LO U D B U R S T W R E C K C O U N T R Y ’ S N O R T H E R N A R E A S
g KP WORST HIT WITH 210 DEATHS, VA ST DAMAGE TO INFRA STRUCTURE
g GB AND AJK ALSO SUFFER WITH DEATH TOLL AND DAMAGES TO INFRA STRUCTURE, KKH BLOCKED AT VARIOUS POINTS DUE TO LANDSLIDE
g FIELD MARSHAL MUNIR ISSUES SPECIAL DIRECTIVES FOR FULL-SCALE REHAB IN FLOOD-AFFECTED COMMUNITIES
g COAS ASSURE TROOPS WOULD ASSIST IN RELIEF WITH ADDITIONAL CONTINGENTS BEING DISPATCHED TO BOLSTER OPERATIONS O V E R 2 2 2 K I L L E D A S C ATA S T R O P H I C R A I N S ,
ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/PESHAWAR
FL A S H floods triggered by a catastrophic wave of torrential rains and deadly cloudburst on Friday wreaked havoc across the country’s northern areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa worst hit claiming at least 222 people dead and dozens missing while a Pakistan Army helicopter carrying relief supplies tragically crashed, killing all five personnel on board, the officials confirmed Majority of deaths–210 reported in
In
The data added that 68 homes three schools and 16 other structures were destroyed amid the deluge with 49 homes being destroyed in Swat alone According to the PDMA report, 61 houses were partially destroyed and seven were completely destroyed
The report added
Premier Shehbaz inaugurates Chinese textile group’s SEZ in Islamabad
as well as the relevant United Nations resolutions ” The FO statement reaffirmed Pakistan’s full support for the Palestinian people s legitimate rights including the right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent viable, and contiguous State of Palestine, based on pre1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital
The Senate on Friday unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming the resolve to protect the sovereignty of Pakistan, preserving its democratic ethics and building a prosperous future for generations to come The resolution moved by Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar in connection with Independence Day pledged to strive for sustainable development, economic empowerment, and national unity Honoring the leadership of Quaid-eAzam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the resolution paid homage to all those whose sacrifices made Pakistan a sovereign and independent state The resolution acknowledged and commended the armed forces and security institutions for their unmatched valour and sacrifices in defending the nation It paid tribute to the martyrs and Ghazis pledging to preserve and uphold their legacy for future generations
The resolution paid special tribute to the parliamentarians, who framed the constitution of Pakistan and advanced democratic reforms, while reaffirming the commitment to preserving the parliamentary democracy constitutional supremacy and rule of law
The resolution also expressed commitment to promoting peaceful coexistence, regional stability, and constructive engagement with neighboring countries It also expressed commitment to address the shared challenges including climate change
Pakistan Customs issues revised values for impor ted spun yarn
Reference No 02 dated December 29 2022 Following representations from the Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA) and other stakeholders, the directorate reviewed the values, noting that over 90 days had passed since the previous ruling and that the earlier rates no longer reflected prevailing international market prices
Importers highlighted that a consensus-based formula for valuing polyester viscose and acrylic spun yarn had previously been developed in coordination with the Customs Department However, they stated the formula had become outdated due to a decline in import volumes, and that customs values had not been revised since 2022 The directorate found the Computed Value Method under Section 25(8) of the Customs Act inapplicable due to insufficient data on production costs in exporting countries
After analyzing information from multiple sources, including international raw material prices from CCF Group, new customs values were calculated Conversion costs for producing yarn from polyester viscose and acrylic staple fibers were determined based on international publications These costs were then added to raw material values to set the revised customs values for 100% and blended spun yarns The ruling also covers conversion costs for producing multiple-ply (2-ply and 3-ply) yarns, which were incorporated into the final customs values for both polyester and viscose spun yarns
US WARNS OF HIGHER TARIFFS ON INDIA IF TRUMP-PUTIN TALKS FAIL
says international cour t lacks authority to rule on Indus Waters Treaty
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o a t s I t w i l l b e t h e m o m e n t t h e U S A r e a l i z e s i t w a s n ’ t f o r e i g n a d v e r s a r i e s t h a t b r o k e
tment was told to cut from its human rights repor
corruption, and the expulsion of refugees
THE State Department is gutting its human rights reporting by excising information detailing abuses by foreign governments from the department s annual reports, The Intercept has learned Officially called “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices ” the annual documents are required by law to be a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights in nearly 200 countries and territories worldwide They are used by the U S Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches as a resource for shaping policy and guiding decisions informing diplomatic engagements and determining the allocation of foreign aid and security sector assistance according to the State Department The reports will no longer call out governments for abuses like restrictions on free and fair elections, significant corruption, or serious harassment of domestic or international human rights organizations according to instructions issued earlier this year to the State Department s Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor known as DRL which, itself, has been eviscerated under an America First reorganization by Secretary of State Marco Rubio The undated memo from earlier this year reviewed by The Intercept says the reports will also turn a blind eye to the forcible expulsion of refugees or asylum-seekers to countries where they may face torture or persecution This comes as the Trump administration is building a global gulag, pursuing deals with around a third of the world’s nations to expel immigrants to places where they do not hold citizenship Once exiled these so-called third-country nationals are sometimes detained imprisoned or in danger of being sent back to their country of origin which they may have fled to escape violence, torture, or political persecution
A recent Intercept investigation found that the nations that the Trump administration is collaborating with to accept expelled third country immigrants are some of the worst human rights offenders on the planet, according to last year s State Department
human rights reports The new country reports, expected to be released within days, will effectively launder abuses by nations that the administration is targeting as potential deportee dumping grounds The memo also instructs the agency to identify and delete references to discrimination or violence against LGBTQI+ persons, transgender ’ persons, or similar framing ” “Donald Trump has made it his personal mission to limit transparency and accountability and the State Department s upcoming human rights report or what remains of it will certainly reflect that Sen Peter Welch, D-Vt , told The Intercept He s more concerned with denying human rights here and abroad, and cozying up to dictators and authoritarian leaders than he is with fighting for those who need it most ” The State Department did not respond to repeated questions from The Intercept regarding the human rights reports
Annelle Sheline, who served as a Foreign Affairs Officer in DRL’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs until last year and previously worked on annual country human rights reports expects the forthcoming documents to be completely hollowed out In conversations with former colleagues she heard that a working draft on human rights in Egypt, which in past versions has run 70 or 80 pages, had been slashed down to only 20 pages She said she heard that a 60-page Tunisia draft report submitted early this year had been stripped down to just 15 pages The instructions to DRL issued earlier this year take specific aim at non-refoulement derived from a French word for re-
turn which forbids sending people to places where they are at risk of harm It is a bedrock principle of international human rights refugee and customary international law and is embedded in U S domestic law State Department employees were specifically instructed that the upcoming country reports should remove any reference to “refoulement of persons to a country where they would face torture or persecution,” according to the memo State Department officials did not respond to repeated questions by The Intercept concerning the role the Trump administration s own third-country deportations played in the new directive
Experts say that watering down the human rights reports will cause real harm “People will suffer Immigration courts in the United States and asylum claim adjudicators around the world look at these reports for guidance If you redefine what persecution looks like in a particular country or what fear of retribution means, it can do real damage to real people,” said Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy with Amnesty International USA The U S government has an obligation of non-refoulement that is to ensure it isn t sending or deporting people back to torture, Klasing said If the Trump administration ignores or rewrites the extent to which torture or other threatening conditions are happening in a country it can create at least the façade of plausible deniability of allowing refoulement for individuals it is deporting and that s dangerous
More than 8,100 people have been expelled to third countries since January 20,
and the U S has made arrangements to send people to at least 13 nations, so far, across the globe Of them 12 have been cited by the State Department for significant human rights abuses
But the Trump administration has cast a much wider net for its third-country deportations The U S has solicited 64 nations to participate in its growing network of detainee dumping grounds for expelled immigrants Fifty-eight of them roughly 91 percent were rebuked for human rights violations in last year s State Department human rights reports The newest additions to America s global gulag are among the least free countries on the planet Last month, the administration expelled five men from Cuba Jamaica Laos Vietnam and Yemen to the Southern African kingdom of Eswatini an absolute monarchy with a dismal human rights record The move closely followed the U S deportation of eight men to violenceplagued South Sudan, one of the most repressive nations in the world The State Department’s 2024 assessment of South Sudan catalogs an enormous range of serious abuses including reports of extra-
judicial killings; disappearances by or on behalf of government authorities; and instances in which “security forces mutilated, tortured, beat and harassed political opponents journalists and human rights activists ” The human rights report on Eswatini from last year refers to credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; and the incarceration of political prisoners Experts emphasize that the State Department s record on calling out human
TRUMP AND PUTIN TO SPAR UKRAINE PEACE AND ARMS CONTROL AT AL ASK A SUMMIT
S Advocacy groups filed a criminal case against Germany’s foreign and interior ministers on Friday accusing them of failing to protect Afghan nationals in Pakistan with German admission approvals from deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Pakistan has begun deporting documented Afghan refugees ahead of a September 1 deadline a move the United Nations warns could force more than one million to leave The decision followed the interior ministry s announcement on July 31 that PoR cardholders the last category of Afghans legally residing in Pakistan without visas became unlawful residents after their cards expired on June 30
A letter from the interior ministry, dated August 4, was sent to the
chief secretaries and police chiefs of the four provinces as well as GilgitBaltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, detailing the implementation of the ongoing Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP) Among those at risk are more than 2 000 Afghans approved for relocation to Germany under programmes for people deemed vulnerable under Taliban rule in Afghanistan The relocations have been put on hold, pending a review by Germany’s new conservative-led government as it tries to deliver on its election promise to curb migration Refugee group PRO ASYL and the Patenschaftsnetzwerk Ortskraefte, a non-profit supporting former local staff who worked for Germany, filed a criminal complaint with Berlin prosecutors against Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt By allowing
Pakistan to deport Afghans already accepted into German resettlement programmes they said the ministers had committed abandonment and failure to render assistance” to people at risk under Section 221 of the Criminal Code
They said more than 400 people approved for relocation to Germany had been arrested in Pakistan in recent weeks and 34 people had already been deported Deportees face grave risks under Taliban rule, including imprisonment mistreatment or execution the groups said Victoria Lies a lawyer who represents several of those affected, said some of her clients had been separated from their families, and in one case, a girl had been sent back to Afghanistan alone The foreign and interior ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit
import tariffs on India from 25 per cent to 50pc by August 27 if New Delhi does not switch its crude suppliers
“We know that we remain dependent on many countries to meet our energy needs said Modi But to build a truly self-reliant India, we must achieve energy independence
S ta f f r e p o r t The Government of Pakistan
CM MARYAM EMBARKS ON FIVE-DAY OFFICIAL VISIT TO JAPAN
National
at
Blends Celebration, Culture, and Vision for the Future
KP ACCUSES FEDERAL GOVT OF BIAS IN NET HYDEL PROFITS PAYMENTS, DEMANDS EQUITABLE SHARE
g CONSIGNMENTS ARRANGED THROUGH SOCAR TO ARRIVE IN PHA SES; GOVERNMENT AIMS TO ENSURE STEADY SUPPLY AT CONCESSIONAL RATES
The federal government has finalized arrangements to import 85 000 metric tons of sugar in a bid to meet domestic demand and stabilize prices in the local market the Ministry of National Food
Chaudhry for her work in climate change and IT, Prof Dr Muhammad Moazam Fraz for contributions to the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence and Prof Dr Awais Yasin for achievements in science robotics and artificial intelligence In the field of education the Hilal-i-Imtiaz was conferred on Dr Amir Muhammad for his distinguished contributions Prof Dr Ikram ul Haq was also recognized for his achievements Posthumous Sitara-i-Imtiaz awards in education were presented to Dr Shamsuddin Qureshi Prof Dr Ch Irshad Muhammad Prof Dr Mujeebuddin Memon D Mola Dad Shafa and Dr Lubna Zaheer acknowledged with the Pride of Performance
The Tamgha-i-Imtiaz was awarded to Prof Dr Sabeih Anwar, Dr Rahmat Ellahi for mathematics, Dr Tariq Mahmood Jadoon, Prof Dr Muhammad Sarwar Khan for agricultural science Prof Dr Naqib Ullah Achakzai and Prof Dr Khalid Hafeez Additional Tamgha-i-Imtiaz recipients in education include Ghulam Nabi Zakaria Ismail Godil Javaid Rais, Abid Hussain Lashari, and Dr Mumtaz Umar
In the field of medicine, the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz was conferred on Prof Dr Bilal Ahmed for his contributions to dentistry academics and Dr Akbar Hussain for excellence in healthcare Additional honourees include Dr Shaukat Zubair Dr Farat Akhtar Raja and Dr Khurram Khan for their dedicated service in medical practice and public health
In the field of arts and performing arts, the Sitara-iImtiaz was awarded to Irfan Ali Khosat, Hadiqa Kiani, Irfan Ahsan, Azra Aftab, Samina Peerzada, Fazila Qaiser Qazi Savera Abbas Humaira Arshad Saira Naseem and Samila Hashmi for their outstanding contributions to the performing arts
The Pride of Performance was conferred on Muhammad Azam Khan, Zulqarnain Haider, Sultan Javed Jamal, Noor Muhammad Baloch, Rajab Ali, Ms Mukhtiar Naz Taj Mastani, Khawaja Ali Kazim (posthumously), Jamshed Ali Khan and Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Tamgha-i-Imtiaz was awarded to Allah Dina Imran Ullah Hunzai and Qazi Shujaat Qardi for their artistic achievements In recognition of literary excellence the Nishan-i-Imtiaz was conferred on Irfan ul Haq Siddiqui, Atta Ul Haq Qasmi, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Asghar Nadeem Syed, and Zahra Nigah for their distinguished contributions to Urdu literature and cultural discourse
Leopard succ umbs to injuries af ter brutal assault by loc als in Abbottabad
situation and, after significant effort, managed to take the injured leopard into their custody However, the animal succumbed to its injuries shortly after being moved to the police post The carcass was later handed over to the wildlife department Local residents alleged that leopards had killed several of their goats in recent months and some suggested that the animal may have been poisoned Wildlife officials indicated that the leopard s injuries suggested poisoning, and a postmortem examination will be conducted at the veterinary hospital to determine the exact cause of death
later went viral on social media Some residents claimed that the animal had been responsible for livestock losses in the area Police from the Boi checkpoint responded to the
The wildlife department’s officials stated that those involved in the assault identified in the videos posted online would face charges under relevant laws
SDFO Mushtaq Khan affirmed that the authorities would take strict action against the perpetrators
LAHORE S ta f f R e p o R t
The Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has placed all districts on high alert following forecasts of heavy rains cloudbursts and possible flash flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa upper Punjab, and other parts of the country DG PDMA Irfan Ali Kathia said the seventh spell of the monsoon is expected to be stronger with stormy rains predicted in many districts over the next 24
The DG stressed that hospitals must have adequate staffing and emergency supplies along with drainage facilities particularly around medical facilities Sufficient petrol and diesel stocks for rescue operations must also be maintained Local administrations have been told to make mosque announcements and issue public advisories urging citizens to move to safe places and cooperate fully with district authorities and rescue teams “Follow PDMA’s instructions and take all precautionary measures ” Kathia said Punjab PDMA aler ts depar tments to heav y rains, cloudbursts ‘threat ’
hours The provincial emergency control room is maintaining roundthe-clock contact with district emergency operation centres to monitor the situation Commissioners and deputy commissioners across Punjab have been directed to ensure 24-hour monitoring of rivers streams and low-lying areas deploy rescue teams in advance at sensitive points and keep lifeboats, life rings, and rescue equipment on standby Civil defence, health, and other relevant departments have also been instructed to remain fully prepared
for security reasons, and a ban on pillion riding was enforced In Karachi, the central mourning gathering (Majlis-e-Aza) was held at Nishtar Park under the auspices of Pak Muharram Hall where renowned scholar Allama Shahenshah Naqvi delivered a sermon on the tribulations of the Ahl-e-Bait Following the Majlis, the main Chehlum procession began and proceeded along MA Jinnah Road to Imambargah Ali Raza, where congregational Zuhrain prayers were led by Allama Nazir Abbas Taqvi The procession then followed its traditional route passing through Sea Breeze Empress Market, Tibet Centre, Jama Cloth Market, and Lighthouse, concluding at Husainia Iranian Imambargah in Kharadar Throughout the procession mourning groups (matami anjumans) recited elegies
and performed matam Devotees paid homage to symbolic representations of Zuljanah (the horse of Imam Hussain RA) alams (flags) and taboots (replicas of coffins)
Distributions of food and drinks including biryani sheermal sherbet water and tea were also made as offerings (Nazr-o-Niyaz), while special arrangements were made by women for female mourners, including setting up water stalls (sabeels) Moreover to mitigate the effects of heat water was sprayed along the route while ambulances and medical camps were stationed throughout the processional route Governor Kamran Tessori and Additional IG Javed Alam Odho also participated in the procession Chehlum, Urs of Data Ganj Bakhsh conclude in Lahore The Chehlum of Imam Hussain (RA) and the concluding
