UNSC to meet today on Israel’s strike in Qatar after Pakistan request
UNSC to meet today on Israel’s strike in Qatar after Pakistan request/node/2614906/pakistan
UNSC to meet today on Israel’s strike in Qatar after Pakistan request
An overall view as the UN Security Council holds an emergency meeting on the situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters on August 10, 2025 in New York. (AFP/File)
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting today, Thursday, on Pakistan’s request to discuss Israeli airstrikes in Doha that killed at least six people, including a Qatari security officer, after Pakistan, Algeria and Somalia called for action.
Pakistan condemned Israel’s attack targeting a residential building in Doha that housed Hamas members discussing a Gaza ceasefire proposal floated by the American administration.
Qatar has been a key mediator in ceasefire and hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, hosting the group’s political bureau while engaging closely with Washington and Cairo. Israel’s strike has raised fears the Gulf state could scale back or reconsider its mediation role, further complicating efforts to halt the Gaza war.
“The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday in response to Israel’s strikes targeting Hamas officials in Qatar, a Arabian Gulf Islamic country,” the state-owned Associated Press of Pakistan said.
It added the event was scheduled to be held at 3 p.m. New York time, which will be midnight in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in a statement on Wednesday the strikes were a “dangerous escalation in an already volatile region” and urged the Security Council to treat the assault as “a grave threat to international peace and security.”
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “killed any hope” of releasing hostages still held in the Gaza Strip after Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.
Netanyahu acknowledged the attack, saying it was a “wholly independent Israeli operation” for which his government took “full responsibility.”
ISLAMABAD: Saudi oil marketing company Wafi Energy has donated 5,000 liters of petrol to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to support ongoing relief operations, its chief executive said on Thursday, as monsoon floods continue to devastate large parts of the country.
The contribution, made at a ceremony hosted at the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, comes as part of wider Saudi efforts to assist Pakistan. Riyadh’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has already provided food, shelter and other items for more than 200,000 victims across the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Since late June, heavy monsoon rains and flash floods have killed more than 929 people and affected over 4 million nationwide, according to NDMA figures.
“Today we are contributing 5,000 liters of petrol to NDMA, before that we have contributed two separate tranches of fuel,” Zubair Shaikh, CEO of Wafi Energy Pakistan, told Arab News after the ceremony. “We plan to do relief item support for the affected communities.”
Wafi Energy, which acquired an 87.78 percent stake in Shell Pakistan Limited last year, operates more than 600 fueling stations and nationwide oil terminals. The company, now rebranded from Shell Pakistan, markets petroleum products, CNG and lubricants across the country.
Fuel supplies are critical during disaster response, enabling the NDMA to run rescue boats, transport relief goods to cut-off communities, power generators at relief camps and keep emergency vehicles operating in flood-hit areas.
Shaikh said Wafi Energy was committed to sustaining its contribution beyond fuel deliveries also.
“This is part of our values. So, this is a small contribution as part of NDMA, which we are doing as part of fuel contribution,” he said.
“We will keep on supporting the community in the rain-affected area and make sure we give them the livelihood in the next few months so that this contribution doesn’t end here.”
Ƶ’s Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki welcomed the Wafi initiative and urged other firms to follow suit.
“I think this initiative is very important for all the companies which are investing here in Pakistan,” he told Arab News, adding that many parts of Pakistan remained badly affected and people were in urgent need of food, shelter and other items.
The envoy also underlined Ƶ’s government-level support through KSrelief, pledging that the Kingdom would continue to stand by Pakistan.
“The kingdom is here to stand with Pakistan, to support Pakistan in the critical situations.”
ISLAMABAD: Nearly 36,000 newborns with low birth weight have been treated at Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) centers across Pakistan since 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) said this week, adding that the low-cost intervention is helping reduce illness and hospital stays for vulnerable infants.
The approach, known as KMC, promotes skin-to-skin contact between mothers and babies, exclusive breastfeeding and early discharge from hospital. WHO says it has supported 17 such centers nationwide, where infants weighing 2 kilograms or less receive care.
WHO says the initiative is particularly significant in Pakistan, which has one of the world’s highest neonatal mortality rates, with more than 40 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to the World Bank.
By teaching mothers to provide prolonged skin-to-skin contact, sometimes for up to eight hours a day, the centers are helping families keep premature and underweight babies alive even in resource-limited settings.
“We stayed at the Kangaroo Mother Care Center because Aizal had low weight, only 2 kilograms,” Faiza, a mother from Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was quoted as saying in a WHO report. “I was so worried for her, but after being admitted to the center, she became healthy, and I was happy.”
At Haripur District Headquarters Hospital, the KMC unit was inaugurated in 2024 by provincial authorities and WHO’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Local paediatrician Dr. Muhammad Iqbal described the facility as “transforming bookish knowledge into practical care.”
Health workers said the initiative has cut hospital stays and infection rates.
Rafia, head nurse at the unit, said KMC had “resulted in decreased hospital stays for mothers and newborns, and reduced illness rates.”
Mothers also report seeing rapid improvements in their children. Sundus Javed, whose son was admitted with low weight, said:
“I have seen him yawning, moving, and he feels better.”
KARACHI: Pakistan’s flood authority on Thursday warned that the Indus River will reach “very high flood” levels at Guddu Barrage, a major dam in Sindh province that regulates flows to southern Pakistan, within 48 hours, as swollen rivers from Punjab move south and officials there reported conditions gradually improving.
Punjab, home to more than half of Pakistan’s 240 million people and its main farming belt, has been devastated since late August when record monsoon rains swelled the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers simultaneously in a historic first. Punjab officials say 79 people have died and nearly two million acres of farmland submerged in the province’s worst flooding in four decades.
According to the Punjab disaster authority, the Chenab River was still carrying heavy volumes on Thursday afternoon, with more than 150,000 cubic feet per second flowing through Trimmu, one of its major control points, and above 90,000 at Qadirabad further downstream.
The Sutlej River was also running high, pushing over 120,000 cubic feet per second through its headworks at Sulemanki and Islam, while the Ravi had stabilized at lower levels. Officials said the overall pattern showed that enormous volumes of water were continuing to drain southward from Punjab into the Indus.
“River Indus at Guddu is expected to attain Very High Flood level during the next 48 hours. River Indus at Sukur is expected to attain High Flood level after 48 hours,” the Flood Forecasting Division said.
By Thursday afternoon, Guddu Barrage itself was carrying more than 505,000 cusecs, with gauges upstream at Chachran showing levels steady at nearly 298 feet, officials said.
Guddu and Sukkur are the two main barrages that channel Indus waters into central and southern Sindh, protecting densely populated areas further downstream.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said in a statement Sukkur Barrage had safely handled over 1.1 million cusecs of water in recent days.
“Sukkur Barrage is a great masterpiece of 1932 and was built by the best engineers of that time,” he said, adding that “climate change has made it necessary to enhance the capacity of barrages.”
He said reinforcement works were under way at 45 vulnerable points across the province.
A day earlier, Shah said the “super-flood” threat in Sindh had receded.
“By the grace of God, the threat of a nine- to ten-lakh cusec flood in Sindh has passed,” he told a private TV channel, according to the provincial authorities.
SOUTHERN PUNJAB
Meanwhile, rescue operations remain focused in southern Punjab’s Jalalpur Pirwala, a tehsil near the city of Multan where the Chenab and Sutlej converge and floodwaters have inundated entire villages.
“With the help of the Pakistan Army, relief goods are being delivered to the affected areas,” said PDMA Director General Irfan Ali Kathia.
He said 706,000 people had been affected in Jalalpur Pirwala, 362,000 moved to safer places and more than 311,000 livestock relocated.
“Rescue operations will continue until all victims are moved to safe places,” he added.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari said 3,628 people had been evacuated from Multan in the past three days, and that water levels at key headworks, including Muhammad Wala and Sher Shah Bridge, were “no longer critical.”
Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabil Javed said more than 4.3 million people across the province had been affected and 2.26 million moved to safe places.
He said 396 relief camps, 490 medical camps and 412 veterinary camps were operating, and 1.7 million animals had been relocated.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast no significant rain until at least Sept. 15, giving flooded areas in Punjab time to drain.
But officials have cautioned that swollen rivers would continue pushing south into Sindh for days, requiring close monitoring of dykes and barrages.
Nationwide, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Pakistan since the monsoon season began on June 26.
“The floods have caused a lot of destruction,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a cabinet meeting in Islamabad on Wednesday. “Today, after the consultation, the cabinet is announcing a climate emergency and an agricultural emergency.”
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank warned this week recent torrential rains and flooding could weigh on the country’s fragile economic recovery by straining public finances and hurting farmers’ ability to repay loans.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in its mid-year review of the banking sector, said while inflation had eased and the currency had stabilized, the impact of climate shocks was now a major concern.
“Recent torrential rains and flooding could pose some challenges to the economic recovery, and may exert pressures on the fiscal account,” the report said.
The floods, which have swamped parts of Punjab and Sindh provinces, are expected to hit the agriculture sector hardest. Farmers dependent on seasonal harvests face the greatest repayment risks.
“The recent heavy floods may weaken the repayment capacity of agri borrowers,” the SBP said, though it noted agriculture loans form a relatively small share of bank lending.
Despite these risks, the central bank said the overall financial system remains strong, pointing to stress tests showing that large, systemically important banks could absorb even severe shocks over the next two years.
“Accordingly, the earning as well as solvency position of the banking sector is likely to remain steady,” the report said, citing “adequate capital cushions” and improving business confidence.
Pakistan has faced repeated climate disasters, most notably the 2022 “super floods” that inundated a third of the country and caused more than $30 billion in damage. T
This year’s floods have again highlighted the country’s vulnerability to climate shocks, even as it implements a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) program requiring fiscal consolidation.
Rescuers in Pakistan scramble to save residents as swollen rivers reach dangerous levels
Rescuers backed by army raced Wednesday to evacuate thousands from flooded villages near city of Jalalpur Pirwala
Stranded villagers complained those who could afford private boats escaped quickly, leaving poor to wait for rescuers
Updated 11 September 2025
AP
SHER SHAH, Pakistan: Rescuers backed by the military raced Wednesday to evacuate thousands of people from flooded villages near the city of Jalalpur Pirwala in eastern Pakistan, officials said, as authorities struggled to shore up embankments against rising waters which touched the official danger mark.
The rescue operation continued overnight and was ongoing.
The flooding has affected nearly 142,000 people in the area, Relief Commissioner Nabil Javed said. Many displaced residents have moved in with relatives, while others are spending sleepless nights on embankments or in relief camps after their homes were submerged.
On Wednesday, rescue crews in boats were seen crisscrossing the waters, pulling people from trees and rooftops. But many stranded villagers complained that those who could afford private boats escaped quickly, leaving the poor to wait for rescuers.
Since Aug. 23, about 4,000 villages across Punjab have been submerged, affecting more than 4.2 million people, displacing 2.1 million and killing at least 68 after heavier-than-normal monsoon rains and repeated releases of water from overflowing Indian dams, according to the Punjab Disaster Management Authority.
“Those who could pay owners of private boats have already left the village,” said survivor Bilal Ahmed, who spoke from a relief camp. “I paid money to use a private boat to leave my village.” He said food supplies are scarce and displaced families receive only one meal a day.
Residents sit in a rescue boat as they evacuate following monsoon rains and rising water levels in the Chenab River, in Basti Khan Bela, on the outskirts of Jalalpur Pirwala, Punjab province, Pakistan, on September 10, 2025. (REUTERS)
At roadside tents, families waited for food as children cried and women whispered prayers for the waters to recede, hoping for a miracle.
Torrential rains on Wednesday also flooded streets in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. Officials warned that water from swollen rivers will flow into Sindh this week, raising fears of damage downstream.
On Wednesday, bulldozers and heavy machinery were reinforcing embankments around Jalalpur Pirwala in a desperate attempt to protect the city of about 700,000. Authorities said that if the city is breached, hundreds of thousands of lives could be at risk.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited Jalalpur Pirwala and pledged compensation for families who lost relatives, homes and livestock in the floods. In a televised speech, she vowed to “fulfill every promise.”
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, the Ravi, Chenab, and Sutlej rivers are all in high flood, with water levels reaching the danger mark. Jalalpur Pirwala lies at the confluence of the Chenab and Sutlej rivers before they flow south toward Sindh province, where evacuations are underway in anticipation of flooding.
Irfan Ali Kathia, director general of the provincial disaster management authority, said he was confident the city would be saved.
“More rescue boats have been dispatched,” he said, but he blamed villagers for ignoring repeated warnings. An Associated Press reporter saw families standing knee-deep in muddy water waiting for rescue boats.
For many of those rescued, the future remains uncertain.
“My wife and children are still trapped in our flooded home,” said Muhammad Arshad, tears in his eyes as he boarded a rescue boat. “When the floods came, I was outside the village. For three days, I waited for a boat. Today is my first chance to see them.”
Saima Hussain, 35, who fled her village by an evacuation boat, recounted a haunting scene from her escape. “I saw rescuers pulling a woman’s body from the water,” she said. “Her baby was still alive, clinging to her chest.”
Holding her own baby, she said she had nothing to feed him.
“For two days, he hasn’t had milk,” she said. “God saved us, but we need help as we are now fighting hunger,” she said. ”I hope for a miracle. We pray for the water to recede,” Hussain said.
Since late June, flooding has killed more than 900 people across Pakistan.
