The war continues
WH I L E US President Donald Trump s meeting with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, was trumpeted as historic, in the end it did not yield an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict It did allow Mr Trump to inch closer to the Russian position, by dropping its insistence on a ceasefire, and by saying that Ukraine would have to allow Russia to keep its territorial gains Ukraine has already rejected this, and is backed by European powers in this
Perhaps the world will try to hush up what the meeting seemed to make clear, in case anyone had not got the point: there is no longer any rules-based world order It almost seems that we are back in the era of Hobbes’ Leviathan, when everone’s hand is against everyone else’s, where, as Mr Trump said about Ukraine, one had to recognise that another power is much greater, where life is nasty, brutish and short, where Nature is red in tooth and claw That is indeed how states behave, but then the smaller power tries to make the larger realize that it cannot just take slices of territory from it By that token, Pakistan should have acknowledged that India is the larger power, and had the right to accuse it as absurdly as it wished because of that Mr Trump’s anger over India’s buying oil from Russia seems assumed, now that his tilt towards Russia has become so clear It almost seems as if the BRICS counties are being penalized by high tariffs for having had to temerity to replace the US dollar as the trading currency by each other ’s currencies
Perhaps the most significant development at the summit was Mr Trump’s failure to make Ukraine accept his mediation without being present European powers continued to back Ukraine in its stance that it was not going to give up territory One result is that Ukraine has rejected the idea of giving up territory and seems willing to keep fighting without US support While the US taxpayer has money in the game, the Russians and Ukrainians are seeing their young men kill each other Indeed, the whole world is disrupted at this battle between such important grain producers, and exporters of oil and gas The real disappointment of this summit was that the war seems set to continue despite all the hoopla
Dedicated to the legac y of late Hameed Nizami Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor
M A Niazi Editor Pakistan Today Babar Nizami Editor Profit
Tprovinces is now being repackaged as a fiscal constraint The NFC Award, rather than being viewed as a reflection of cooperative federalism, is increasingly cast as a scapegoat for the state’s economic mismanagement and structural inefficiencies The 7th NFC Award announced in 2009 and implemented in 2010 significantly increased the provinces share in the divisible tax pool to 57 5 percent Anchored in Article 160 (3A) of the Constitution, this share cannot be reduced in subsequent awards Yet despite notable economic, demographic, and structural changes the Award has remained unrevised for over a decade To do so every five years is a constitutional obligation that has been neglected for the sake of political convenience At the heart of the issue lies the Award s flawed distribution formula The current formula allocates 82 percent weight to population, a metric that rewards demographic expansion rather than developmental performance This structure incentivizes provinces to inflate their population figures and discourages investment in education healthcare and revenue governance With a national population growth rate of 1 6 percent and persistently high poverty levels, the formula promotes quantity over quality The remaining components poverty at 10 3 percent, revenue collection and generation at 5 percent (split equally) and inverse population density at 2 7 percent fail to promote governance or accountability This formula has institutionalized complacency Provinces, guaranteed a fixed share from the federal pool regardless of performance, have little incentive to broaden their tax bases or improve public service delivery Provincial tax revenues remain alarmingly low hovering between just 0 7 and 0 8 percent of national GDP This reflects both administrative incapacity and political unwillingness to tax powerful lobbies at the provincial level Despite repeated IMF conditions for provinces to maintain significant annual cash surpluses, many have continued to expand their development budgets aggressively Punjab’s development outlay for FY2024 stands at Rs 1 24 trillion which is nearly 25 percent larger than the federal Public Sector Development Programme of Rs 1 trillion Even resourceconstrained Balochistan has allocated Rs 290 billion for development this year Such financial behaviour reflects a troubling disconnect between fiscal responsibility and political expediency Moreover the NFC structure fosters a system in which good governance is neither rewarded nor demanded Between the 2023 and 2024 budgets the provincial contribution to total revenues through own-
source revenues declined from 15 4 percent to 14 8 percent Meanwhile, spending on critical sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure continues to stagnate The federal government, left with just 42 5 percent of the divisible pool must shoulder disproportionately heavy responsibilities including defence debt servicing energy subsidies and social safety nets
Importantly this imbalance is not a result of provincial overreach It was the outcome of a negotiated, unanimous agreement that embodied the political aspirations of a post-Musharraf Pakistan The 7th NFC Award, alongside the 18th Amendment, symbolized a new vision for decentralized governance To now portray it as a theft of federal prerogative is not only disingenuous it is a distortion of recent political history That said grievances with the formula are not without merit It is outdated, and reform is long overdue But reform must not be confused with reversal Unfortunately, what we are witnessing today appears less like a rational re-evaluation and more like a veiled attempt to re-centralize authority possibly through constitutional revision
The ruling coalition empowered by a controversial two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and poised for possible Senate dominance, is now positioned to amend even the most sacred constitutional safeguards Among them is Article 160(3A), which protects the provincial share in the divisible pool This manoeuvre seems less about addressing fiscal constraints and more about consolidating central authority
The PPP historically the principal architect of the 7th NFC Award and a vocal proponent of provincial rights, now finds itself under pressure Political inducements and systemic coercion threaten
m b o d i e d t h e p o l i t i c a l a s p i r a t i o n s o f a p o s t - M u s h a r r a f Pa k i s t a n .
T h e 7 t h N F C Aw a rd , a l o n g s i d e t h e 1 8 t h A m e n d m e n t , s y m b o l i z e d a n ew v i s i o n fo r d e c e n t r a l i z e d g ov e r n a n c e . To n ow p o r t r ay i t a s a t h e f t o f fe d e r a l p r e ro g a t i v e i s n o t o n ly d i s i n g e nu o u s , i t i s a
d i s t o r t i o n o f r e c e n t p o l i t i c a l h i s t o r y.
TStop outsourcing
meeting with Putin has no major result
Trump’s realist turn and the Geopolitical Backlash
Back to the law of the jungle
In the initial months of returning to office Donald Trump has reignited global controversy with a series of inflammatory and legally contentious statements These include threats to use military force to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, insinuations about U S “ownership” of Gaza following the hypothetical expulsion of its over two million Palestinian inhabitants and an overt suggestion that Ukraine should cede sovereign territory to Russia in exchange for a cease-fire
While these proclamations may appear at first glance to be manifestations of Trump s signature rhetorical excess widely characterized as erratic, nationalistic, and improvisational they in fact amount to a direct assault on a foundational tenet of the international legal order: the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force
The prohibition against territorial conquest is enshrined in the United nations Charter, particularly Article 2(4), which mandates that all member states refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state It represents one of the bedrock principles of the post-World War II international system, designed to avert a return to the lawlessness and territorial expansionism that defined earlier eras of imperialism and global war Trump’s recent positions signal not just a departure from diplomatic norms but a challenge to the very architecture of global order suggesting a reversion to a power-centric, realist logic where might again makes right
In suggesting the military seizure of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory Trump hearkens back to a time when imperial powers laid claim to foreign lands with impunity Although Trump had floated the idea of purchasing Greenland as early as 2019, his revival of the notion through military means represents a dangerous escalation Such rhetoric disregards the principles of self-determination and non-aggression and evokes historical parallels to 19th-century territorial expansionism
The idea that the USA could forcibly take Greenland, not only violates Denmark s sovereign rights but also disrespects the Inuit population’s autonomy and collective identity Moreover it trivializes the long-standing norms that prohibit territorial acquisition by coercion not only is not merely symbolic: Greenland is of increasing geostrategic importance due to its location in the Arctic and its natural resources, thus revealing how economic and military considerations might tempt powers to revive expansionist doctrines under the veil of national interest Trump s threat to militarily retake control of the Panama Canal is equally unsettling The canal was officially transferred to Panama in 1999 following the TorrijosCarter Treaties marking a rare instance of voluntary decolonization and symbolic respect for Latin American sovereignty
Trump s remarks suggest a revanchist attitude, one that not only disregards binding bilateral agreements but also undermines the decades-long struggle of Latin American nations to assert political and economic autonomy vis-à-vis the USA
Such a posture recalls the Monroe Doctrine and the subsequent Roosevelt Corollary which were used throughout the 20th century to justify US interventions across the Western Hemisphere Trump s rhetoric thus threatens to revive neocolonial dynamics, transforming what should be an equal relationship between sovereign states into one defined by coercion and control Were the USA to act on such rhetoric it would violate both the principle of pacta sunt servanda, the obligation to honour treaties and the broader prohibition on the use of force Perhaps the most disturbing of Trump’s statements is the suggestion that the USA could take ownership of Gaza after the mass expulsion of its Palestinian population
This idea not only violates international humanitarian law but also evokes comparisons to some of the darkest episodes in modern history, including the forced population transfers of World War II and the IsraeliPalestinian nakba of 1948
statements could embolden other revisionist regimes to justify their own campaigns
placement under the guise of national interest or regional stability
Trump s suggestion that Ukraine should relinquish territory to Russia in exchange for a cease-fire serves as a particularly egregious violation of international law and post-Cold War norms It implicitly recognizes Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its de facto control over portions of eastern Ukraine thereby legitimizing aggression and undermining the sovereignty of smaller states
This proposal directly contradicts multiple international legal instruments, including the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 wherein Russia guaranteed Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for its denuclearization By promoting such a resolution, Trump effectively supports the return of spheres of influence politics, in which great powers determine the fates of weaker states based on strategic calculations rather than legal or moral principles
This vision undermines the Un Charter and the principle of equal sovereignty among states which seeks to shield smaller nations from predation by larger ones
This approach also sets a dangerous precedent If a major power like the USA can propose the partition of a sovereign state as a peacekeeping measure it signals to autocratic regimes that might can still override right It also discourages resistance to ag-
The canal was officially transferred to Panama in 1999 following the Torrijos-Car ter Treaties, marking a rare instance of voluntary decolonization and symbolic respect for Latin American sovereignty. TrumpÊs remarks suggest a revanchist attitude, one that not only disregards binding bilateral agreements but also undermines the decadeslong struggle of Latin American nations to asser t political and economic autonomy vis-à-vis the USA.
gression by signalling that violations of international law can result in territorial rewards Trump s statements reflect a broader return to realpolitik a worldview in which power, rather than law or norms, determines international outcomes This worldview is fundamentally at odds with the liberal international order that emerged after 1945 which was based on the belief that law could and should constrain the behavior of states While realpolitik has never been absent from
international affairs what is novel and particularly dangerous about Trump s iteration is its open disdain for legal constraints and multilateral institutions
Instead of engaging with the Un, nATO, or the International Court of Justice, Trump’s preferred mode of diplomacy appears to be transactional unilateral and coercive This approach not only undermines international law but corrodes the moral authority of the United States inviting accusations of
The
p o o k i n g t h e c e n s o r s
OF the many ways that the Trump administration is tipping the United States towards autocracy ignoring the courts, politicizing the military, defunding universities, attacking the civil service the restriction of what citizens can read is an ominous sail on the horizon The recent bans of titles for students might seem like so much oldfashioned sermonizing all morals and pearls Keep kids from reading about sex or drugs and of course don t let them encounter a queer character lest they turn pink This nonsense is harmful enough But it is easy to imagine the next, much broader step: a centralized effort to remove certain books from all shelves Whether it is George Orwell’s nineteen Eighty-Four or Maggie Haberman’s unflattering biography of Donald Trump why give the enemy ammo the thinking goes: cut off the opposition s access to information or inspiration The courts might cry foul, but we have seen how this administration honors the courts You can imagine Stephen Miller panting as he draws up a list of “woke” titles As Charlie English shows in his new study The CIA Book Club: The Secret Mission to Win the Cold War with Forbidden Literature the Soviet Union and its client regimes in Eastern Europe were rude experts in making books disappear A Soviet list from 1951 itemized some 2,500 prohibited titles, one-fifth of them works for children Books depicting Western life were prohibited; so were those with Jewish themes, as Soviet antisemitism was notoriously rampant Censors scrubbed Russian history: there were to be no references to the MolotovRibbentrop Pact of 1939 or to the Katyn massacre of 1940 in which Soviet secret police murdered some 22 000 Polish prisoners of war If the Trump administration were likewise to erase the record of its most infamous misdeeds, it could restrict the Mueller report, all books about the January 6 assault on the Capitol or studies of the administration’s catastrophic response to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to countless needless deaths Yet if the view east provides a template for intellectual repression, it also offers hope A determined underground resistance smuggled in banned titles and set up presses to print materials in-country In addition to Orwell’s 1949 novel, these rebels circulated the works of Boris Pasternak Czesław Miłosz Joseph Brodsky Hannah Arendt Albert Camus Virginia Woolf and Václav Havel among many
Yet the history of contraband books behind the
Curtain is not black-and-white: there is a third player, and it is the grayest of gray The CIA funded efforts to get books and periodicals into readers’ hands in Eastern Europe beginning in the 1950s, when it lofted copies of Animal Farm (1945) across the Berlin
‘Who controls the past controls the future,’ as Or well wrote
The purpose of the CIA books program was to defeat an enemy, not to liberate the minds of a repressed people; the liberation was a means rather than an end
the story of the Solidarity (Solidarność) movement led by union activist Lech Wałęsa By pumping resources into Poland via this network English writes the resistance engineered a great flowering of uncensored texts which at first had kept Solidarity alive and later provided space for uncensored political debate English s book, despite some limitations, is well researched and briskly told It arrives at a moment when historical inquiry is one more Enlightenment value in the Trump administration’s sights Our national transgressions are being erased to produce a glossy memory fit for the MAGA brand Who controls the past controls the future, as Orwell wrote [W]ho controls the present controls the past Trump and his cronies seem to have mistaken this warning for a blueprint The Soviets suppressed books in private “Unlike the nazis who burned books as a public ritual ” English writes in the Soviet system the destruction of literature that didn t fit the Party s ideas was designed to be invisible Apparatchiks took banned titles from bookstores and libraries in secret; they quietly edited and emended works to accord with orthodoxy Amid such repression, uncensored literature and news was as vital as oxygen
This included Kultura the leading Polish-language journal at midcentury “Coming across a new edition of Kultura in communist Poland was like finding fresh bread rolls according to one dissident Poles quietly passed magazines and paperbacks from hand to hand, as dangerous as weapons and as precious as gold
In this context, the CIA in the late 1950s began acting through front groups to send books home with Poles visiting the West Poland was a better target than the Soviet Union English explains because its regime was comparatively liberal and there was a strong diaspora community to harness By 1975 the CIA formalized the books program into an organization called the International Literary Center, or ILC, whose nebbish administrator, George Minden, had to fight for his initiative against a bureaucracy that wanted to focus its resources on running agents and gathering intelligence The ILC developed a database of tens of thousands of dissidents living in the Eastern Bloc and carefully targeted the books it sent Paris became a critical hub where travelers could load up; the Librairie Polonaise, a venerable Polish bookshop, let visitors take several volumes for free on their way home Its manager sent a bill to the CIA, which by the mid1980s was covering half of the store’s inventory After an anti-Solidarity crackdown in 1981 the resistance shifted its efforts from smuggling books into Poland to printing them in-country This was cheaper it gave idle hands work to perform, and it allowed Poles to ship books elsewhere, effectively reversing the book program’s flow from an import to an export stream of ideas Foreign partners particularly in the Baltic states helped the resistance smuggle in presses ink spare parts and
From the CIA side, the ILC distributed over 300,000 books across Eastern Europe in its final year alone, operating at a minuscule cost of a few million dollars annually
The CIA funded effor ts to get books and periodicals into readers’ hands in Eastern Europe beginning in the 1950s
especially the master copies of the books to be printed Occasionally this led to catastrophe as in november 1986 when a shipment arriving from Sweden carrying computers ink printing presses and over 5 000 volumes was discovered and seized by the Polish authorities The fiasco brought the publishing resistance to a standstill
The risks nevertheless paid off, bringing literature into countless hands English writes that almost 2 000 uncensored books and booklets appeared between 1982 and 1985 in the underground Polish press each with print runs in the thousands From the CIA side the ILC distributed over 300,000 books across Eastern Europe in its final year alone, operating at a minuscule cost of a few million dollars annually By contrast, the agency’s efforts to frustrate the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s, Operation Cyclone cost some $700 million per year
During this time Poles were increasingly throwing off the repressions of their own government; the influence that outside literature had on them is hard to quantify but difficult to understate English quotes Mirosław Chojecki, the leader of the Polish literary resistance, who publicly likened the regime’s lies to Orwell’s “doublethink” during his sham trial a powerful testament to the force of ideas
The key weakness of The CIA Book Club is English’s surprisingly uncritical attitude toward the CIA itself The agency famously plotted to overthrow governments and colluded with violent right-wing dictatorships in countries including Chile, Argentina, and Chad, and of course played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair during the same years as this heroic literary story English name-checks these transgressions but fails to explore the moral complexities inherent in the CIA s sponsorship largely on the rationale that the rebels embraced the arrangement Yet just as the US naval Academy recently combed through titles searching for disfavored DEI terms a crass exercise antithetical to free inquiry so did the CIA review books for approval before they could be sent to Eastern Europe
A censor’s fingers always leave marks no matter the intent no one can object to Camus or Orwell and the books placed into the hands of repressed Poles were of course to the good But it is worth asking whether the agency would likewise have helped Poles access Edward Said, Eric Hobsbawm, or Howard Zinn
That’s not to say that those left-wing intellectuals make for better reading than the authors shipped into Poland The point is that having someone choose what others can read creates a moral hazard The
BRUSSELS Ag e n c i e s European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a Monday visit to Washington to see United States President Donald Trump in a collective bid to find a way to end Moscow s invasion, with the US offering security guarantees for Kyiv The meeting follows a summit in Alaska between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that failed to yield any breakthrough on an immediate ceasefire that the US leader had been pushing for Trump who pivoted afterwards to say he was now seeking a peace deal, on Sunday posted, Big progress on Russia, stay tuned! on his Truth Social platform, without elaborating Trump’s Russia envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that Trump and Putin had agreed in their summit on “robust security guarantees” for Ukraine
But Zelensky on a Brussels visit hosted by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen today rejected the idea of Russia offering his country security guarantees What President Trump said about security guarantees is much more important to me than Putin’s thoughts, because Putin will not give any security guarantees,” he said Von der Leyen hailed the US offer to provide security guarantees modeled on but separate from NATO s collective security arrangement known as Article 5 We welcome President Trump s willingness to contribute to Article 5 like security guarantees for Ukraine and the coalition of the willing, including the European Union, is ready to do its share,” von der Leyen said HOPES FOR ‘PRODUCTIVE MEETING’
Trump s pivot to looking for a peace deal not a ceasefire aligns with the stance long taken by Putin and which Ukraine and its European allies have criticised as Putin s way to buy time with the intent of making battlefield gains Zelensky also said he saw no sign the Kremlin leader was prepared to meet him and Trump for a threeway summit as had been floated by the US president
The leaders heading to Washington on Monday to appear alongside Zelensky call themselves the coalition of
the willing They include British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte and von der Leyen Also heading to Washington will be Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Finnish President Alexander Stubbs who get on well with Trump They all held a video meeting today to prepare their joint position Speaking to US broadcaster CNN, Witkoff said, I m hopeful that we have a productive meeting on Monday, we get to real consensus, we’re able to come back to the Russians and push this peace deal forward and we get it done ” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking to NBC on Sunday warned of consequences including the potential imposition of new sanctions on Russia if no peace deal is reached on Ukraine TERRITORIAL ‘CONCESSIONS’ European leaders have expressed unease from the outset over Trump’s outreach to Putin, who has demanded Ukraine abandon its ambitions to join the EU or NATO They were excluded from Trump s summit with Putin Witkoff in his CNN interview said the United States was prepared to provide game-changing security guarantees to Ukraine as part of a process that would involve territorial “concessions”
According to an official briefed on a call Trump held with Zelensky and European leaders as he flew back from Alaska the US leader supported a Putin proposal that Russia take full control of two eastern Ukrainian regions in exchange for freezing the frontline in two others Putin de facto demands that Ukraine leave Donbas, an area consisting of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine, which Russia currently only partly controls the source said In exchange Russian forces would halt their offensive in the Black Sea port region of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine where the main cities are still under Ukrainian control Several months into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia in September 2022 claimed to have annexed all
Make 80th Indonesian Independence Celebration
More
s ta f f r e p o r t The Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Islamabad held a ceremony on Sunday morning, 17 August 2025 to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Indonesia’s Independence The ceremony was led by H E Mr Chandra Warsenanto Sukotjo Ambassador-designate of the Republic of Indonesia to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan The event was attended by the Guests of Honor, Major General (R) Mr Asrobudi, Advisor of the Indonesia Big Wall Expedition (IBEX) and six mountain climbers who successfully reached the peak of Trango Tower in Gilgit Baltistan Pakistan couple days ago In addition among the attendees were the Indonesian Embassy officials and Indonesian community in Pakistan, including students, professionals, pilots, and UN/IO staff Indonesian nationals were dressed up in red and white outfits or traditional Indonesian attires reflecting the spirit of unity in diversity nationalism and patriotism Following the ceremony Ambassador Chandra warmly welcomed all Indonesian nationals and Pakistani counterparts Your presence here today, even on a Sunday when you would otherwise be enjoying your leisure time reflects the love and commitment you hold in your hearts for Indonesia I extend my deepest appreciation to all of you for joining us on this very special occasion of Indonesia s Independence Day, Ambassador appreciated all participants while further added that may the bond of friendship between Indonesia and Pakistan continue to grow stronger “Pakistan-Indonesia Dosti Zindabad!” He concluded his remarks
LAHORE s ta f f r e p o r t
Acclaimed actor and director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat joins forces with author and documentary filmmaker Saba Karim Khan for an evocative experimental short film Dealing in Desire The project draws inspiration from Saba s poem of the same name, originally published in the UK, and from Saadat Hasan Manto s celebrated short story, Hatak (The Insult) Starring Rasti Farooq, Dealing in Desire probes themes often kept to whispers: the power dynamics between men and women the emotional cost of exploitation and the journey towards reclaiming agency while navigating systemic marginalisation Through an interplay of postmodern verse and visual storytelling, the film
seeks to disrupt conventional narratives and invite audiences into an intimate provocative space SPEAKING ABOUT THE COLLABORATION, SABA KARIM KHAN SHARED:
“As a storyteller, I’ve always been curious about how stories can transmit from paper to screen in this case, exploring the cinematic quality of postmodern verse Dealing in Desire delves into women s desire and morality reclaiming agency when you belong to a deliberately silenced category in society
SARMAD SULTAN KHOOSAT REFLECTED ON ADAPTING SABA’S WORK:
“Words can be more inspiring and stimulating than pictures though I understand this may not be universally true Saba’s poignant and abstract piece sparked a multitude of visual and sonic possibilities
Ethiopian delegation arrives in Pakistan to launch ‘Plant Fraternity’ Initiative
KARACHI: A high-level delegation of government officials and climate experts from Ethiopia arrived in Karachi on Friday to launch the "Plant Fraternity" initiative in various cities of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Upon their arrival at Jinnah International Airport the delegation was warmly welcomed by H E Dr Jemal Beker Abdula, Ambassador of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) to Pakistan, and H E Ibrahim Khalid Tawab the Honorary Consul in Karachi alongside officials from the Ethiopian Airlines and Pakistan s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The delegation is scheduled to visit Islamabad and Lahore for a series of “Ethio-Pakistan Green Dialogues” and mass plantation drive Coordinated by the Ethiopian Embassy in Islamabad the visit aims to strengthen bilateral ties through environmental cooperation under Prime Minister H E Dr Abiy
Ahmed’s Green Legacy Initiative
Speaking on the occasion Ambassador Dr Jemal Beker underscored the significance of the visit calling it a clear manifestation of the growing bilateral relations between the two countries The arrival of this delegation
sends a powerful message to the world that Pakistan is not alone in its fight against climate change the Ambassador remarked He reaffirmed Ethiopia s commitment to further strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Pakistan
Rwanda wishes to work with Pakistan in various sectors: Envoy
KARACHI s ta f f r e p o r
ISLAMABAD s ta f f r e p o r t
On the directions of the Chief Commissioner Islamabad and Chairman CDA Muhammad Ali Randhawa the Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) along with DG Rescue 1122 Islamabad Director Machinery Pool Organization (MPO) representatives from Solid Waste Management Directorate, Road and Marketing, M&RM Directorate, conducted visits to low-lying and critical areas including Saidpur Village and Chattha Bakhtawar in view of the forecasted monsoon rain spell During the visit a comprehensive plan was finalized to ensure the smooth flow of rainwater without any hindrance Responsibilities of all relevant formations were
assigned and staff presence on a round-the-clock basis was directed The Machinery Pool Organization (MPO) has been tasked to immediately provide machinery to teams for widening and lowering the stream at Chattha Bakhtawar, as this is currently the most viable option to prevent any impediments Meanwhile the Solid Waste Management Directorate has been instructed to urgently clear debris blocking the Saidpur drain by tonight on priority In addition public awareness measures were also highlighted urging citizens not to block natural waterways and to take maximum precautions during the upcoming rainfall The CDA has assured that all departments will remain on high alert and work jointly to safeguard residents against any possible urban flooding
Johannesburg hosts successful 2nd Pak-Afric a Trade S ummit 2025
JOHANNESBUR
of visitors daily, particularly on Fridays In his address, Prof Dr Ahmed Saad Alahmad congratulated the students, their parents, and teachers on this milestone He highlighted the spiritual virtues of memorizing the Qur an underscoring that true benefit comes through sincere devotion adherence to the Sunnah and deep reflection on its meanings The President also paid tribute to the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia for his enduring service to the Muslim Ummah and expressed gratitude to the current Saudi leadership for continuing their support of Faisal Mosque and IIUI
Minara Chamber of Commerce, CBE and other partner organizations
In
CM Gandapur announces Rs2m compensation for each flood vic tim, houses reconstruc tion
Accompanied by Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf Chairman Barrister Gohar and MNA Sher Afzal Marwat the Chief Minister declared a compensation of Rs2m each for the families of those who lost their lives in the catastrophic floods
During his visit, Chief Minister Gandapur reviewed the extensive damage caused by the floods and monitored ongoing relief operations He was briefed by the divisional and district administrations on the loss of life, property damage, and the progress of relief efforts
The Chief Minister also met with affected families offering condolences and assurances of government support
Gandapur said that PTI’s MNAs and MPAs are visiting the affected areas to help the people He also announced that the KP will acquire modern technology to monitor cloudbursts and enhance early warning systems “The military is also assisting us and has provided two additional helicopters to support rescue efforts ” CM said Rs2m compensation for each flood victim s family Earlier KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur visited the flood-ravaged district of Buner, one of the hardest-hit areas in the province, to assess the devastation and announce relief measures
Provincial cabinet members the Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other relevant officials were present during the visit The floods, triggered by torrential rains and cloudbursts have claimed 340 lives in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa according to official reports
The NDMA has warned of more moderate to heavy rainfall expected across the province, including in floodaffected areas such as Chitral, Dir, Haripur, Karak, Kohat, Kohistan, Khyber Kurram Mansehra Mohmand Nowshera Malakand Charsadda Abbottabad Bannu Buner Hazara Peshawar Swabi Swat Waziristan and surrounding regions, from August 18 to August 22
The provincial government has pledged to intensify relief efforts to support the affected communities as the region braces for further rainfall
to spread into villages, prompting local authorities to impose Section 144 to restrict movement along riverbanks Similar situations have been reported in Chiniot where the Chenab River is at low flood levels and in Kundian where the Indus River is at medium flood stage Narowal s Zafarwal tehsil is also facing flooding due to the swelling of Dek Nullah, which has reached more than 22,000 cusecs of water Rescue operations are ongoing in affected areas, and evacuation warnings have been issued for low-lying communities The release of additional water into the Sutlej by India has also increased flood risks in Chishtian where sugarcane and cotton crops have already been affected The Pakistan Meteorological Department has issued a red alert, warning of further heavy rains and flash floods in streams and nullahs across various regions, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and parts of southeastern Balochistan Urban flooding remains a major concern in low-lying areas of Lahore Rawalpindi Islamabad and Peshawar Landslides and mudslides are also expected in hilly areas like Murree Galliyat Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Authorities have advised the public to follow evacuation orders and avoid unnecessary travel The Punjab tourism department has issued a safety advisory, restricting entry to rivers, streams, and other high-risk areas Emergency control rooms have been set up at tourist sites, and rescue staff are on high alert Rainfall
N e w S D e S k
Prime
Zealand
Rt Hon Christopher Luxon participated in a grand celebration marking Pakistan s 78th Independence Day in Auckland, as reported by state broadcaster PTV
on
The event was attended by notable dignitaries, including Minister for Ethnic Communities
Mitchell Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins Pakistan s High Commissioner to New Zealand Faisal Aziz Ahmed and several Members of Parliament Addressing the nearly 1000-strong gathering of Kiwi Pakistanis, Prime Minister Luxon congratulated Pakistan on its Independence Day He emphasized the long-standing and cordial relationship between Pakistan and New Zealand and lauded the contributions of the Kiwi Pakistani community to New Zealand s development Luxon acknowledged the significant role played by Pakistanis in enriching New Zealand s society Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins also took the opportunity to appreciate the Pakistani community’s contributions to New Zealand highlighting the strength of ties between the two nations A symbolic flag hoisting ceremony was conducted by Pakistan s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Dr Faisal Aziz Ahmed, in the pres-
ence of New Zealand s leadership During the ceremony Dr Asif Khan President of the Pakistan Association of New Zealand (PANZ) presented shawls made in Pakistan to Prime Minister Luxon and other dignitaries Dr Khan, in his address, highlighted the activities and future plans of PANZ and called for both governments to work towards establishing a strategic partnership for mutual benefit
The event hosted by the Pakistan Association of New Zealand (PANZ) with support from the Pakistan High Commission, the New Zealand Ministry of Ethnic Communities, and various Auckland-based Pakistani businesses, featured cultural performances poetry recitals and patriotic songs Additionally the launch of the new PANZ interactive website was a key highlight
