ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province has extended summer vacations for all private and public schools till Aug. 31, the provincial government said on Thursday.
While the reason for the decision was not explicitly mentioned by authorities, it comes amid intense monsoon showers that have flooded several Punjab cities in recent weeks.
The province has reported the highest number of deaths at 164 and 580 injuries since the rains first began on June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The rains and floods have also caused widespread destruction of homes and swept away livestock and crops.
“It is hereby notified that summer vacations in all public and private schools in province of Punjab are extended w.e.f (with effect from) Aug. 14 to Aug. 31, 2025,” the Punjab School Education Department said in a notification.
“All schools (public and private) shall reopen on Monday, Sep. 1, 2025 resuming a full/normal week for all classes.”
The decision marks a change in the academic calendar of schools which were previously scheduled to open on Aug 14.
Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat also confirmed the decision in a post on X, but did not mention the reason either.
Pakistan has seen erratic changes in its weather patterns which have led to frequent heat waves, untimely rains, cyclones and droughts in recent years. Scientists have blamed the events on human-driven climate change.
The Punjab government also declared an early summer break in late May for all public and private schools due to a prolonged heatwave across the province.
KARACHI: Pakistan’s top court on Friday turned down a plea by real estate giant, Bahria Town, that sought to stay auction of its commercial properties in an ongoing graft case that has caught widespread public attention.
The development came a day after Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said it had auctioned three out of six properties, owned by Bahria Town and its founder Malik Riaz Hussain, saying the move was part of its efforts to recover “defrauded funds” from a court-approved plea bargain tied to a £190 million settlement with Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The auction was held after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) this week dismissed a petition by the firm against the planned auction of its properties by the anti-corruption watchdog. The six properties up for auction include one in Islamabad and five in Rawalpindi.
NAB said the sale aims to recover unpaid amounts from the settlement deal involving Hussain, the founder of Bahria Town who has spoken publicly for months about being pressured due to “political motives” and facing financial losses as NAB opens cases against his property development projects across Pakistan.
“The decision on the stay order will not be one-sided. We will decide after hearing the other side,” Justice Aminuddin Khan, who headed a three-member Supreme Court bench, said during a hearing in Islamabad on Friday.
The six properties are among a total of eight real estate assets that Hussain previously handed over to NAB after entering a plea bargain with the watchdog.
“Now the accused says the plea bargain was not voluntary but made under pressure,” Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan noted, saying the real estate giant had filed a miscellaneous application, but its main appeals had not been fixed for hearing.
In the past, Hussain also requested the NAB chairman to cancel the plea bargain.
“After the application to cancel the plea bargain, the case has returned to its initial stage,” Justice Afghan said, adding the properties will be confiscated once the accused is convicted.
Farooq H Naik, the counsel representing Bahria Town, said the company’s request to cancel the plea bargain arrangement and the NAB reference had both been pending before courts.
Of the six Bahria Town properties up for auction, one in Islamabad and two in Rawalpindi were sold, while three remained unsold due to a lack of qualifying bids, according to NAB.
Rubaish Marquee in Islamabad fetched Rs508 million ($1.78 million), Rs20 million above its reserve price. Conditional offers of Rs876 million and Rs881.5 million were received for two corporate offices in Rawalpindi.
“NAB remains committed to transparent recovery of public funds and strict enforcement of accountability laws,” the bureau said in a statement.
The sales are part of a widening crackdown on Hussain, once regarded as Pakistan’s most influential businessman for his real estate ventures and connections with political, media and military elites.
In recent months, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has accused Hussain and Bahria Town of involvement in laundering billions of rupees, allegations they have yet to address publicly. Hussain has previously said he is facing politically motivated pressure and financial losses due to multiple NAB cases.
The controversy is closely linked to the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife were accused of receiving land from Hussain in exchange for favors. Khan, who denies wrongdoing, was sentenced in January to 14 years in prison over the case.
The UK’s NCA said in 2019 that Hussain had agreed to hand over £190 million to settle a civil investigation into whether the funds were the proceeds of crime. The assets were to be returned to Pakistan, but prosecutors say Khan’s government used the money to pay fines imposed on Hussain for illegal land acquisitions in Karachi.
Hussain, who has not appeared before NAB despite multiple summons, denies the allegations and says his property empire is on the brink of collapse. In a statement on social media platform X on Tuesday, he said Bahria Town’s bank accounts had been frozen, vehicles seized, and dozens of employees detained, forcing operations to a near standstill.
Earlier this year, NAB warned the public against investing in Hussain’s new real estate venture to build luxury apartments in Dubai.
ISLAMABAD: In the foothills of Azad Kashmir, where receding springs once signaled environmental collapse and families quietly planned their migration, a former schoolteacher is proving that climate action doesn’t have to come from the top.
Usman Abbasi, 46, began his environmental journey a decade ago in his hometown of Kotli, where he watched rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and deforestation chip away at the valley’s ecological balance. A teacher at the time, Abbasi started modestly, planting trees and installing dustbins around his community, but the impact of Pakistan’s climate crisis soon compelled him to take his mission further.
Fast forward to 2025, and Abbasi is leading a quiet but powerful grassroots movement centered on rainwater harvesting wells and ponds. His efforts, now expanding into the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, have helped communities save millions of rupees, restored groundwater in parched regions and convinced entire families to abandon their plans to leave.
“This solution is not expensive,” Abbasi told Arab News during a visit to the Institute of Islamic Sciences in Islamabad, one of the many institutions transformed by his approach. “If someone can afford to install a Rs600,000 ($2,117) borewell at home, they can add this [electric motor] system for just Rs150,000 ($529).”
Abbasi first visited the seminary during a 2024 plantation drive and discovered that the campus, home to over 1,200 students, had little access to piped water. The school was spending Rs30,000 ($105) per day on tankers.
Months later, he returned with a solution: a Rs180,000 ($635) rainwater harvesting well, which now channels monsoon runoff from rooftops into an underground system filled with natural filtration materials.
“It’s drilled like a borewell and filled with charcoal, gravel, sand, broken bricks or stones, and wrapped in a geofabric cloth to prevent dirt from entering,” he explained. “Rainwater from rooftops and the surrounding ground is channeled into this well through pipes visible in the two manholes.”
Usman Abbasi (right) watching the level of water in his underground well in Islamabad, Pakistan on August 3, 2025. (AN Photo)
The result was immediate. Two dry boreholes were revived, and today, a single motor runs for six hours a day, providing water for drinking, washing, and daily use, saving the seminary nearly Rs900,000 ($3,175) each month.
“In our area, groundwater has dropped drastically,” said Abrar Ahmed, deputy general secretary of the institute.
“Borewells that once worked at 70–80 feet now have to go 500 feet deep, and even then, it is hard to find water. We’re hopeful that by implementing the same method for our other borewells, not only will the institution’s water crisis be resolved, but the surrounding area’s needs can also be fulfilled.”
“RAINWATER HARVESTING”
Pakistan, a country of over 240 million people, relies heavily on groundwater for both agriculture and domestic use. According to the World Bank, 90 percent of rural households and over 50 percent of agriculture depend on underground water. Yet despite this reliance, the country lacks a coordinated groundwater management system, and aquifers are being rapidly depleted due to over-extraction, poor infrastructure, and climate change.
Abbasi’s model is being noticed. Aamir Mehmood Mirza, Secretary of Environment, Wildlife and Fisheries, praised his work and its impact on community awareness.
“He should also seek technical guidance and expert assistance to yield better results, and we are developing a model soon with our experts to gather scientific data on such efforts to expand them on a larger scale,” he said.
In recent years, Pakistan has introduced measures to encourage rainwater harvesting.
In 2025, the federal cabinet approved a Green Building Code mandating such systems in all new construction. In Punjab province, the Environmental Protection Agency has required rainwater harvesting across 23 industrial sectors. In Rawalpindi, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), in collaboration with UN-HABITAT, is installing systems in 30 public buildings.
A canal designed to collect rainwater and divert it into an underground well is visible in this picture taken in Islamabad, Pakistan, on August 3, 2025. (AN Photo)
But Abbasi’s work extends far beyond formal policy. In the rugged hills of northern Pakistan, he has built hundreds of rainwater ponds that have brought back natural springs, revived livestock farming, and allowed residents to stay on ancestral land.
His influence is growing online, too. Using platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Facebook, Abbasi has amassed more than 600,000 followers.
“This is the real use of social media,” he said. “Through my social media, I have created a following of like-minded people and together we can drive this social change.”
In the summer of 2024, Abbasi and his students at the Beaconhouse School System planted nearly 80,000 trees across Azad Kashmir. His work has earned him a presidential nomination by the Azad Kashmir government.
“This [environmental conservation] is something that we all must absolutely do, not to earn something from it but for our country and our future generations,” Abbasi said. “If a collective action to preserve the environment is not taken, then in a few years, there will be no water, there will be mountains of trash everywhere and a concrete jungle.”
KARACHI: Officials were assessing damages after two fires gutted a garments factory and damaged four other manufacturing plants in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi, they said on Friday.
In the first incident, a blaze broke out at the MashaAllah Factory, which processes imported second-hand clothing, and led to the total collapse of the building, according to Hasaan Khan, a spokesperson of Sindh Rescue 1122 service.
At least seven people were injured who were shifted to hospital, while the blaze later engulfed three nearby plants located within the Landhi Export Processing Zone.
“During the cooling-off period, another factory, named Home Furnishings, caught fire at around 11:30pm on Thursday,” Khan told Arab News.
“Our teams were present close to the site and immediately doused the blaze.”
The official said they were estimating losses and ascertaining the causes of the fires.
Factory fires are common in Karachi, a city of over 20 million, where industrial zones often suffer from poor safety standards, lack of fire exits, and inadequate enforcement of regulations.
In Nov. last year, a blaze at a shopping mall killed around a dozen people and injured several others. In April 2023, four firefighters died and nearly a dozen others were injured after a blaze erupted at a garment factory, while 10 people were killed in a massive fire at a chemical factory in the city in August 2021.
In the deadliest such incident, 260 people were killed in 2012 after being trapped inside a garment factory when a fire broke out.
Despite frequent incidents, industrial safety remains a persistent concern in the city, putting thousands of laborers and residents at ongoing risk.
Netanyahu acknowledges India’s use of ‘battle-tested’ Israeli weapons against Pakistan — Indian media
The India-Pakistan aerial combat during the conflict in May offered first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against Western hardware
Indian military used Barak missiles, jointly developed with Israel, and Tel Aviv’s HARPY drones to repel waves of Pakistan missiles over the 96-hour conflict, report says
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged India’s use of “battle-tested” Israeli weapons in a recent conflict with Pakistan and said all of them had “worked well,” Indian media reported this week.
India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day military standoff, sparked by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, leaving nearly 70 people dead on both sides before agreeing to a United States-brokered ceasefire on May 10.
The conflict, the worst between the neighbors in over two decades, saw the use of Chinese-made beyond-visual-range (BVR) missiles, French-made Rafale jets, Israeli and Turkish drones and sophisticated air and ground warfare technologies.
Speaking to Indian journalists in Jerusalem on Thursday, Netanyahu said the military equipment supplied to India by Israel had performed well during ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan and that defense ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv were on an upswing, The Telegraph newspaper, published in India, reported.
“Israel supplied military equipment to India before [Operation Sindoor]. All of them worked well. Israeli equipment used during Operation Sindoor were battle proven,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying.
“We don’t develop them in labs, but in battlefield. So they are battle-tested. We have a robust defense cooperation. It is on a pretty solid foundation.”
Netanyahu met Indian journalists after his meeting with India’s ambassador to Israel, J P Singh, the Israeli PM’s office said.
Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu shakes hands with Indian Ambassador to Israel J.P. Singh in Jerusalem on August 7, 2025. (Handout/X/@IsraeliPM)
“The Prime Minister and the Ambassador discussed the expansion of bilateral cooperation, especially on security and economic issues,” it said in a statement. “Prime Minister Netanyahu then met with senior Indian journalists and answered their questions.”
The four-day India-Pakistan clash marked the first time New Delhi and Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) at scale against each other.
The Indian military used Barak missiles, jointly developed with Israel, and Tel Aviv’s HARPY drones, in addition an impressive array of domestically manufactured weapons systems, to repel waves of Pakistan missiles over the 96-hour conflict, according to the Times of India newspaper.
Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu (4L) meets a delegation of Indian journalists during a meeting with New Delhi’s envoy J.P. Singh in Jerusalem on August 7, 2025. (Handout/X/@IsraeliPM)
“Israel is among India’s largest supplier of weapons and weapons systems,” the read said. “India has imported military hardware worth $2.9 billion from Israel over the last decade, including radars, drones, and missiles. Tel Aviv has ensured a steady supply of weapons to Delhi.”
On May 7, Pakistan and India fought in the air with some 110 aircraft involved, experts estimate, making it the world’s largest air battle in decades.
Pakistan declared a victory in the standoff, saying its air force used Chinese J-10C aircraft to shoot down six Indian fighter jets, including three French Rafales, and the army targeted several Indian military installations during the recent flare-up. While Indian officials have acknowledged losses, they have not specified the number of jets downed by Pakistan.
The hour-long fight, which took place in darkness, offered the world a first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against proven Western hardware, with Chinese defense stocks surging in its wake.
Over the past five years, China has supplied 81 percent of Pakistan’s imported weapons, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Those exports include advanced fighter jets, missiles, radars and air-defense systems.
Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu meets a delegation of Indian journalists during a meeting with New Delhi’s envoy J.P. Singh in Jerusalem on August 7, 2025. (Handout/X/@IsraeliPM)
Some Pakistan-made weapons have also been co-developed with Chinese firms or built with Chinese technology and expertise. Beijing is also investing over $60 billion to build infrastructure, energy and other projects in Pakistan as part of its China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
India was planning to invest heavily in local industry and could spend as much as $470 million on UAVs over the next 12 to 24 months, roughly three times pre-conflict levels, Smit Shah of Drone Federation India, which represents over 550 companies and regularly interacts with the government, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Netanyahu noted that Israel had developed “advanced technologies” and mentioned ongoing cooperation with India during his meeting with Indian journalists, WION, an English-language Indian news channel, reported on Friday.
“Israel was keen to finalize mutual defense and economic agreements with India at the earliest,” he was quoted as saying.
ISLAMABAD: Weather authorities have forecast another spell of monsoon rains in Pakistan from Aug. 8 till Aug. 13, with weeks of heavy showers and floods claiming at least 303 lives in the country.
The unusually heavy rains, which began on June 26, have injured more than 700 people and raised fears of a repeat of the catastrophic 2022 floods that submerged a third of Pakistan and killed more than 1,700 people.
“Under the influence of low-pressure systems developing in the surrounding regions, along with a western disturbance, isolated rainfall is expected across most parts of the country from August 8th to 13th,” Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Thursday.
The development came as a glacial lake outburst flood from Shisper Glacier swelled the Hassanabad Nullah in Hunza and damaged infrastructure, putting dozens of homes at risk in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, local media reported, citing officials.
The heavy flood eroded the protective walls of the Karakoram Highway (KKH), a key road connecting Pakistan with China, and damaged farmland.
More showers are expected in GB’s Astore, Skardu, Hunza, Shighar and surrounding areas, along with Bagh, Neelum Valley and Muzaffarabad in Azad Kashmir between Aug. 8 and Aug. 13, according to the NDMA.
Rains are also likely in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Murree, Galliyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mianwali, Hafizabad, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Narowal, Okara, Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat and surrounding areas in Punjab, with occasional gaps during the forecast period.
“We request citizens to take precautionary measures during the monsoon season,” Irfan Ali Kathia, Director General of Punjab’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), said on Thursday.
“Keep children away from streams, low-lying areas, rivers and canals and strictly avoid swimming during rainfall.”
