TOver 3,200 acres of farmland and 6,200 livestock lost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa floods, UN agency
Punjab to launch phase-2 of Asaan Karobar Finance Scheme with Rs90b
interest-free loans
performance
their product offerings across multiple categories, including petrol, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles “Aligned with the positive outlook Sazgar remains committed to the introduction of New Energy Vehicles
(NEVs) equipped with advanced technologies and modern features in line with the Government s policy framework The company has successfully launched its first CKD Plug-In-Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) HAVAL H6 1 5L on August 16 2025 In addition CKD rollouts of TANK-500 and CANNON PHEVs are planned by March 31 2026 read the financial statement Sazgar Engineering manufactures and markets four-wheelers of various types under brands HAVAL, JOLION, BAIC and three-wheelers under the brand SAZGAR The company also imports and markets four-wheelers under the brand TANK-500 and ORA
It said that the three-wheeler segment is also expected to maintain its growth trajectory and will deliver stronger sales volumes in the coming financial year However the tractor wheel segment is struggling for its sur-
Pakistani citizens c an now buy vir tual assets, SBP ’s
official tells S enate panel
Govt raises Rs 491b in T-bill auc tion, surpassing target by Rs 91b
HUBCO got into power generation, as the first IPP three decades ago and now is the country’s biggest IPP which directly or indirectly operates plants with a combined capacity of 2289 MW It is, through its subsidiary Mega Motors, going into the electric vehicle sector in partnership with Chinese EV giant BYD It has not limited itself to vehicles but has through another subsidiary HUBCO Green started setting up chargers at petrol pumps It has set up eight chargers across Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore in collaboration with Pakistan State Oil, Attock Refinery Limited and PARCO Gunvor
These chargers are just the beginning of a network that will usher in the EV revolution One of the biggest hurdles to conversion from fuelled vehicles to electric is the availability of charging stations Theoretically, vehicle chargers can be kept at home, and vehicles charged overnight, but that would only work for city driving with a return to home (and the charger) every night The availability of petrol pumps everywhere has enabled the spread of fuelled vehicles One of the advantages of the HUBCO Green chargers is that it is AC-based rather than DC While DC chargers have an output of between 3 3 kW and 20 kW, AC chargers have an output of between 50 kW and 350kW True DC-based
C u s t o m s a n d c o u r t s
TChild protection in Pakistan
The separation of powers has many things to commend itself, but efficiency in government is not necessarily one of them Trump would probably have been happier as a tinpot dictator, whose word was final, and who did not have to navigate any legal challeng es.
Agree or else
MuhaMMad Bilal Khan
Trump’s war on homelessness in the USA
Wtreatment exacerbate the issue as do natural disasters and public health crises that displace thousands of families In some cases, even fulltime employment fails to guarantee a roof over one’s head revealing how deeply structural this crisis has become Europe faces its own escalating challenges demonstrating that homelessness is not limited by geography or wealth Across the European Union and UK, over one million people sleep without adequate shelter every night In France, there are 333,000 homeless people about 30 7 per 10 000 residents Germany reports 263 000 homeless individuals (25 8 per 10 000) while
The USA possesses the resources, innovation, and leadership to combat this crisis effectively. What is needed is a national consensus that homelessness is not a reflection of personal failure but a consequence of systemic gaps. By embracing compassion and collaboration, the USA can ensure a future where ever y citiz en has access to safe , secure , and dignified housing a future where the wealthiest nation on Ear th leads not just by economic power but by its ability to care for its most vulnerable .
Let the Indonesian riots be a lesson to all governments
The big difference from Malaysia is that our protests even massive rallies like the one by Bersih for electoral reform are typically peaceful disciplined and middle-class-driven The question is: Why?
One possible answer may lie in the economic and socio-political makeup of these nations particularly the role of the middle class Indonesia has a long and storied tradition of mass mobilisation as a vehicle for political change From the anti-colonial era to the Reformasi movement that brought down Suharto in 1998 protests have often carried the weight of national transformation This legacy has made street politics a normalised even romanticised expression of democracy, while in Malaysia, until recent years under the Anwar Administration, protests were regarded as a potential spark for riots In Malaysia, the groups which organise demonstrations are shaped by a more consolidated and economically secure middle class In urban centres like Kuala Lumpur protests tend to be led by professionalclass Malaysians who operate within a more institutional political culture Movements like Bersih were notable not just for their size, but for their orderliness These were protests for reform, not revolution
Working Malaysians cannot afford to spend too long in the streets which means protests are short and usually take place during weekends This is unlike Indonesia where protests last longer as many labour segments still tend to be more informally structured The Malaysian middle class prefers to use its economic position to push for change within the system through the courts civil society and certainly at the ballot box The legal and electoral systems remain legitimate
We still have faith and respect in our institutions especially the judiciary and the police unlike in Indonesia where they are seen as high handed and insensitive to the marginalised Our protests tend to be carefully planned, image-conscious, and restrained Violence would immediately de-legitimise the very political leverage the middle class seeks to wield Even during the recent Turun Anwar protests the main organiser PAS used its marshals to ensure the participants followed the rules
The delicate balance of Malaysia s multi-ethnic society is another factor It has instilled a broader cultural aversion to political disorder, which many fear could ignite deeper tensions The New Economic Policy has been questioned for its implementation but it has also rightly created a huge Malay middle class base Businesses and housing estates have become more multi-racial by ensuring bumiputra participation and ownership, and that takes away racial identity
No one in Malaysia, especially the majority middle class, wants to rock the boat For all the grumbling and whining life in Malaysia is much better and comfortable than many countries While Indonesia and Malaysia may appear similar on the surface the protest cultures reflect deep differences in class dynamics historical trajectories, and state-society relations As one analyst put it, in Indonesia, a protest is a battle
TH E United States and Europe have long used unilateral sanctions as a tool of imperial power, to discipline and even destroy Global South governments that seek to shake off Western domination chart an independent path and establish any kind of meaningful sovereignty
During the 1970s, there were, on average, about 15 countries under Western unilateral sanctions in any given year In many cases, these sanctions sought to strangle access to finance and international trade destabilise industries and inflame crises to provoke state collapse
For instance when the popular socialist Salvador Allende was elected to power in Chile in 1970 the US government imposed brutal sanctions on the country At a September 1970 meeting at the White House, US President Richard Nixon explained the objective was to “make [Chile’s] economy scream” The historian Peter Kornbluh describes the sanctions as an “invisible blockade that cut Chile off from international finance created social unrest and paved the way for the US-backed coup that installed the brutal right-wing dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet
Since then, the US and Europe have dramatically increased their use of sanctions During the 1990s and 2000s an average of 30 countries were under Western unilateral sanctions in any given year And now as of the 2020s it is more than 60 – a strikingly high proportion of the countries of the Global South
Sanctions often have a huge human toll Scholars have demonstrated this in several well-known cases, such as the US sanctions against Iraq in the 1990s that led to widespread malnutrition, lack of clean water, and shortages of medicine and electricity More recently US economic warfare against Venezuela has resulted in a severe economic crisis with one study estimating that sanctions caused 40 000 excess deaths in just one year from 2017 to 2018 Until now, researchers have sought to understand the human toll of sanctions on a case-by-case basis This is difficult work and can only ever give us a partial picture But that has changed with new research published this year in The Lancet Global Health which gives us a global view for the first time Led by the economist Francisco Rodriguez at the University of Denver, the study calculates the total number of excess deaths associated with international sanctions from 1970 to 2021 The results are staggering In their central estimate
H I N A - D P R K T I E S I N TA L KS W I T H K I M J O N G U N
I Jinping general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chinese president, held talks with Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Beijing on Thursday Kim is in China for commemorations
with the DPRK to enhance high-level exchanges and strategic communication, deepen the exchange of experience in party and state governance, maintain close interaction at all levels and carry out practical cooperation in various fields said Xi Faced with unprecedented global challenges, Xi said he has successively put for-
maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, said Xi Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president holds talks with Kim Jong Un general secretary of the Workers Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the Democratic People s Republic of Korea, in Beijing, China, September 4, 2025 /Xinhua i Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chinese president holds talks with Kim
interests On the Korean Peninsula issue China has always maintained an objective and fair position and is willing to continue to strengthen coordination with the DPRK to
COURT REBUKE Burroughs an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama agreed saying while Harvard had tolerated hateful behavior for too long the Trump administration used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologicallymotivated assault on this country’s premier universities ” She said the administration s pressure campaign resulted in it terminating Harvard s grants without complying with the law and retaliating against the school in violation of its free speech rights under the US Constitution’s First Amendment Burroughs said it was the job of courts to safeguard academic freedom and ensure that important research is not improperly subjected to arbitrary and procedurally infirm grant terminations, even if doing so risks the wrath of a government committed to its agenda no matter the cost ”
and remains ineligible for grants in the future ” Harvard President Alan Garber in a message to the campus community said the ruling validates our arguments in defense of the University s academic freedom, critical scientific research, and the core principles of American higher education ” Garber did not mention the status of settlement talks with the administration which Trump during a cabinet meeting last week said he wanted to see result in Harvard paying nothing less than $500 million as it had been very bad Garber said that even as the school acknowledged the key principles Burroughs’ ruling affirmed Harvard was going to be mindful of the changing landscape in which we seek to fulfill our mission
Israel’s war in Gaza Harvard has said it has taken steps to ensure its campus is welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students who it acknowledges experienced vicious and reprehensible treatment following the onset of Israel s war in Gaza
The administration’s decision to cancel grants was one of many actions it has taken against Harvard
It has also sought to bar international students from attending the school; threatened Harvard s accreditation status; and opened the door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil rights law ACADEMIC PROTEST
campus Harvard sued, arguing the Trump administration was retaliating against it in violation of its free-speech rights after it refused to meet officials demands that it overhaul its governance hiring and academic programs to align with their ideological agenda
She barred the administration from terminating or freezing any additional federal funding to Harvard and blocked it from continuing to withhold payment on existing grants or refusing to award new funding to the school in the future White House spokesperson Liz Huston in a statement vowed to appeal the ruling by an activist Obama-appointed judge saying Harvard does not have a constitutional right to taxpayer dollars
Three other Ivy League schools have made deals with the administration, including Columbia University which in July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research money that had been denied because of allegations the university allowed antisemitism to fester on campus As with Columbia, the Trump administration took actions against Harvard related to the pro-Palestinian protest movement that roiled its campus and other universities in the wake of the October 7 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and
Burroughs in a separate case has already barred the administration from halting Harvard s ability to host international students, who comprise about a quarter of the school’s student body Harvard litigated the grant funding case alongside the school’s faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors which opposes the idea of the institution cutting a deal with Trump
“We hope this decision makes clear to Harvard’s administration that bargaining the Harvard community’s rights in a compromise with the government is unacceptable the group s lawyers Joseph Sellers and Corey Stoughton said in a statement US cour t sides with Har vard in $2.2bn funding dispute
British High Commission
SENATE PANEL SL AMS FOOD MINISTRY FOR MISGUIDING ON MANGO EXPORTS, IGNORING SENATE DIRECTIONS
ISLAMABAD
g H u l a M a B B a s
TH E Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research which met here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Senator Syed Masroor Ahsan, strongly criticized ministry officials for presenting false information on mango exports, information that has already been contradicted by European data and other international sources
The chairman came down hard on Secretary MNFSR Amir Mohyuddin the Joint Secretary Bilal Haider, and DG Department of Plant Protection (DPP) Tahir Abbas, accusing them of misguiding the public and the Parliament He said both the ministry and DPP had failed to act on directions given by the committee during its previous meeting I personally visited the hot water treatment (HWT) plants in Karachi and saw illegal activities firsthand Cameras were not working HWT equipment was nonfunctional, and corruption was rampant Certain plants were being facilitated illegally, with officials reportedly accepting payment per kilogram to bypass treatment procedures ” Senator Masroor said The chairman revealed that one Karachi facility operating on a plot of only 2 000 square yards was allegedly claiming to process 17 containers of mangoes daily for phytosanitary certification Such volumes are logistically impossible, yet fake certificates were being issued, putting Pakistan’s exports at risk,” he said, adding that he had shared photographs and evidence with the ministry but no action was taken
When ministry officials attempted to explain, the chairman snapped: “I have all the evidence You don’t even have the authority to rectify matters in your own ministry I am surprised to see who is actually running the affairs of MNFSR and DPP Committee members also told the officials that their inefficiencies were damaging the reputation of Federal Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain, who heads the ministry Senator Saleem Mandviwalla pointed out that the
An O asis in Punjab’s Educ ational Wilderness: A Unique Experiment in Educ ation
When I first heard about The Trust School, I expected yet another underprivileged institution with limited infrastructure I was completely bamboozled Its purpose-built campuses holistic approach and forward-thinking programs immediately revealed that this school is truly an oasis in Punjab s educational wilderness
Founded over 26 years ago by Mr Tahir Yusuf, CEO of the Foundation for the Development of Deserving and Meritorious Students (FEDDS) and Madam Saira Tahir
Founder Trustee of FEDDS The Trust School has grown into a model of academic excellence, inclusivity, and social responsibility
Eighteen Welcomes Dr
Mohamed Mansour as New Chief Executive Officer
Both visionaries personally convinced numerous like-minded individuals and notable personalities to join hands creating a strong network of supporters committed to transforming education
A standout feature of the school is the financial upgradation of teachers, ensuring educators are financially secure so they can focus entirely on students’ holistic development True equality is a core value here: students from underprivileged families learn alongside those who can afford full fees treated with the same dignity and respect Teachers themselves are not aware of which students are on subsidized tuition
The Trust School goes beyond academics by integrating IT and 21st-century skills into its curriculum Students and teachers are equipped with knowledge in AI, freelancing, graphic designing, and other emerging technologies, preparing them to face global challenges confidently and creatively
The alumni achievements are extraordinary Many now study at LUMS and work in leading global
companies such as Microsoft Google, and Benz Students benefit from value-based education, skill development, healthcare programs, and extracurricular training, with several earning full international scholarships to study abroad
Beyond academics the school emphasizes environmental stewardship, healthcare initiatives, and entrepreneurship skills, ensuring students are ready to contribute meaningfully to society Despite limited external funding the dedication of the founders trustees and supporters has allowed this institution to thrive
The Trust School is more than a school it is a vision realized, a model of inclusivity, and a blueprint for 21st-century education Government officials and policymakers would do well to study its practices as replicating this model could uplift public education standards across Punjab and beyond
The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) welcomed Ambassador Takeshi Akahori Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, for exchange of views on bilateral, regional and international issues The Japanese delegation included Mr Iwase Kiichiro Deputy Director Southwest Asia Division MOFA Japan and Mr Shinohara Nobukuni First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan in Islamabad Extending a
Were Ancient Hunter- G atherers Happier Than Modern Humans?
ATC grants bail to Imran Khan’s nephew Shershah Khan
duly elected assembly not created through manipulation However when the constitution was ready, the assembly was dissolved by military and civil authorities, laying the foundation for Pakistan’s eventual division He said Bengalis did not wish to separate but were branded a burden by rulers as early as 1962 Referring to Justice Munir s writings he said they must be read to understand how constitutional derailments harmed the nation
August 21 and produced before the court on August 22, while Shershah was taken into custody on August 22 and presented the following day The prosecution argued that Shershah was present at the scene of the riots and that video evidence was available to establish his presence Aleema Khan speaking to reporters outside the ATC said, the judge has granted bail to my children, which is a matter of happiness But the way they were picked up is regrettable ” Aleema recalled Imran Khan’s stance saying “Imran Khan had said that even if you take away my entire family I will not back down from my stance We also stand with Khan What happened to the military trial of Kulbhushan who martyred thousands of Pakistanis? On Imran Khan s incarceration, Aleema said, Imran Khan is currently arrested only in the Al-Qadir Trust case
Field Marshal Asim
Munir’s tenure to
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed grief over the devastating floods in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of people and displaced over a million
The Secretary-General is profoundly saddened by the recent floods in northern Pakistan which have reportedly claimed more than 400 lives, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement
The disaster caused by a “severe monsoon exacerbated by climate change has affected some 1 5 million people leaving hundreds of thousands in need of humanitarian aid, according to the statement It further noted that “more than 3,000 homes, over 400 schools, and some 40 health facilities have been damaged The UN chief commended Pakistan s response efforts adding that he commends Pakistani authorities for relocating more
than one million people in Punjab
He also expresses his solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan, extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives and wishes a swift recovery to those who have been injured
The statement said the UN and its partners are working closely with Pakistani authorities to rap-
idly assess the humanitarian impact of the floods identify needs and address gaps in the response It added that the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has released $600,000 from the Regional Humanitarian Pooled Fund to support relief and recovery efforts and discussions are underway with the government on a response plan
Tremors of 5.9-magnitude ear thquake felt in twin cities,
KP: PMD
ISLAMABAD
s ta f f r e p o r t
The twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa felt tremors of a 5 9-magnitude earthquake on Thursday night, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)
A press release from the PMD said the quake originated at 9:56pm at a depth of 111 kilometres with its epicentre in the Hindu Kush region
It said tremors were felt in Peshawar, Mansehra, Hangu, Abbottabad, Swat, Attock, Malakand, Rawalpindi and Islamabad The PMD reported on Tuesday that Peshawar, Mansehra, and Islamabad felt tremors after another earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan
A PMD press release said the 5 4-magnitude earthquake had occurred at 5:30pm in southeastern
Afghanistan at a depth of 22km with tremors felt all the way in Peshawar Mansehra Islamabad Abbottabad and Swat
Meanwhile the US Geological Survey had reported it as a 5 2-magnitude earthquake 34km northeast of Jalalabad city in Nangarhar province
The epicentre of the tremor was close to where a magnitude 6 0 earthquake hit Afghanistan late on Sunday night devastating remote areas in mountainous provinces near the border with Pakistan
The PMD reported four more minor quakes on Tuesday: a magnitude 3 with the epicentre 24km northeast of Pattan at a depth of 46km at 7:10pm a magnitude 4 in southeastern Afghanistan at 2:50pm at a depth of 97km, a magnitude 5 4 in China’s Xinjiang at 12:59pm at a depth of 10km and a magnitude 4 4 in southeastern Afghanistan at 12:25pm at a depth of 20km
