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Pakistan approves $20.8 million flood aid as nearly 400 dead in latest monsoon spell

Pakistan approves $20.8 million flood aid as nearly 400 dead in latest monsoon spell
Relief personnel use an excavator to clear rubble of collapsed houses as they search through the debris for victims, a day after a cloudburst at the Dalori village in Swabi district, in Pakistan’s mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on August 19, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 19 August 2025

Pakistan approves $20.8 million flood aid as nearly 400 dead in latest monsoon spell

Pakistan approves $20.8 million flood aid as nearly 400 dead in latest monsoon spell
  • Top economic body directs immediate release of $14.4 million to support victims of heavy rains and floods
  • Approval comes as death toll in monsoon season rises to 707, with 356 killed in KP province alone since Friday

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top economic body on Tuesday approved a relief package worth Rs5.8 billion ($20.8 million) to support people affected by recent rains and flash floods in the country’s northwest, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.

The announcement comes as nearly 400 people have been killed during the latest spell of monsoon rains in northern Pakistan that began late last week. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported that of the 400 deaths since Friday, 356 were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has been lashed by cloudbursts, flash floods, lightning strikes and landslides in the deadliest downpour of this year’s monsoon season.

In total, 707 Pakistanis have died in monsoon rains since June 26, according to the NDMA.

“Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet has approved a relief package worth 5.8 billion rupees as federal assistance for the rain and flood affected people,” Radio Pakistan said in a report after a meeting of the ECC was held in Islamabad with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb in the chair.     

“The ECC directed the Finance Division to immediately release 4 billion rupees of the approved package to mitigate the sufferings of affected people.”

Earlier in the day, while addressing a joint news conference on Tuesday, Pakistan’s army and government spokesmen and the chief of the NDMA said coordinated relief and rescue operations had been stepped up in affected parts of KP and the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region.

“Currently, there are eight units of the infantry and eight units of the FC [frontier constabulary] directly involved in search and rescue and flood relief operations,” Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, told reporters in Islamabad.

“In the search and rescue work, 6,903 of children and adults have been rescued by the army units,” the army spokesman said, adding that over 6,300 people had also received medical treatment.

Chaudhry said logistics bases had been set up in Kanju and Daggar to supply food, tents and medicines, while helicopters were flying emergency aid to remote areas.

Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said 70 percent of the region’s power supply had also been restored, including in districts like Buner, Shangla, Swat and Bajaur, where electrical grids, poles and transformers were destroyed.

He said ministers for energy, communications and Kashmir affairs were deployed in the field to monitor relief operations.

“In Malakand division, the N-90 highway has been fully reopened after clearing all blockades,” Tarar added.

More than 1,200 tents, 3,000 kilograms of medicines and 40 tons of food rations have been dispatched to the flood-hit regions, with over 500 medical camps operational in the area.




Volunteers walks with umbrellas to avoid rain as they survey the damaged areas, following a storm that caused heavy rains and flooding in Bayshonai Kalay, in Buner district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on August 18, 2025. (REUTERS)

Chairman of the NDMA, Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik, who also addressed the news conference, said at least 25,000 people had been rescued in total in the last four days.

He warned of continued risks from localized flooding and cloudbursts in KP, GB, and northern Punjab, with a new monsoon spell expected in the last week of August.

“A complete survey has been launched, which has been started to assess the damage of houses and public infrastructure,” Malik said, adding that its findings would be ready by early September.

Malik said more than 50 percent of landslides had been cleared and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had approved a special ration package for affected districts.

Aid convoys to Swabi, Buner, Malakand, Bajaur, Shangla and Swat were also underway, with support from military formations and non-governmental organizations

“All arms of the state are mobilized in this national response,” he added.

TRAVEL ADVISORY

Separately, the NDMA issued a travel advisory on Tuesday warning of road closures and damage in the country’s north due to floods and landslides.

According to the advisory, tourists have been told to avoid travel on vulnerable stretches of the Karakoram Highway and connecting routes, including Torghar, Batagram, Shangla, Lower Kohistan, Tattapani, Gilgit and Hunza.

Road blockages due to floods and landslides were reported at several points on the Karakoram Highway, as well as at multiple locations along the Mingora–Swat road.

The NDMA also listed a number of damaged or closed bridges and roads in Gilgit-Baltistan, Skardu, Ghizer, Hunza and Astore.




Men retrieve a motorbike from a thick layer of mud, following a storm that caused heavy rains and flooding in Pacha Kalay Bazar, in Buner district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on August 18, 2025. (REUTERS)

“Surmo Bridge, Ghanche: damaged; no alternate … Baghecha, Skardu: damaged; alternate: temporary causeway but unsafe,” the advisory said.

It added that the Astak Bridge on the Jaglot–Skardu road was partially open, while major routes such as Shandur, Ishkoman, Gulmit in Gojal, Hoper in Nagar, and the Skardu–Kargil road in Kharmang district were closed with no alternate routes available.

The advisory urged travelers to check updates regularly and avoid unnecessary movement in the affected areas until roads are cleared and safe for traffic.

PUNJAB ALERT

The Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Tuesday also issued a fresh alert for heavy monsoon rains across much of the province from Aug. 19–22.

“Severe thunderstorms are forecast in most districts, including Rawalpindi, Murree, Galiyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Gujranwala, Lahore, Gujrat and Sialkot,” the PDMA spokesperson said, adding that downpours were also expected in Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Rajanpur.

PDMA Director General Irfan Ali Kathia said all commissioners and deputy commissioners had been directed to remain on alert in line with instructions from Punjab’s chief minister. He warned of rising water levels in rivers and streams, flash flooding in hill torrents, and the risk of urban flooding in major cities.




In this aerial picture, volunteers remove debris from a resident's home, after flash floods hit Buner district in northern Pakistan's mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on August 18, 2025. (AFP)

“Citizens are urged to adopt precautionary measures during bad weather,” Kathia said. “Stay in safe places during storms, avoid unnecessary travel, and keep children away from low-lying areas and electricity poles and wires.”

The DG added that health, irrigation, communications, local government and livestock departments had all been placed on high alert. In case of emergency, people were advised to call the PDMA helpline at 1129.


Two new polio cases confirmed in Pakistan’s northwest, bringing 2025 total to 23

Two new polio cases confirmed in Pakistan’s northwest, bringing 2025 total to 23
Updated 26 August 2025

Two new polio cases confirmed in Pakistan’s northwest, bringing 2025 total to 23

Two new polio cases confirmed in Pakistan’s northwest, bringing 2025 total to 23
  • Latest detections involve two young girls in Tank and North Waziristan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries worldwide where polio is still endemic

PESHAWAR: Pakistan has confirmed two new polio cases in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total number of children affected by the crippling virus this year to 23, health authorities said on Tuesday.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. Pakistan made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, but the country saw a sharp resurgence in 2024 with 74 cases recorded.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only effective protection is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) for every child under five during each campaign, alongside timely completion of all routine immunizations.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, has confirmed two new poliovirus cases from South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from District Tank and the other from District North Waziristan,” the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement.

The cases include a 16-month-old girl from Union Council Mullazai in District Tank and a 24-month-old girl from Union Council Miran Shah-3 in District North Waziristan. 

Of the 23 confirmed cases so far this year, 15 have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Health authorities noted that despite major progress in recent years, the continued detection of polio cases in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was alarming. 

“It underscores that children in hard-to-access areas and those with low vaccine acceptance continue to be at risk. However, the National and Provincial Emergency Operations Centers are taking all possible measures to ensure the implementation of high-quality vaccination campaigns,” the statement added.

To stop transmission, the National Emergency Operations Center has drawn up a vaccination campaign schedule for the upcoming low-transmission season. 

“The first campaign of the season will be conducted from September 1–7, 2025, while in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign will commence on September 15. More than 28 million under-5 children will receive polio drops in door-to-door vaccination campaign,” the statement said.

The center stressed that eliminating polio required collective responsibility.

 “Polio eradication is a shared responsibility,” it said, urging parents to ensure children complete all recommended doses. 

The statement added that communities could play their part by supporting vaccination campaigns, countering misinformation and encouraging others to immunize.

Past efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners, who claim immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage. 

Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, particularly in KP and Balochistan.


Pakistan launches celebrations for Prophet’s birth anniversary with focus on youth, social media

Pakistan launches celebrations for Prophet’s birth anniversary with focus on youth, social media
Updated 26 August 2025

Pakistan launches celebrations for Prophet’s birth anniversary with focus on youth, social media

Pakistan launches celebrations for Prophet’s birth anniversary with focus on youth, social media
  • Pakistan to mark 1500th birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) with 12-day nationwide events
  • Celebrations include international Seerat conference, Qur’an exhibition, and national Naat competition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday began nationwide celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), with authorities emphasizing programs for students and a focus on teaching the “constructive and positive” use of social media in line with the Prophet’s teachings.

The commemorations, known in Pakistan as Ashra Rahmatul-lil-Alameen (SAW), span the first 12 days of the Islamic month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, which is revered by Muslims worldwide as the month in which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was born in the year 570 CE. Events during this period traditionally include religious conferences, exhibitions, poetry recitations in praise of the Prophet (Naat), and community gatherings.

“Ashra Rehmatu-l-lil-Alamin will be celebrated from the 1st of Rabi-ul-Awwal (Tuesday) to the 12th of Rabi-ul-Awwal,” Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousaf announced at a news conference in Islamabad, according to Radio Pakistan.

The theme for this year’s commemoration would be: “State Responsibilities in Educating and Training for the Beneficial Use of Social Media, in the Light of the Life of the Holy Prophet (SAW).”

“Schools, colleges, and universities will host special events, speech competitions, and awareness programs on the Seerat-un-Nabi to help the younger generation connect with the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) … and learn to use modern media, including social platforms, for constructive and positive purposes,” Yousaf said.

The minister said the centerpiece of this year’s observances would be the 50th International Seerat-un-Nabi Conference, named after the Prophet’s life (Seerat), to be held in Islamabad with the participation of government officials, religious scholars, diplomats, and delegates from within and outside Pakistan. 

Alongside it, a national Qur’an and Seerat exhibition will showcase manuscripts, publications, and digital works, while a national Naat competition (devotional poetry) will be organized on the night of 11th Rabi-ul-Awwal. Winners of national Seerat book, Naat, and essay contests for 2025 will also be awarded.

The minister said provincial governments, including those in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, had been requested to hold related events, including regional Seerat conferences, poetry gatherings, seminars, student competitions, and youth programs.


Mukhi House rises again: Hyderabad palace restored as living museum of Sindh’s past

Mukhi House rises again: Hyderabad palace restored as living museum of Sindh’s past
Updated 5 min 21 sec ago

Mukhi House rises again: Hyderabad palace restored as living museum of Sindh’s past

Mukhi House rises again: Hyderabad palace restored as living museum of Sindh’s past
  • Once political and cultural hub hosting figures like Nehru, 1921 mansion fell into decades of neglect before being restored
  • Mukhi family donated the home to Sindh on the condition it be turned into a museum, preserving both architecture and memory

HYDERABAD, Pakistan: On her 99th birthday in May 2017, Dharam Mukhi sat thousands of miles away in the United States when her family unveiled an extraordinary gift: a video chronicling three centuries of the Mukhi family’s legacy and the painstaking restoration of her childhood home in Sindh, Pakistan.

The video brought back the carved wooden galleries, the Italian cupola and the marble staircase of the mansion she had left behind when her family left Hyderabad during the Partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947 and the violence and upheaval that followed. 

“I feel like I am back home,” she told her son, Dr. Suresh Bhavnani. Twenty days later, she passed away.

Dr. Suresh Bhavnani, along with other members of the Mukhi family, visits Mukhi House in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on January 29, 2013. (AN photo/Suresh K. Bhavnani)
The picture taken on August 20, 2025, shows Mukhi House in Hyderabad, Pakistan. (AN photo)

Built in 1921 by her uncle Jethanand Mukhi, a Hindu politician and philanthropist, the three-story Mukhi House was more than a residence. With its Corinthian columns, mosaic floors, stained glass, and frescoed walls, it stood as a palace at the heart of Hyderabad. Its halls hosted luminaries of the era — Indian National Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru and Sindh’s pre-Partition chief minister, Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, among others.

“They considered it a palace, not just a house,” said historian and archaeologist Dr. Kaleemullah Lashari, who later led its restoration. “They built it with that vision and lived in it to the fullest.”

The photo, taken on August 20, 2025, shows a picture of Hyderabad city in 1900, located at the Mukhi House in Hyderabad, Pakistan. (AN photo)

After Jethanand’s death, his brother Gobindram Mukhi, Dharam’s father, carried forward the family’s civic leadership. He was elected to the Sindh government as a voice for the Hindu community, despite threats and assassination attempts. 

But Partition forced the Mukhis to move their children to Bombay while Gobindram and his wife returned frequently to manage affairs, clinging to the hope of resettling in Hyderabad.

That hope ended abruptly in 1957 when Gobindram died in a road accident near Thatta. The family never returned. The mansion, once the jewel of Hyderabad, was reduced to decades of disrepair. It became a government office, then a girls’ school, then a paramilitary checkpoint. 

Fires, neglect and scavengers stripped it of its grandeur. 

“Its vital structural elements had grown weak,” Lashari recalled of his first visit to the decaying building.”

The photo taken on August 20, 2025, shows a picture of former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his wife visiting Mukhi house in 1931 in Hyderabad. (AN photo)

The Mukhi family, still in possession of the property papers, offered the house to the people of Sindh on one condition: that it be conserved and turned into a museum. 

Declared a heritage site by the Sindh government, restoration began in 2009. The work was arduous, from sourcing tiles to match originals to recreating stained glass, and training artisans to revive lost techniques.

By 2013, the house had been restored to its former glory, though bureaucratic inertia kept it closed to the public for years. From the US, Dr. Bhavnani campaigned to keep the project alive, circulating videos such as Legends of the Mukhi House and urging Sindhi youth to reclaim the site as part of their cultural inheritance.

“When the place was finally turned into a museum and inaugurated, I credited my late grandfather with inspiring my persistence,” Dr. Bhavnani said. “He was living the role of a Mukhi who had promised to serve the community that had elected him, and who were now vulnerable as they had chosen to stay back in Sindh.”

The photo taken on August 20, 2025, shows Dharam Mukhi sitting at a dining table at the Mukhi house in Hyderabad. (AN photo)
The photo taken on August 20, 2025, shows a dining table at the Mukhi house in Hyderabad. (AN photo)

Today, the museum preserves not just architecture but memory. Dharam’s photographs line the first floor: her beside the family’s first car, near Hyderabad’s first telephone, at garden parties with colonial administrators. 

“We have displayed her photographs in the museum as part of the exhibition,” said Naeem Ahmed Khan, a museum official.

Schoolchildren now walk through its sunlit galleries where once statesmen and reformers debated Sindh’s future. 

For Lashari, the building is a symbol of generosity across borders and generations: 

“Just think about how noble the purpose is. A family, which no longer resides here, agreed … to allow their property to be turned into a museum for the benefit of the general public.”


TikTok to host regional Ad Awards in Riyadh with Pakistan among contenders

TikTok to host regional Ad Awards in Riyadh with Pakistan among contenders
Updated 26 August 2025

TikTok to host regional Ad Awards in Riyadh with Pakistan among contenders

TikTok to host regional Ad Awards in Riyadh with Pakistan among contenders
  • Awards recognize innovative campaigns across nine categories, including budget-friendly, community-driven projects
  • Pakistan joins regional markets from the Middle East, Africa, Turkiye and South Asia in competing for honors

ISLAMABAD:  TikTok will host the second edition of its annual Ad Awards for the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia region in Riyadh this December, the platform said on Monday. 

Launched last year, the awards celebrate leading advertising campaigns on TikTok and the brands and agencies behind them.

“After the incredible creativity we saw last year, we’re excited to bring the TikTok Ad Awards to Riyadh for 2025,” said Shadi Kandil, general manager of Global Business Solutions for the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa, Central and South Asia at TikTok.

“These awards are about celebrating the work that goes beyond advertising to create cultural moments, inspire joy, and drive tangible business results.”

This year’s program features nine award categories, such as “It’s the Creative for Me” and “Sound On Please.” These categories celebrate creativity, with the former focusing on campaigns based on ideas unique to TikTok, and the latter recognizing audio-centric campaigns.

The “Community Core” category highlights campaigns driven by creator and community collaborations, while “Bougie on a Budget” honors campaigns that delivered results on modest budgets.

Focused on different stages of the marketing funnel, categories such as “Full Funnel Flex,” “Big Branding Energy,” and “Goal Digger” recognize campaigns that span the entire marketing funnel, build brand awareness, and drive conversions and sales, respectively.

The awards ceremony will feature a live-voting segment, giving audiences the chance to select “The People’s Choice” award for best campaign.

The top honor, “The Greatest Of All Time,” will go to the best overall campaign that combines creativity, media performance, and proven effectiveness.

The awards are open to brands and agencies based in Ƶ, the UAE, Qatar, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkiye, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Submissions close on Oct. 31.


In a first, Pakistan appoints serving general to senior interior ministry position

In a first, Pakistan appoints serving general to senior interior ministry position
Updated 26 August 2025

In a first, Pakistan appoints serving general to senior interior ministry position

In a first, Pakistan appoints serving general to senior interior ministry position
  • Appointment comes amid surge in militancy, drive to tighten oversight of civil armed forces
  • Retired military officers serving in civilian ministries has long been a norm in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has appointed a serving major-general of the army to a senior position in the interior ministry, officials said on Monday, with the unprecedented move ostensibly aimed at “enhancing coordination” among civil armed forces amid a surge in militancy.

While the appointment of retired army officials to civilian government positions is a norm in Pakistan, which has been ruled by its powerful army for nearly half of its 78-year history, the appointment of a serving officer is unprecedented.

Major General Noor Wali Khan has been transferred and posted as an additional secretary at the interior ministry on a secondment basis for three years, according to a notification issued by Pakistan’s Cabinet Secretariat.

“General Khan will head all civil armed forces in the ministry,” Qadir Yar Tiwana, an interior ministry spokesman, told Arab News, declining to share further details of his mandate.

A senior official at the interior ministry, who requested anonymity, said the appointment was aimed at “enhancing coordination among multiple civil armed forces working under the interior ministry.”

The ministry oversees several civilian armed agencies, including the Frontier Corps, Pakistan Rangers, Pakistan Coast Guard, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, Federal Constabulary and the Anti-Narcotics Force.

The ministry plays a pivotal role in overseeing internal security, counterterrorism, law enforcement and public safety in Pakistan, which became the world’s second-most affected country by militant violence in 2024, with deaths rising 45 percent to 1,081, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2025.

The South Asian country is battling twin insurgencies, one led by religiously motivated groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), mainly in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the other by ethno-nationalist Baloch separatist groups, Daesh and other smaller groups in Balochistan.

Afzal Ali Shigri, a former inspector general of police, told Arab News, he saw the appointment of a serving general in the interior ministry as a “strategic step” aimed at countering the surge in militancy through enhanced coordination among civilian forces.

“The interior ministry is a very powerful division of the government as it deals with major issues concerning internal security of Pakistan,” Shigri said. 

“This appointment is a prerogative of the federal government as they might have considered it necessary for better coordination among various departments.”

In response to comments for this story, the military’s media wing asked to direct all queries to the Establishment Division or the ministry of defense.

The posting of a major general to the powerful interior ministry is being widely seen as another significant step in extending the military’s footprint into civilian governance structures. Last year, a serving army officer was appointed to the top position at the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which oversees national identity cards and citizens’ data.

The interior ministry’s mandate extends well beyond internal security, dealing with critical issues such as visa regulation for foreign nationals, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans residing in Pakistan. The ministry has in the past faced allegations of corruption and irregularities in visa issuance, an area now expected to come under stricter oversight with the appointment of a serving general.

In addition, the ministry recently elevated the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary, a force traditionally under provincial control, to the status of a federal entity. Insiders say General Khan will also supervise this transition, further consolidating military oversight of civil armed forces and internal security operations at a time when Pakistan faces mounting pressure from militancy and cross-border challenges.