Two men arrested for torturing two brothers in a Rs30 dispute with street vendors in Raiwind were killed in an “encounter” with the Crimes Control Department (CCD), the victims’ lawyer said on Thursday.
The incident came to light after a video clip showing street vendors subjecting both brothers to torture went viral on social media. The suspected attackers were spotted holding clubs in their hands and beating the victims at a public place in Raiwind. One brother died of severe torture marks at the spot, while the other succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.
Ali Ahmed Awan, the lawyer representing the victims’ father, told Dawn.com a day prior that a total of six suspects were named in the case, out of which three — including the main suspect — had been arrested.
“Two of the suspects, Owais and Shahzad, were killed in a police encounter after their accomplices attempted to attack the police,” Awan said today. “The CCD is still searching for the rest of the suspects.”
No case has been registered regarding the police encounter yet, he said.
On August 22, a first information report (FIR) was filed on the complaint of the victims’ father at the Raiwind City Police Station under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the FIR, the incident occurred on August 21 at 5:45pm when the brothers were returning home and stopped to buy some fruit.
“Due to a dispute over money, the owner of the fruit cart … and his brother … began beating my sons and called some other people,” the complainant said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar received a phone call on Wednesday night from German Foreign Minister Dr Johann Wadephul, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.
The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further strengthen “mutually beneficial cooperation, and understood the importance of high-level contacts”.
Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, received a call last night from German Foreign Minister, Dr. Johann Wadephul @AussenMinDE.
The two leaders affirmed their resolve to further strengthen mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation, and… pic.twitter.com/zYgN1nTHzV
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) August 28, 2025
The two leaders also discussed their views on regional issues.
The German foreign ministry had announced earlier this week that it would be lifting its ban on entry of Afghan nationals after growing legal pressure at home and a deportation push by Pakistan.
Around 2,000 Afghans were approved for relocation to Germany under a programme for individuals considered at risk under Taliban rule. These 2,000 individuals have been stranded in Pakistan for months, after Berlin halted the initiative amid a pledge to limit migration.
The decision to resume migration came after several lawsuits were filed by groups and affected Afghan individuals, questioning the freeze.
This decision cames amid Pakistan’s move to expel Afghan refugees ahead of the September 1 deadline, which includes those part of Germany’s relocation programme.
The Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, is more than a legal document—it is the collective promise of how the nation chooses to resolve its biggest challenges that affect its stability and growth. Article 160, which created the National Finance Commission (NFC), was crafted with statescraft foresight. It was not meant to be simply an accounting exercise, but a meaningful political settlement of competing interests and a blueprint for fiscal fairness and equalisation—designed to balance the needs of both larger and smaller provinces, tax-rich and tax-poor regions alike. At its heart, the NFC is meant to correct the vertical and horizontal imbalances of tax and expenditure assignments and achieve a robust fiscal federalism. Its formula is not just about dividing money; it is about creating fairness, spurring growth, and ensuring resources reach the villages and towns where people actually live, beyond just the well-understood urban centres of the country.
In a nod to its farsightedness, the framers of the Constitution ensured that the formula could evolve, adapt, and respond to the country’s changing needs. Both good intentions and well-written preambles or articles in our foundational document are unfortunately not always enough. What we have seen in recent years is a slow drift into stasis of the NFC, despite it being a robust enough mechanism to move things forward. Commissions are formed but seldom meet; formulas remain frozen while realities on the ground change. The Tenth NFC, which expired in July 2025, stands out as a particularly stark example: it met once in five years and achieved nothing of substance. Like its predecessor, it left untouched the Seventh NFC Award of 2009—a formula that was long overdue for revision. For sixteen years we have not let our NFC work as intended. During this time our GDP doubled and the population increased by 40%, but the number of new NFC Awards went down to 0%.
This stagnation has real consequences. After the 2018 merger of FATA into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the NFC was constitutionally required to update its formula to include the 5.5 million new citizens of Pakistan on an immediate basis. But that never happened. For seven years, KP has been underfunded by an estimated PKR 1,370 billion, money that should have gone into schools, hospitals, roads, and local governance in the Merged Districts to start correcting the neglect of the FATA of historic proportions. Instead, a major share of these funds flowed to the larger and tax-rich provinces under an outdated formula that no longer even complies with the Constitution. The deprivation is stark.
The NFC is not just about numbers; it is the keystone of Pakistan’s federal architecture. If it continues to fail, the promise of equal citizenship under the Constitution remains hollow for millions
In the decade under the Seventh Award, per capita public expenditure in FATA was barely half of what citizens of Balochistan received—PKR 25,571 per capita in FATA compared with PKR 44,236 per capita in Balochistan. Since the merger, the gap has widened, fuelling feelings of neglect in a region where peace and development depend heavily on visible state investments in rapid order. The special fiscal tool created by KP—the Accelerated Implementation Plan—has tried to fill the gap, but has itself been starved of funds: only PKR 168 billion received from the Federal Government out of a planned PKR 600 billion. That’s 72% less than intended. Imagine the feelings of disenchantment when a promise slowly diminishes into a low-activity farce.
This is not a debate about abstractions. It is about constitutional fidelity, about whether Pakistan’s fiscal federalism still serves all its citizens equally. Whether those resident on the peripheries of the periphery have equivalent rights, or some citizens are more equal than others. When the NFC remains frozen, it does not just paralyse priority programmes like consolidating peace and building up of FATA; it risks eroding the political settlements that underpin the federation itself.
The Seventh NFC Award was once hailed for broadening the formula beyond population, adding expenditure needs and other fairness criteria. But even its innovations were blunted by counter-equalisation measures that favoured tax-base-rich provinces. Today, those weaknesses are magnified by the failure to include all of KP in the formula. Seven extensions of the old award since 2018, through Presidential Orders, have only deepened the perception that fiscal federalism is being run on autopilot with partial regard to the constitutional provisions woven into the intent and great hope of Article 160.
In 2018, the whole country celebrated Pakistan righting a historical wrong by writing into the Constitution that the people of former FATA were the same as everyone else as they merged into KP. But in the seven years since, the NFC Award has not acknowledged the change in the Constitution by recognising these new citizens of KP. Seven years of silence have turned a moment of national pride into a case study in neglect. The merger was written into law, but the NFC’s continued omission in the formula has written exclusion into practice. The 11th NFC now carries an immense responsibility. Its first task is not just technical; it is constitutional. It must immediately revise the formula to bring KP and its Merged Districts fully into the fold. Doing so will not only correct a glaring constitutional violation; it will restore faith in the NFC as a living, functioning institution capable of adapting to Pakistan’s evolving realities.
The stakes could not be higher. The NFC is not just about numbers; it is the keystone of Pakistan’s federal architecture. If it continues to fail, the promise of equal citizenship under the Constitution remains hollow for millions. But if it succeeds, it can unlock new investments, renew trust, and demonstrate that Pakistan’s institutions are capable of delivering fairness where it matters most: in the lives of its people.
The NFC must correct this injustice without further stasis, or risk undermining Pakistan’s federal covenant. Pakistan has incredible external security challenges, which all of us experienced this year; in securing our borders, we would do well to strengthen our internal. It is very valuable to continually emphasise the esoteric provisions of the Constitution. Even more important is finally getting to a stage where the constitutional mechanisms are seen by the people to work for the promise for which they were enshrined in the foundational law.
Punjab Education Secretary Khalid Nazir Watoo on Wednesday dismissed social media rumors claiming that school holidays in the province had been extended until September 5. Punjab Education Secretary Khalid Nazir Watoo on Wednesday dismissed social media rumors claiming that school holidays in the province had been extended until September 5.
In a statement, Watoo clarified that the notification being circulated online is fake and has no connection to the department. “No such notification has been issued by the Education Department regarding additional holidays,” he said, urging the public to rely only on official sources for updates.
He advised parents, teachers, and students to follow the verified Facebook page of the School Education Department for authentic announcements.
The clarification comes as Punjab continues to battle severe flooding triggered by heavy inflows from India’s release of water into eastern rivers. Rising water levels in the Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej have raised concerns over community safety.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), more than 210,000 people have been evacuated from vulnerable districts in Punjab, with the Pakistan Army actively engaged in rescue and relief operations. Despite the scale of the crisis, no casualties have been reported so far.
When vital data is withheld or diluted for political signalling, it is farmers, villagers, and urban dwellers downstream who pay the price.
THIS monsoon season has laid bare how politics is seeping into the riverbanks, eroding one of South Asia’s most enduring mechanisms of cooperation at a time when the region needs it most.
After all, New Delhi has used the devastating floods sweeping across northern India and Pakistan to reassert its unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), while trying to present its ‘limited alerts’ as gestures of concern.
The IWT, signed in 1960, has long been hailed as a rare success story in an otherwise conflict-prone relationship. Through wars and diplomatic standoffs, it provided a framework for data sharing, water allocation, and flood management.
Between July and October, this system used to enable near-continuous updates on river flows, with information exchanged via the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC), a joint body established for that very purpose.
That arrangement had been gradually eroding over the past decade, but it effectively collapsed this year after India, in April, placed the treaty in what it termed “abeyance” following the Pahalgam terrorist attack. It was an unprecedented step in the treaty’s history.
Since then, the routine flow of data has dried up. Before the decline that began around 2013–14, the IWT framework enabled a highly detailed exchange of flood information.
Notifications were not limited to generic warnings; they included advance forecasts of potential flood volumes, expected timings, and specific rivers likely to be affected. The data shared was granular down to daily, site-specific measurements covering river levels, discharges, and projected inundation zones.
This monsoon, however, India issued flood alerts concerning the Tawi and Sutlej rivers. But instead of using the PIC, the notifications were sent via the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
These alerts were skeletal, often containing little more than a “high flood” classification, leaving Pakistani authorities to guess at the discharge volumes and timings.
Former Federal Flood Commissioner Ahmed Kamal voiced frustration at this vagueness: “The Indian side is just providing the information in a very generic way by stating only the flood classification (High Flood) with no specific details on discharge magnitude.”
India insists these alerts are acts of goodwill rather than treaty obligations, citing its declaration of abeyance. Its media has portrayed them as evidence of New Delhi’s “humanitarian face” despite strained ties.
‘Weaponisation’
Experts, however, warn that bypassing the PIC undermines the treaty’s institutional framework and risks turning flood management into a political instrument.
Abdul Basit, a former high commissioner to India, observed: “India’s move to notify the floods through diplomatic channels carried a threefold message – to the domestic audience, it signaled that New Delhi would show no flexibility on the issue of suspension of the IWT; to Pakistan, it conveyed that its pressure for the treaty’s revival would be ineffective; and to the world, it projected that India had acted on humanitarian grounds, showcasing a humane and considerate side despite prevailing tensions.”
On the ground, the human toll has been severe. Punjab’s Narowal district, one of the worst affected, has seen extensive displacement and destruction of crops and homes. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, visiting his inundated constituency, accused New Delhi of aggravating the disaster.
“It appears India had deliberately accumulated water and released it in massive volumes to inflict severe damage on Pakistan. The weaponisation of water and its use as a tool of aggression must be condemned, though climate change had also played a role. Had India cooperated with Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty to manage this crisis, the scale of devastation could have been mitigated,” he said.
Islamabad, for its part, has continued to honour the treaty’s mechanisms despite rising tensions.
Water politics
On Wednesday, Pakistan issued its own flood alerts for the Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab rivers using the traditional channel of the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters – the very route India has chosen to sideline. This contrast underscores a broader reality that while India frames its limited notifications as moral gestures, Pakistan is striving to preserve the institutional framework that for decades allowed both countries to prepare for and sometimes avert monsoon catastrophes.
The implications go far beyond the immediate floods. Article IV para 8 of the IWT, along with Annexure F, clearly mandate advance notification, mutual consultation, and data sharing to avoid material damage across borders.
By placing the treaty’s provisions in abeyance, India risks setting a precedent where water becomes another arena of political manoeuvring. This is especially perilous in an era of intensifying climate change, when glacial melt and erratic monsoons are increasing both the frequency and severity of floods.
The question now is not only whether the Indus Waters Treaty can withstand this political storm, but also what the cost of its erosion will be for the millions living along the Indus basin. Floods do not respect borders and their destruction is indiscriminate. When vital data is withheld or diluted for political signalling, it is farmers, villagers, and urban dwellers downstream who pay the price through lost crops, submerged homes, and forced displacement.
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2025
Header image: A general view of the river Ravi after flood water increased on Aug 26, 2025. — Murtaza Ali/White Star
Lawmakers from the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday quit the chairmanship of several National Assembly standing committees, implementing the directives of the PTI leadership, party officials said.
Speaking to the media, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Junaid Akbar confirmed that he had resigned following directives from the party leadership. “Implementing the directives of the party leadership is a collective responsibility of all members,” he said.
PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram also resigned from PAC and the Information Committee. “Following the instructions of our leader Imran Khan, I submitted my resignation this morning from the Public Accounts Committee and the Information Committee,” he said on X.
PTI’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Malik Amir Dogar, confirmed that the PTI members in the standing committees had begun submitting their resignations following the directives from the party founder Imran Khan.
He mentioned that the PTI chief had awarded the positions to the party members in the parliamentary committees, and his instructions would be followed in letter and spirit. “PTI’s parliamentary team stands by the decisions of the party leadership and will continue to follow the instructions from the top.”
Moreover, PTI leaders Faisal Amin and Ali Asghar submitted their resignations from their positions in the National Assembly’s standing committees. Their formal resignations have been submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat.
Asghar has stepped down from the standing committees on the cabinet secretariat, privatisation, and planning and development, while Amin resigned from the standing committees on economic affairs and national food security.
Currently, PTI holds representation in 29 standing committees, and its members chair eight of these committees. PTI’s panel member in the PAC, Sanaullah Mastikhel confirmed that the PTI members were set to resign from all parliamentary committees.
Earlier, all PTI members boycotted Wednesday’s session of the PAC, except PTI Senator Mohsin Aziz, who attended the meeting via video link but left midway in protest. During the session, the committee secretary expressed concern over Akbar’s absence.
A day earlier, Imran Khan had instructed the party not to participate in upcoming by-elections. He also advised the parliamentary members to resign from all committees and referred the matter to the party’s political committee for final consultation.
The instructions were relayed after a meeting at Adiala Jail with his sisters, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan, as well as senior party leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Salman Akram Raja, and Barrister Ali Zafar.
In line with instructions from the party’s founding chairman, PTI’s political committee, after extensive deliberations in a meeting, unanimously endorsed the boycott and resolved that party lawmakers in the National Assembly would resign from their committee memberships.
According to party sources, the meeting was convened to chart out PTI’s electoral strategy in the wake of recent disqualifications that have created vacancies for national and provincial assembly by-polls. Members were explicitly asked to give their views on whether the party should contest the elections.
The proposal to boycott was unanimously approved, with senior leaders, including Sanaullah Masti Khel, Barrister Gohar, Sheikh Waqas Akram and Amir Dogar, strongly supporting the move, calling it consistent with the guidance of Imran Khan.
After devastating the northern areas, the floodwaters have now surged into the plains of Punjab. Every passing minute brings rising levels, displacing entire villages and communities, and plunging the province into uncertainty. Lives will be lost, infrastructure damaged, and perhaps most devastating of all, Punjab’s farmlands—the heart of the province’s economy—face ruin. Millions stand to lose harvests, with ripple effects on both the economy and food security.
While the government and rescue authorities are working tirelessly to protect people, much of the destruction is unavoidable. Yet as this crisis unfolds, Pakistan must confront a sobering truth: floods are no longer rare disasters but annual realities. Every year, billions are lost, and every year the country remains unprepared. The solutions are not complex, but they demand political will and long-term vision. First, Pakistan must invest heavily in dams and barrages across its rivers. Political wrangling must give way to consensus, and funds—whether domestic or international—must be secured to build the infrastructure needed to control water flow.
Second, illegal construction on spillways and overflow zones must be halted immediately. Real estate developers and housing societies that encroach on these natural drainage paths put not only their own residents at risk but entire regions downstream. These lands were left empty for a reason: they are meant to channel floodwaters. Blocking them ensures disaster for everyone.
Finally, Pakistan’s sanitation, irrigation, and water-carrying systems need urgent modernisation. Years of neglect, mismanagement, and inadequate capacity leave them overwhelmed during crises. Revamping and expanding these systems would allow water to move more efficiently across the country, reducing dangerous build-up.
These three measures—dams, enforcement against illegal construction, and modernised water systems—are the only long-term path forward. Pakistan must begin planning in decades, not reacting in despair each time the waters rise.
Pakistan on Wednesday requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fully finance the nearly $7 billion Mainline-I (ML-I) railways project in consortium with other multilateral lenders after failing to secure funding from China.
The country waited almost a decade for China’s 85% financing commitment for the project. The government has now returned to the ADB, which was keen to fund in 2016 but withdrew due to Beijing’s insistence on sole financing.
The Manila-based lender, along with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), has shown willingness to provide about 60% funding for the Karachi-Rohri section, said sources.
They added that the ADB may also consider financing other sections, but due to the project’s size, the lender may take a section-wise approach.
Pakistan raised the issue of complete financing from the ADB, AIIB, and other multilateral agencies during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s meeting with ADB President Masato Kanda.
The early completion of the Karachi-Rohri section is critical for transporting copper and gold from the Reko Diq mines, said sources. The Reko Diq Mining Company plans to begin production by 2028, requiring a railway network for smooth and timely transportation.
The ADB has asked for detailed design documents of the Karachi-Rohri section to assess actual funding needs. It may partner with the AIIB to provide 60% of the funding, around $1.2 billion, for this section, they added.
The Planning Commission is expected to receive revised project cost documents this week to determine the true cost.
For mineral transportation, Pakistan needs rail links from Reko Diq to Gwadar and Reko Diq to Karachi, which require quality infrastructure at ML-I and ML-III. But the government has not found financing for ML-III, which will largely handle copper and gold transport and may not be commercially viable, said the sources.
The ADB has promised a $10 million Project Readiness Facility by November to validate the earlier Chinese feasibility study of ML-I, vet the project’s detailed design, and review the Rohri-Multan section. Based on its findings, the ADB is expected to approve multi-tranche loan facilities with AIIB and the European Investment Bank, sources added.
Government estimates put the Karachi-Rohri section at $2 billion and the Rohri-Multan section at $1.6 billion, bringing just these two to $3.6 billion. However, it is expected that due to international competitive bidding, the total cost will be still less than the projected cost under the bilateral framework.
The prime minister was keen to hold the groundbreaking ceremony of the ADB-funded ML-I in June next year, but the railways ministry and ADB gave December as the timeframe, said the sources.
The ADB president linked funding to the outcomes of the Project Readiness Facility report.
China had earlier asked Pakistan to reduce the ML-I cost from nearly $10 billion to $6.7 billion to make it financially viable. It was the only declared “strategically important” project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and Islamabad demanded a concessional loan.
The project has faced over seven years of delay due to Pakistan’s high indebtedness. Pakistan had sought a loan equal to 85% of the cost from China, but Beijing refused concessional terms.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping had agreed a couple of years ago to advance the ML-I project in phases.
The original ML-I track was 1,872 kilometres long but was later reduced to cut costs.
Sources warned that even with ADB and other multilateral funding, arranging rupee cover from the finance ministry will be difficult due to the small size of the public sector development programme. The ministry must provide over Rs600 billion in rupee cover for just the Karachi-Rohri section in the next three years.
ADB’s president also met Finance Minister Aurangzeb, who requested an enhanced guarantee limit to issue Panda bonds. Initially planned at $250 million this year, the ministry is now considering raising $750 million to bridge funding gaps.
Aurangzeb said he would travel to China with the prime minister to discuss floating Panda bonds, requiring higher ADB guarantee limits.
A finance ministry handout said Aurangzeb highlighted Pakistan’s priorities for deeper collaboration with ADB in energy transition, climate resilience, transport, human capital, and resource mobilisation.
He expressed appreciation for ADB’s consistent partnership and reiterated Pakistan’s determination to build climate resilience and improve disaster preparedness after recent floods.
Aurangzeb also thanked ADB’s president for prioritising Pakistan as the first country he visited after assuming office, recalling earlier meetings in Washington in April.
The minister acknowledged ADB’s substantial support in recent years, citing reforms in resource mobilisation, women’s financial inclusion, disaster risk financing, and clean energy transition.
The ADB president appreciated Pakistan’s economic reforms and resilience, commending progress in stabilising the economy and advancing structural changes, the ministry said.
He assured continued ADB support in climate adaptation, population challenges, infrastructure, and resource mobilisation.
Kanda also pledged readiness to assist Pakistan in launching its first Panda Bond and other innovative financing tools.
Punjab Minister for Local Government Mian Zeeshan Rafique visited the low-lying areas of Sialkot and reviewed the relief measures being carried out in the wake of record-breaking rainfall that submerged parts of the city.
Speaking to the media at Rangpura Chowk, one of the worst-affected localities, the minister said Sialkot had witnessed unprecedented rainfall in its history, with 405 millimetres recorded in a single day followed by another 110 millimetres during the night.
“This created an emergency situation, but the government’s top priority is to ensure the safety and relief of citizens,” he said.
The minister assured that residents in flood-hit areas were being shifted to safe locations and that the provincial government would compensate those who suffered losses.
“Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif always stands with the people of Punjab in difficult times,” he said, adding that there would be no shortcomings in the government’s response to the crisis.
Rafique said a control room established at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office was functioning round-the-clock to address public complaints. He added that drainage and relief operations would continue until the water flow in Nullah Aik normalized.
He further stated that the district administration, WASA, and Municipal Corporation teams were in the field, distributing clean drinking water and basic necessities.
“Government departments have been working non-stop for the past 48 hours, and I am personally monitoring the operations to ensure no negligence occurs,” the minister said.
