provincial cash surpluses, have become irrelevant days before the global lender’s review mission is arriving in Islamabad. The external sector projections made three months ago, including the current account deficit, imports and exports, have become the story of the distant past.

Provincial and district authorities in Punjab have indicated significant destruction of houses and cropland. Livelihoods have been severely impacted with rice, sugarcane, maize, cotton and other crops submerged during peak harvest. Wheat sowing might be delayed and the prices have already started soaring during the past few days. Wheat flour is now one-fourth more expensive than a year ago.

The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released its first weekly inflation bulletin on September 5th. The national data collecting agency reported a major increase in prices of tomatoes that jumped 46% within a week, followed by wheat flour 25.4% and onions 9%. During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 23 items increased.

More price shocks are also expected in coming weeks and the provincial government of Punjab had already issued instructions to control rates. This is an important step but may not be sufficient to provide relief to the people, given the magnitude of the still unfolding disaster.

Livestock losses are mounting, further undermining rural incomes. Many affected families are small farmers whose houses and fields are now underwater. Floods have severely affected housing, livelihoods, and assets across Punjab, Pakistan’s agricultural heartland.

The Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) has called for the immediate declaration of an agricultural emergency. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the forum said preliminary assessments indicated the loss of approximately 60% of the rice crop, 35% of cotton, and 30% of sugarcane in central and southern Punjab.

These losses will increase further once the flood waters reach Sindh. This would hurt export of rice and necessitate further imports of cotton and sugar.

The Pakistan Business Forum has sought immediate relief measures, including the provision of interest-free loans of up to Rs2 million for small and medium-sized farmers to support replantation and recovery efforts. It also called for the launch of critical canal infrastructure projects in Punjab and Sindh to improve water management and resilience against future flooding.

Punjab, which was the least affected province in the 2022 floods with only $1.1 billion damages out of the $15.8 billion, is this time the hardest hit federating unit.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already witnessed mass scale destruction and Sindh is anxiously watching the situation developing in Punjab and will soon be at its doors with constant increase in flow of waters due to rains and waters flowing from India.

What we know so far is that Punjab saw the worst monsoon flooding after 1988 due to exceptionally high floods in the Sutlej, Chenab, and Ravi rivers. It is said to be for the first time that all three major rivers have reached high flooding levels simultaneously.

According to the provincial disaster management authority, nearly 4,000 villages have been inundated, affecting over 4 million people across the province. As many as 1.8 million people have already been evacuated after their homes were submerged in waters. One million animals have also been evacuated, which is a large number.

The government was betting this year’s economic growth on the revival of the agriculture and industrial sectors but the outcomes of the past few weeks indicate that at least there would be hardly any growth in the agriculture sector. The floods would also impact the timely sowing of wheat crop and its implications could be felt across the provinces as Punjab produces three-fourth of the total wheat.

One of the obvious outcomes of the natural disasters in Pakistan had been the appeals for foreign loans and aids. But the past experiences suggest that neither the foreign creditors are generous anymore nor the federal and the provincial governments had the ability to effectively utilize these loans. Pakistan’s Finance Minister recently candidly admitted that the governments could not give investable projects to the lenders for utilizing the $11 billion commitments to cope with the 2022 floods.

The details showed that the World Bank pledged $2.2 billion and has so far disbursed $1.6 billion. The Asian Development Bank committed $1.6 billion but has so far released $513 million. Likewise, China and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) pledged $1.1 billion but so far gave only $250 million in the absence of any credible financing projects.

 

The Islamic Development Bank promised to give $600 million but released $231 million. Paris Club countries pledged nearly $800 million but released $139 million. The United States promised to give $100 million and gave $70 million.

The government should not waste time in making appeals and waiting for the loans to materialize. People of Punjab are in desperate need of urgent economic assistance, which the provincial government can provide due to its better fiscal position compared to the Centre.

However, the country has not learnt its lessons from the 2022 flooding and there are apprehensions that in the absence of enabling policies and institutional arrangements for rehabilitation and reconstruction, the recovery process will be slow and painful. The delay in reconstruction and rehabilitation would increase the economic cost too.

The federal and provincial governments need to devise a joint strategy to deal with the issue, as the quantum of damages suggests that the recovery would cost a lot of resources.

The IMF team is reaching Islamabad in the third week of September for assess the nation’s progress on implementation of 50 loan conditions and the future economic path before releasing the next loan tranche of $1 billion.

The government may have to reopen the macroeconomic targets of primary budget surplus, provincial cash surpluses and Net International Reserves. Pakistan had set aside about Rs400 billion for contingency spending in the budget but the money had started depleting even before the floods had hit. The emergency pool has been exhausted in recent weeks to meet other expenditures where there were no allocations, including for paying subsidies to banks and for remittance schemes.

People are seeking immediate relief and rehabilitation. The provincial governments are trying to meet their expectations. But if the past is the guide, the bureaucracy gives preference to numbers over souls.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan should soon chalk out a strategy to rehabilitate millions of peoples whose lives and livelihoods are being washed away. However, the floods should not be used as an excuse to delay some of the structural reforms, which remain pending since long and are often ignored under various pretexts.

The farming community immediately needs a waiver in payment of electricity bills and grants for rehabilitating the lost agriculture infrastructure. The government may like to declare an agricultural emergency and it should also take up the issue of deferring the imposition of agriculture income tax for a couple of years during the upcoming review talks with the IMF.

Cracks between Pakistan and China became more apparent after reports emerged that Beijing has withdrawn funding for the
Karachi-Rohri railway project, a key part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. According to The Economic Times, China cited financial and security concerns for its move.

In light of this, Pakistan is now seeking funds for the
Asian Development Bank to salvage the project. It is pertinent to note that China’s decision also follows its frustration over unpaid debts to Chinese power companies. However, the key concern for Beijing remains security issues for Chinese nationals working on numerous infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

China’s decision not to finance the Karachi-Rohri railway segment being built under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reflects that its “
all-weather friendship” with Pakistan is notwithstanding. The change in the ties between the two nations is also coming at a time when China is mending its ties with India.

China’s withdrawal left Pakistan short of money

According to The Economic Times, the Chinese authorities expressed frustration over Pakistan’s unpaid debts, particularly $1.5 billion owed to Chinese power companies. Moreover, since 2021, several Chinese nationals working on BRI projects in Pakistan have been killed by separatist and terrorist groups operating in the country.

The Karachi-Rohri section of Main Line 1 Railway was previously expected to receive $2 billion from China. However, it had been left unfunded, leaving Pakistan to knock on the doors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), seeking urgent funds to salvage the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), sources told The Economic Times.

China also expressed concern over the security of its nationals in Pakistan while speaking to the country’s Field Marshal Asim Munir. Earlier this year, Beijing sought permission to deploy its military for the protection of its nationals in Pakistan.

Source told The Economic Times that Pakistan’s loan request to the Asian Development Bank involves upgrading 480 kilometres of the Karachi-Rohri railway segment. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $6.7 billion, covering the entire 1,726-kilometre stretch from Karachi to Peshawar.

The railway network is considered central to the CPEC and will be used for transporting goods as well as minerals extracted in the mineral-rich Balochistan province. The cracks between China and Pakistan are also coming at a time when Islamabad is improving its relations with the United States.

Earlier, Pakistan had indicated that it would offer the US opportunities in Balochistan’s mining sector. However, the US’s commercial or security presence in Balochistan may impact China’s wide-ranging interests in the province, a source told ET.

Under the BRI, China has announced that it will invest more than $50 billion in Pakistan. In light of this,
Gwadar Port has been constructed, and plans for a naval base are currently underway. On Thursday, Pakistan’s energy ministry announced that ADB had approved a $130 million loan for the country’s energy sector.

Apart from this, Pakistan has also sought assistance from international partners, including the ADB, to improve its energy infrastructure by modernising its transmission system and promoting renewables.

Karachi is expected to be lashed by rainfalls from Sunday through Thursday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Saturday.

Due to a weather system forming over Sindh and India’s Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, strong monsoon currents are likely to penetrate the eastern parts of the province from Saturday, bringing rains for the next five days.

“Yesterday’s low pressure area over northwest Madhya Pradesh and adjoining East Rajasthan (India) now lies as a well-marked low pressure over southeast Rajasthan (India) and adjoining Sindh,” said the Met Office.

It said thundershower with a few moderate to isolated heavy falls are likely in Karachi division from Sunday evening to September 11, with occasional gaps.

The PMD further said widespread thundershower with scattered heavy to very heavy falls are expected in scores of other districts in the province, including Tharparker, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Tando Allah Yar, Hyderabad, Badin and Jamshoro from Saturday night till September 10, with occasional gaps.

While, widespread thundershower — with scattered moderate to isolated heavy falls — are likely in Dadu, Larkana, shikarpur, Kashmore, Sukkur, Jacobabad and Ghotki districts from September 7 to 10, with occasional gaps.

The weather advisory department also warned that heavy downpour, windstorm and lightning may affect daily routines, cause urban flooding and water logging in low lying areas in Karachi and other parts of Sindh, including Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Tharparker, Khairpur, Sukkur, Larkana, Thatta, Sujawal and Hyderabad.

Heavy rain likely to create urban flooding in Karachi: Met Office

The downpour may damage weak structures like roof/wall of Kacha houses, electric poles, bill boards, vehicles and solar panels etc during the forecast period, it maintained.

Deputy Director for Chief Meteorologist Anjum Nazir Zaighum also advised farmers to manage their activities, keeping in view the weather forecast.

All concerned authorities have been advised to remain alert and take necessary measures to avoid any untoward situation.

The Met Office warned that River Indus at Guddu Barrage is expected to attain very high level flood on September 7.

Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) of the PMD warned that exceptionally high flood level will continue in river Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala, while river Chenab at Panjnad is expected to attain high to very high flood level during the next 24-hours.

The FFD also said river Indus at Guddu is expected to attain high flood from September 8 to 9.

Whereas, flash flooding is also expected in the nullah of DG Khan, Rajanpur, Kirthar Range and East Balochistan from September 7 to 9.

Urban flooding is also expected in the major cities of Sindh province from September 7 to 9, it added.

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan received emergency supplies from the United States on Saturday as devastating floods battered Punjab, with three major rivers flowing from India surging at multiple points and forecasters warning of fresh torrential rains until Sept. 9.

Home to half of Pakistan’s 240 million people and much of its wheat and rice production, Punjab has been hit hardest by this year’s monsoon as nearly 50 people have died in the current Ravi-Sutlej-Chenab flood spell that started late last month, bringing the seasonal death toll in the province to 231 since June.

Nationwide, the National Disaster Management Authority said 905 people have been killed in rain and flood-related incidents since the monsoon began on June 26.

The government has primarily focused on evacuating people from settlements along the three rivers and breached protective embankments to save major cities, with the army doing rescue and relief work in most areas of the province. However, the Punjab administration announced a satellite-aided survey a day earlier to quantify flood losses before launching a compensation and rehabilitation program for families whose homes and farmland have been destroyed.

“US military aircraft delivered essential supplies at the request of the Pakistan military in response to the devastating floods,” the American embassy in Islamabad said in a social media post, adding that its Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker extended condolences to the people of Pakistan, whose lives have been uprooted by the widespread, catastrophic flooding.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday presided over a review meeting in Islamabad, directing the climate change ministry to present within two weeks a comprehensive plan to shield Pakistan from the adverse effects of monsoon rains and floods and to minimize future losses.

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Punjab has warned the 10th monsoon spell would bring widespread heavy rains to the province starting today.

The top PDMA official, Irfan Ali Kathia, said in a statement urban flooding was expected to hit major cities.

He also said that commissioners and deputy commissioners across the province had been ordered to stay on alert, with the health, irrigation, public works, local government and livestock departments all instructed to prepare emergency responses.

RIVERS RISING

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, the Flood Forecasting Division reported a continued surge in river flows, with the Chenab carrying 380,193 cusecs at Chiniot and 412,992 cusecs at Trimmu Headworks near Jhang, both classified as high flood.

Further downstream, Panjnad in southern Punjab recorded 321,721 cusecs.

On the Ravi, flows reached 157,395 cusecs at Balloki Headworks south of Lahore and 101,225 cusecs at Sidhnai in Khanewal, both rated very high.

The Sutlej, swollen by upstream releases from India, was running at 311,673 cusecs at Ganda Singh Wala near Kasur, an extremely high level, and 132,916 cusecs at Sulemanki, further downstream.

Authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said a high flood wave was expected as water level at Panjnad was expected to increase by the end of the day before moving downstream into the Indus.

According to a situation report released Friday by the Sindh administration’s flood monitoring cell, 1,651 villages are likely to be affected and more than 1.6 million people face risk, with 121,769 already displaced.

The province has set up 528 relief camps and established 155 medical camps, where more than 33,000 patients have been treated.
Over 360,000 livestock have been evacuated.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said evacuations were underway in low-lying areas a day earlier, while Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah instructed officials this week to take proactive steps to protect people and livestock, saying no life should be lost in the floods this year.

Nearly a week after an earthquake killed more than 2,200 people in Afghanistan and left tens of thousands homeless, the United States has not taken the first step to authorise emergency aid, and it was unclear if it plans to help at all, two former senior US officials and a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The lack of response by Washington to one of Afghanistan’s deadliest quakes in years underscores how President Donald Trump has forfeited decades of US leadership of global disaster relief with his deep foreign aid cuts and closure of the main US foreign assistance agency, said the source and the former officials.

The US Agency for International Development was officially shuttered on Tuesday.

The State Department on Monday extended its “heartfelt condolences” to Afghanistan in an X post.

As of Friday, however, the State Department had not approved a declaration of humanitarian need, the first step in authorising US emergency relief, said the former officials, both of whom worked at USAID, and the third source, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Such a declaration is usually issued within 24 hours of a major disaster.

The sources said State Department officials had considered recommendations for US disaster aid for Afghanistan. One former senior official said the White House also has considered the issue, but decided against reversing a policy of ending aid to Afghanistan.

When asked if the US would provide any emergency aid to Afghanistan following the magnitude 6 quake on Sunday, which was followed by powerful aftershocks on Thursday and Friday, a State Department spokesperson said: “We have nothing further to announce at this time.”

The United States was, until this year, the largest aid donor to Afghanistan, where it fought a 20-year war that ended with a chaotic US withdrawal and the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul in 2021.

But in April, the Trump administration ended virtually all aid — totaling $562 million — to Afghanistan, citing a US watchdog report that humanitarian groups receiving US funds had paid $10.9 million in taxes, fees, and duties to the Taliban.

Asked whether the US would provide emergency relief for earthquake survivors, a White House official said, “President Trump has been consistent in ensuring aid does not land in the hands of the Taliban regime, which continues to wrongfully detain US citizens.”

‘Stuck in storage’

United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said the Afghan earthquake was “the latest crisis to expose the cost of shrinking resources on vital humanitarian work.”

“Massive funding cuts have already brought essential health and nutrition services for millions to a halt; grounded aircraft, which are often the only lifeline to remote communities; and forced aid agencies to reduce their footprint,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

The Trump administration also has yet to respond to a request by the International Rescue Committee humanitarian organisation to send $105,000 worth of US-funded medical supplies following the first earthquake.

The materials include stethoscopes, first aid supplies, stretchers, and other essentials, said Kelly Razzouk, vice president of policy and advocacy for the IRC.

“The stocks are stuck in storage,” said Razzouk, who served on former US President Joe Biden’s National Security Council. “In recent memory, I can’t remember a time when the US did not respond to a crisis like this.”

The IRC needs Washington’s permission to send the equipment to Afghanistan because it had been funded by an unrelated US grant that the Trump administration had since canceled.

“Beyond the loss of life, we have also seen basic infrastructure and livelihoods destroyed,” Stephen Rodriguez, the representative in Afghanistan for the UN Development Programme, told reporters on Friday.

He said donations of money, goods, and services have come from Britain, South Korea, Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and other countries.

“Far more is needed.”